The Greatest Song of all Songs

I thought about what I was going to write for the post for quite some time. In all honesty, I haven’t had this much difficulty with a post. But as I contemplated what I was going to write I found myself revisiting Mr. Wasowski’s question, “What is Song of Solomon about…what’s the purpose of it the Bible?” So I poured a cup of coffee and decided to read the Song of Solomon. 

Growing up I read through the Bible with my youth group, but my youth pastor was adamant about not reading Song of Songs because it was “not appropriate”. But against her wishes, I read it. The Book is an incantation that celebrates young lovers.  Not only is it a book that most theologians avoid due to it’s context being different from most other books, but it is also written differently from others. Song of Songs (Solomon) is comprised of lyrical poems, that translates from Hebrew as the greatest song of all songs. 

The poems mainly focuses on love and sexual desire which is also throughout Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. The main character Macon Dead III aka. Milkman is surrounded by sexual tension/ desire. Whether it be his mother Ruth and her abnormal impulses or his off putting relationship with his cousin Hagar. The odd sexual nature of the characters  spiral about in Morrison’s novel, similar to the way the author of song of songs includes the theme in the poetry  

The last similarity I found was the theme of seeking and finding. Throughout the poetry in the Bible, the couple longs to find each other time and time again. This longing for someone reminded me of Milkman’s longing to find the story of his roots. Macon longs to know his family history which leads him to begin a long and tedious journey. Other characters that are searching for something are Macon Dead II and Pilate, the pair search for gold out for greed, which contrasts Milkman’s journey for his identity.

So to answer Mr. Wasowski’s question, Song of Songs is about love and desire. The poetic book of the Bible is extremely important when relating to Toni Morrison’s novel. I found that the two are similar in many ways. From reading the Song of Songs I now have a better understanding of what the poetic book in the Bible is about, and it has provided me with a new and clearer perspective on Morrison’s novel.