From the introduction: The Song of Songs has in every age moved its readers by its imaginative power. Although, in the history of its exegesis, there are few studies of the imagery of the Song for its own sake, images are an essential element in the constitution of the Song and every exegesis must take account of them. Leaving aside, therefore, questions of authorship, date, provenance and literary history, questions which are still much debated by scholars, it is to the imagery that the author directly turns, and in particular to a discussion of the way in which the various interpretations of the Song deal with this important aspect of the poem.