on page
266). [For a combination of Antique Rhythm and the Antistrophic system,
see note to vii on page 267.]

2. The metre of Wisdom verse is highly elaborate: we find here, not only
the parallelism of successive clauses, but the 'high parallelism' which
correlates all parts of a whole poem with one another. Two types may be
distinguished: the Stanza structure and the Antistrophic structure.

Stanzas are familiar to the English reader: in Biblical poetry groups of
three lines, or four lines, etc., recur in succession: a simple example
is the Chorus of Watchmen (on page 236).

The Antistrophic system is familiar to students of Greek, as the
metrical form of tragic choral odes. In this case the stanzas run in
pairs, strophe and antistrophe, the theory being that the antistrophe
exactly repeats the metrical form of its strophe; if another strophe
follows the form may altogether change, but the changed form will be
repeated in the corresponding antistrophe. [This may be expressed by the
formula a a', b b', c c', etc.] Besides the pair of strophes there may
be an introduction, or conclusion, or both. No. i of the Sonnets (on
page 125) is an example of a poem consisting simply of strophe and
antistrophe; No. iii (page 126) has also a conclusion.[7]

[Footnote 7: The term strophe is the Greek for 'turning': the system is
derived from the dance performance of Greek odes, according to which the
chorus danced from the altar to the end of the orchestra in one stanza,
then 'turned,' and _retraced their steps_ for the antistrophe or
'answering' stanza. The term strophe has come to be used also for verse
paragraphs where there is no antistrophic arrangement. (See page 266,
note on vi.)]

Both in the case of the Stanza structure and the Antistrophic structure
there are various modifications and elaborations--duplication,
inversion, interruption, etc.: these it will be sufficient to explain in
connection with the examples in which they are found.

3. The metre of Lyrics is in the main the same as that of Wisdom poetry.
But in the strictest kinds of lyrics the structure is further determined
by the musical performance. A lyric may be a solo, or the matter may be
arranged for 'antiphonal' performance between different performers, e.g.
choruses of Men and of Women. Antiphonal and antistrophic structure go
easily together: see Deborah's Song, page 152. The musical performance
also introduces the 'refrain,' a passage recurring (with