Psalm 137 - Literature

Literature

  • The title of William Faulkner's If I Forget Thee Jerusalem (1939).
  • The Portuguese 16th century poet Luís de Camões's poem Sôbolos rios que vão por Babilônia is based on Psalm 137.
  • Welsh poet Evan Evans' work "A Paraphrase of Psalm CXXXVII" is a direct answer to Psalm 137 and parallels the plight of the Welsh bards with that of the Jews in the psalm.

The incipit has been referenced in numerous works, including:

  • In the third stanza, The Fire Sermon, of T. S. Eliot's 1922 poem The Waste Land line 182 is: 'By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept...'. Leman is both the French for Lake Geneva and an archaic word for "mistress".
  • By the Waters of Babylon, 1937 short story by Stephen Vincent Benét.
  • By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, 1945 prose poem by Elizabeth Smart.
  • If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth, a short story written by Arthur C. Clarke and first published in 1951 in the magazine Future.
  • By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, 1994 novel by Paulo Coelho.
  • In Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Anson Heinlein, the last line of this psalm is referenced to depict the potential nature of God.
  • In Book X, Chapter 7 of The Brothers Karamazov, Captain Snegiryov quotes verses 5 and 6.

Read more about this topic:  Psalm 137

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