The psalms were written during a time that spans roughly the Exodus (Mosaic psalm, Psalm 90) to the Babylonian Captivity (Psalm 137).Some clearly prophesy the coming of Christ (Psalms 8, 22, 110). Some relate events in Israel's history (Psalms 78, 105, 106, 137) as well as record all the way back to creation (90, 104, 136). Several are pleading to God for help; others sing out in praise to our Savior. Indeed, the 150 psalms run the gamut of human emotions and span several millenia of world history.
The poetry is also varied. Psalm 119 is a vivid example of one form. Set in sets of 16 verses, each verse begins with the same Hebrew letter (The NIV version illustrates this by starting each set with the Hebrew letter those verses begin with). Several smaller psalms have each verse begin progressively with each letter in sequence from the Hebrew. In a sense, it is like the English mnemonic device of rhymes, only the mnemonic starts the verse rather than end it.
Another form is parallelism. In this form, two verses says essentially the same thing, but use different words. In this form you will find such pairs as "Judah-Ephraim," "Jacob-Israel," and "people (Israel)-nations/goyim (Gentiles). An example is this from Psalm 103: All of you thousands Who serve and obey God, Come and praise your LORD! All of God's creation And all that He rules, Come and praise your LORD!
Notice how the parts of the verses correspond in their message with different words. Again, this is a repetitiousness that aids memory. A thorough study of the Hebrew text, however, will reveal that while the English conveys the same thoughts, the Hebrew adds shades of meaning that make a more dramatic impact to what God is saying to each believer.
A third form is what is called the chiastic. This form is named for the Greek letter "chi" that looks like the English "X." Basically, like the parallel form, two verses express similar thoughts in different words. But the chiastic form flips the thoughts of the second verse around so that if you draw a line between the like thoughts, you have an "X" ("chi"):
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