Poetry makes up a substantial portion of the Bible. Half of the Old Testament was written in poetic form. While English poetry relies on rhyme and meter, Hebrew poetry is far more subtle. It works off imaginative wordplay and makes elaborate use of parallelism, a form of repetition. Reading Hebrew poetry, even in translation, requires an active imagination. Maybe that’s why people don’t expend the energy to read it. Anna Laetitia Waring (1823-1910) became interested in biblical poetry as a child. She taught herself ancient Hebrew so that she could read Old Testament poetry in its original language. Who does that?
Anna was born in the small Welsh town of Neath and moved to Bristol as a teen, where she lived until her death. She was modest and reluctant to draw attention to her writing, simply signing her poems with the acronym “ALW.” Her friends prevailed on her to publish a collection of her poems, which she titled Hymns and Meditations, in 1850. It is thought that she suffered from some form of chronic illness. While she makes no pointed reference to it, there are hints in her poetry, For example, wondering at God’s role as Comforter, she wrote, “Who would not suffer pain like me, to be consoled like me?” She also could be light-hearted, as in her whimsical reflections on cats. She was a regular visitor to the local jail. Fellow poets belittled her for investing time in rehabilitating, but she persisted.
One of her poems written in prayer form, “Go Not Far from Me, O My God” is excerpted here. Like many of her poems, it was later sung as a hymn.