Lamentations consists of five poems.
Poem 1 is a funeral dirge personifying Jerusalem as a widow. She was once dignified, but now dishonoured and abandoned. The poem describes the desolation, loneliness, and abandonment felt by the survivors of the calamity.
Poem 2 describes God’s anger against Jerusalem.
Poem 3 describes the writer’s personal suffering, prayer of consolation and hope, and plea for repentance and vengeance. It serves as the literary and theological centre of the book.
Poem 4 records the grim aftermath of God’s judgment. The only comfort for Jerusalem was to know that her punishment has been accomplished (Lamentations 4:22).1
Poem 5 is a plea to God to remove the disgrace from his people and restore them to their former state of grace.2
1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.