Joel Sounds Like...

There is so much imagery jam packed into The Book of Joel. There are descriptions and sounds of images brought to life through this writing.
The first passage that caught my attention because of its sound was at the beginning. 
The vine dries up
And the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up
Indeed, rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men.
Gird yourselves with sackcloth
And lament, O priests;
Wail, O ministers of the altar!
I love the alliteration here that just pops when you read it aloud: “the fig tree fails”  and “the pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree.” This all helps to give it a rhythm and sound as you read.
There is also assonance that appears with the words tree, trees, field and indeed. These all have the “ee” sound that can give character and flow of the lines to the reader. It’s something that I came back to and read a few times to understand and read it better.
Toward the end there was some consonance with the letter t in lament, priests, ministers and altar. Along with that, ministers and altar had a rhyme to them at the very end. 

The next passage that I found beautiful to my ear to read was this:
They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like soldiers;
And they each march in line,
Nor do they deviate from their paths.
They do not crowd each other,
They march everyone in his path;
When they burst through the defenses,
They do not break ranks.
They rush on the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They enter through the windows like a thief.
The biggest appeal these lines had to my ear was the repetition that is developed here. The word “they” is repeated a lot with an action that comes after it: They run... They climb... They march... They (action here). It gives me the feeling that the “they” people are doing something. There is movement, there is a destination and purpose that “they” are striving for. This variation creates different feelings, like between “They rush” and “They enter.” “They rush” gives a hurried sense that there is a fast movement and the word is said quickly with a lingering on the “sh,” the ending of rush. On the other side, “They enter” is more casual. They are just entering through the windows like it’s no big deal. There isn’t the same sense of intensity, but almost more casual, or even cautious.
Also, assonance makes a scene here in words such as, like, mighty, break and ranks. It gives these lines repetition of sounds that the ear catches.
Alliteration makes an appearance as well through phrases like, “mighty men” and “do they deviate.” The “mighty men” gives strength to the men, not only because of the word mighty, but because it starts with an “m” and more emphasis will be given to these two words in a row.
Lastly, this little consonance that snuck in here is shown in the line, “And they each march in line.” The “ch” sounds gives almost a beat as you say it aloud. You can imagine people in line marching, firmly stepping in time: Left, left, left, right, left...

A third group of lines also caught my ears’ attention as I read The Book of Joel aloud.
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
And rend your heart and not your garments”
Now return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.
Once again, repetition shows its face. This time, it appears with words that end in -ing. Such as, fasting, weeping and mourning, all in the same line. Then the -ing’s are brought up again through abounding, lovingkindness and relenting. The -ing’s give a bounce to the sound as they are read aloud. Even the “ing” has its own bounce, and gives a nice rhythm to the end of the words as they are said.
The other big pattern of sound that is here is assonance, in words like, all, heart; heart garments; LORD your God. 
In that whole line, “Now return to the LORD your God,” there is consonance with return to. The t sound is repeated and then right after, the assonance comes in. These two elements put together side by side creates this urgency as you read it, and Israel does need to come back to God. These elements in this are appropriate for the urgency of Joel.

All of these elements placed within this piece help as you read this verbally, to create images visually, along with giving rhythm to the reader. 

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