life setting is suppressed so as to provide a universal appeal for this love poetry.68 As Alter (Art) asserts, figurative language is used more prominently throughout the Song than anywhere else in the Bible. Furthermore, the lines of semantic distinction blur in the creative play of the imagery. This means that it is not always clear (from a structural standpoint) which image is the illustration and which is the referent. Significant emphases occur in the repeated images
Pages 29–30