The Song of Songs remains one of the most elusive texts of the Hebrew Bible. In this commentary, Exum treats the Song as a masterpiece of Hebrew poetry within the context of ancient Near Eastern love poetry. With close attention to the nuances of Hebrew language and an amazing sensitivity to how the poetry of desire works, Exum provides a literary and feminist commentary in full conversation with poetic theory and the conventions of gender. The Song of Songs resists closure, operating within a lyric pattern instead of a narrative, and thus develops its own strategy for immortalizing love.