The rhetorical power of literary conventions: Artistic means of persuasion in Biblical discourse

This article traces the impact of reality on the development of communication skills, and the manner in which these skills are in turn refined and by repetition develop into literary conventions. Furthermore, the influence which literary convention then exerts on social attitudes and on the development of new literary conventions are traced. This article is a literary study, though all examples are from or related to the Hebrew Bible(Old Testament).