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Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory


It's just that magic feeling, right?


In Song of Songs, love is so much more. In this section, we're going to start to think about exactly how love is described in these poems.


The physical attraction and chemistry between the two lovers in Song of Songs is undeniable. There's so much talk of hot bods that it's almost hard to think of it as anything more than the description of an erotic affair. Let's take a look:

Your lips are like a crimson thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,
that feed among the lilies.
(4:3, 5)

This is Biblical begetting at its best, folks. All of this metaphorizing—usually of the natural variety—is designed to tell the reader that this lady is hot. So hot, in fact, that she gets a shout-out in the Bible.

In case the metaphors were confusing, though, the writer doesn't hesitate to lay it all out for us, too: "O that his hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!" (2:6). It's more poetic than, "I want you, let's do it," but it's still majorly sexualized.

Sensory Perception

No good poem is free of figurative language and Song of Songs pulls out all the stops.

  • "Your eyes are like doves" (1:15).
  • "My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts" (1:13). (P.S. Myrrh is like the equivalent of the Tiffany necklace.)
  • "The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance" (2:13).
  • "His fruit is sweet to my taste" (2:3).

Those Biblical writers sure knew their senses.

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