Song of Songs

"Song of Songs" is a part of the Wisdom books from the Old Testament. It was written by Solomon which is notable from the first verse. From the title we can see that the author considered it the best song because the title itself is a superlative. “Song of Songs” tells the story about the love between a man and a woman and it emphasizes patience and waiting because the couple first gets married and then makes love.

It begins before the marriage. The loves first glorify each other and long for each other. The fiancée wants everything to develop naturally.

During the marriage they experience temptation when the wife refuses her husband and then searches for him all over town, but not even the guards want to help her. She feels guilty. After that they make peace. By the end of the song, the spouses are full of love trust and then the fiancée tell the most famous verse of the song: “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.”

The song is composed as an dialogue between the spouses and except for them a choir of girls also appears and talks to the fiancée when she is going through difficult times.

“Song of Songs” is one of the most beautiful love songs that was often linked to the Bible because of its strong religious content. The metaphors are often and strong and the song also contains shepherd motives, because the fiancé is a shepherd, and it effects the Songs atmosphere.

There are many translations of the Song because translators still didn’t agree on some parts.

Summary

Prologue: Longing for the fiancé

In the first verse we find out that Solomon wrote the song.

The fiancée indirectly talks to her fiancé and tells him their love is the sweetest and that is the reason why many girls want him. She wants to run away with him because the king took her to his chambers. The choir of girls talks to her and tells her he’ll be happy with her and celebrate her love.

First Song: First encounter

The fiancée is described to the choir of girls that are actually the daughters of Jerusalem. She describes herself as “dark, but beautiful”. She is dark because she was set to take care of the vineyards but she forgot to take care of herself.

She prays to one that her soul loves to tell her where to rest, so she doesn’t have to wander, since he is a shepherd.

Solomon talk to her telling her how beautiful her cheeks are and that her he’ll make golden earrings with silver ornaments. She refers to her as a friend. She praised her fiancé and he praises her.

The fiancée was taken to the chambers of love by the shepherd and in the end she says that love should not be waken up until it wakes up herself.

Second Song: The mutual love grows

We can divide the Song into two parts. The first one is about the fiancé loking for her fiancée.

Winter has passed and spring arrived. The fiancée travels the hills to come to the fiancé. He came to a wall and looks through the bars. She speaks to her and wants to see her face and hear her voice.

The second part is about the fiancée looking for her fiancé. She looks for him in her bed but doesn’t find him.

She looks for him over the city but the guards don’t assist her.

She finds her fiancée and decides to never let him go. She still repeats that she does not want to wake up love until it wakes up on her own.

Third Song: The fiancée is brought to the fiancé

The choir of girl is in a weeding procession and they comment 60 of Solomon’s men trained to war. Solomon made a throne for himself and the men were standing around it. Everything was well decorated.

Solomon is amazed by the fiancée’s appearance and he compares her body parts to beautiful things and animals. He calls her flawless.

The fiancé calls her because she won him over with only one look and she calls him into her garden to eat the best fruits there. It is a metaphor for love making.

Fourth Song: Fiancée’s love is being tested

Her fiancé comes to her door but she isn’t sure should she let him in. She walks towards the doors but when she opens them he isn’t there. He resisted temptation but she decided to look for him.

She again asks the guards for help but they don’t help her. Furthermore, they even hit her. She asks the Jerusalem’s daughters to help her.

She describes him with comparisons and they aske themselves where could he be.

Fifth Song: The joy of the fiancée

Solomon praises the fiancée and asks her to come back but she tells him her heart belongs to someone else. In the last part the fiancées are sure of their love and they praise each other while talking what they will do.

The love’s victory is being emphasized with these verses: “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.”

In the added parts, the parts that were supposedly lost, we met the fiancée’s brothers. They talk about their sisters, ask what to do with her and tell her all about Solomon’s gardens.

Genre: poem

Time: around 1000 BC

Place: Jerusalem

Characters: fiancé, fiancée, Solomon, guards, Jerusalem’s daughters

Character analysis

The fiancée is a beautiful girl with eyes like a dove. Except for being beautiful she is charming, in love with a shepherd, but her love is tempted in Solomon’s chambers where he courts her.

She resists him by talking about her fiancée in the was that Solomon speaks of her. She is faithful to her love until the end.

The fiancé is also in love with his fiancée. He praises her appearance and personality. Together they go through everything.

The shepherd is good looking, strong, with a beautiful body and teeth. All of the girls look at him but he stays faithful to his fiancée.

He sometimes has a hard time in dealing with his temptations but he manages to wait until they love is ready to be woken up.

Solomon is the king that wants the fiancée for himself, but her love for her fiancé is strong. He refers to her as a friend, gives her compliments and tries to break her strong will in an easy way.

He is the king of jews but the fiancée is just a girl in his chambers. Even though he loves her, he doesn’t manage to destroy her love for the fiancé or forbid them to get married.

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