A Web Page About Biblical Poetry

Biblical poetry does not follow the forms many people now associate with poetry.  Rhyming of sounds, lines of equal length, strictly structured beat patterns, and many other modern conventions are not in evidence, especially in Hebrew poetry.  The poetic nature of the text is often not immediately evident in modern translations. Instead, you find pairings of similar ideas (synonymous couplets), opposite ideas (antithetical couplets), and couplets where the second line adds to and completes the first (climactic); acrostics, atbash, songs, alliteration, metaphors, and what can be described as "tongue twisters."  (Amos 5:5, הַגִּלְגָּל֙ גָּלֹ֣ה יִגְלֶ֔ה "hagilgal galoh yigleh," which translates as "for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity."

There is an excellent detailed discussion of Biblical poetry on this web page.