Literary genre
Poetry
Hebrew poetry works by parallelism (lines that echo, intensify, or contrast) and vivid imagery rather than rhyme. The Psalms give Israel — and us — words for the whole range of life before God: praise, lament, trust, repentance, and rage.
How to read it
Read slowly and aloud; feel the parallel lines. Don’t flatten metaphors into prose. Notice the emotional movement of a psalm (often from complaint to trust) and pray it rather than just analyze it.