Hvem er hvem i Klagesangene?

In this article the different speaking voices and personae inLamentations are analysed with the intention of uncovering their dialogicalinteractions and the effect they have on communicating thethemes of the text. It is shown that there are four principal voices inLamentations: the lamenter, Zion, the Man and the community. An essentialelement in the polyphony in Lamentations is the personifi cationof the principal voices. Here it is the persona of Zion who particularlyasserts herself in her role as personifi ed city. She confronts God, whoremains silent in the discourse. The absence of God which is one of themain themes in Lamentations, becomes more obvious in the dynamicinteraction between the lamenter and Zion. The dialogical discoursein Lamentations communicates a many-faceted portrait of God whichresults in a corresponding many-sided theology.