The Language of Love in the Song of Songs

The Biblical canon known as the Song of Songs or The Song of Solomon is not known as the sublime song for little reason. The song is a highly erotic series of separate oral love poems from a background of Hebrew pastoral society. These poems are not a unified whole, but rather a series of separate units; it is not our intention to explore this theme but to consider how the language of love is expressed in the poems. We must put aside any notions of allegorical meaning in the song.

The song is about human erotic love and it contains imagery and sexual metaphor throughout the entire collection of verse. Whilst there are several translations of the song, Falk's translation (1982) is truer to the Hebrew and will supply most of the quotes.

The opening lines of the song state with profound feeling, the intent of the woman towards her lover:

" O for your kiss! for your love, More enticing than Wine, For your scent and sweet name - For all this they love you". (Falk, 1982,p.13)

We cannot doubt the desire for love in these lines, the woman does not want mere kissing, she desires the love expressed by the sensual affect of deep kissing to mouth. Erotic arousal, taste, smell, touch , hearing and sight are the themes of the expression of the love. The language of the principals, the beloved (female) and the lover (male) are constructed from a range of metaphors taken from the Hebrew world.

The metaphors employed use all sweet and good things of the land. Liberal use of comparisons by both the lover and the beloved to natural products is woven into a tapestry of sexual meaning and invitations to make love. Both the lovers describe each other by means of the Wasf, an Arabic term meaning description as in Poem 11, the lover speaks;

" Your belly - golden wheat Adorned with daffodils, Your breasts - two fawns, the twins of a gazelle".
(Falk, 1982,p41)

Equally, the beloved speaks of her man in Poem 19; " Studded with jewel, his arms Are round and golden, His belly as smooth as ivory, Bright with gems".
(Falk, 1982, p.37)

Another natural theme used at intervals is the going down of the lovers to garden, orchard and field, these terms should be understood in a sexual context. Vineyard is used to denote the woman and her sexuality as in Poem 30, " I have a vineyard, it's fruit is my own" (Falk 1982, p49)

The use of the term " mouth of the vineyard" for the navel suggests that the vineyard is close by.

A new translation by the Bloch's.

A new translation by the Bloch's has brought a vibrant and excellent translation which is truer to the sentiments expressed in the Hebrew, and is as good as Falk's translation; here are a few lines from the Blochs work.

(7.1) Again, o Shulamite,
dance again,
that we may watch you dancing!

(7.2) Why do you gaze at the Shulamite
as she whirls
down the rows of dancers?
O noblemans daughter
The gold of your thigh
shaped by a master craftsman

(7.3) Your navel is the moon's
bright drinking cup
may it brim with wine!

(7.4) Your belly is mound of wheat
edged with lilies
your breasts are two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.

Conclusion