Reading an Aramaic Qina framed by a biblical one.

Abstract

The author of the first poem of a manuscript from the Cairo Geniza, CUL T-S H14.64, used the verses in Lamentations 1 as a technical device to frame his poem, while he found a variety of ways to connect the stanzas of the poem with verses from Lamentations and other biblical verses. He linked the stanzas of the poem forward and backward through themes and language that are significant in the poem as a whole. This study also follows the trajectories of both the first- and third-person voices, reflecting on how their interchange might contribute to our understanding of the message of the poem.