U U | U | - - U - | - U - | - - U -

{ U U
U U | U { - - U -
- - U - | - U - { - - U -
{ U
{ - - -

The above will suffice to illustrate the general method of the Prosodists, and we must refer the reader for the remaining classes and subdivisions of the Basít as well as the other metres to more special treatises on the subject, to which this Essay is intended merely as an introduction, with a view to facilitate the first steps of the student in an important, but I fear somewhat neglected, field of Arabic learning.

If we now turn to the poetical pieces contained in The Nights, we find that out of the fifteen metres, known to al-Khalil, or the sixteen of later Prosodists, instances of thirteen occur in the Mac. N. edition, but in vastly different proportions. The total number amounts to 1,385 pieces (some, however, repeated several times), out of which 1,128 belong to the first two circles, leaving only 257 for the remaining three. The same disproportionality obtains with regard to the metres of each circle. The Mukhtalif is represented by 331 instances of Tawíl and 330 of Basít against 3 of Madíd; the Mutalif by 321 instances of Kámil against 143 of Wafír; the Mujtalab by 32 instances of Ramal and 30 of Rajaz against 1 of Hazaj; the Mushtabih by 72 instances of Khafíf and 52 of Sarí’ against 18 of Munsarih and 15 of Mujtass; and lastly the Muttafik by 37 instances of Mutakárib. Neither the Mutadárak (E. 2), nor the Muzári’ and Muktazib (D. 4.5) are met with.

Finally it remains for me to quote a couplet of each metre, showing how to scan them, and what relation they bear to the theoretical formulas exhibited on p. 242 to p. 247.

It is characteristic for the preponderance of the Tawíl over all the other metres, that the first four lines, with which my alphabetical list begins, are written in it. One of these belongs to a poem which has for its author Bahá al-Din Zuhayr (born A.D. 1186 at Mekkah or in its vicinity, ob. 1249 at Cairo), and is to be found in full in Professor Palmer’s edition of his works, p. 164. Sir Richard Burton translates the first Bayt (vol. i. 290):

An I quit Cairo and her pleasances * Where can I hope to find so gladsome ways?

Professor Palmer renders it:

Must I leave Egypt where such joys abound?
What place can ever charm me so again ?

In Arabic it scans:

U - U | U - - - | U - U | U - U - |
A-arhalu’en Misrin wa tíbi na’ímihil[FN#455]
U - U | U - - - | U - U | U - U - |
Fa-ayyu makánin ba’dahá li-ya sháiku.

In referring to iii. A. I. p. 242, it will be seen that in the Hashw Fa’úlun (U - -) has become Fa’úlu (U - U) by a Zuháf called Kabz (suppression of the fifth letter of a foot if it is quiescent) and that in the ’Arúz and Zarb Mafá’ílun (U - - -) has changed into Mafá’ilun (U - U -) by the same Zuháf acting as ’Illah. The latter alteration shows the couplet to be of the second Zarb of the first ’Arúz of the Tawíl. If the second line did terminate in Mafá’ílun, as in the original scheme, it would be the first Zarb of the same ’Arúz; if it did end in Fa’úlun (U - -) or Mafá’íl (U - -) it would represent the third or fourth subdivision of this first class respectively. The Tawíl has one other ’Arúz, Fa’úlun, with a twofold Zarb, either Fa’úlun also, or Mafá’ilun.

The first instance of the Basít occurring in The Nights are the lines translated vol. i. p. 25:

Containeth Time a twain of days, this of blessing, that of bane *
And holdeth Life a twain of halves, this of pleasure, that
of pain.

In Arabic (Mac. N. i. II):

- - U - | - U - | - - U - | U U - |
Al-Dahru yaumáni zá amnun wa zá hazaru

- - U - | - U - | - - U - | U U - |
Wa’l-’Ayshu shatráni zá safwun wa zá kadaru.

Turning back to p. 243, where the A’áríz and Azrub of the Basít are shown, the student will have no difficulty to recognise the Bayt as one belonging to the first Zarb of the first ’Arúz.

As an example of the Madid we quote the original of the lines (vol. v. 131):—

I had a heart, and with it lived my life * ’Twas seared with fire
and burnt with loving-lowe.

They read in Arabic:—

- U - - | - U - | U U - |
Kána lí kalbun a’íshu bihi

- U - - | - U - | U - |
Fa’ktawá bi’l-nári wa’htarak.

If we compare this with the formula (iii. A. 2. p. 242), we find that either line of the couplet is shortened by a foot; it is, therefore, majzú. The first ’Arúz of this abbreviated metre is Fá’ilátun (- U - -), and is called sahíhah (perfect) because it consists of the normal third foot. In the second ’Arúz, Fá’ilátun loses its end syllable tun by the ’Illah Hafz (suppression of a final Sabab khafíf), and becomes Fá’ilá (- U -), for which Fá’ilun is substituted. Shortening the first syllable of Fá’ilun, i.e. eliminating the Alif by Khabn, we obtain the third ’Arúz Fa’ilun (U U -) as that of the present lines, which has two Azrub: Fa’ilun, like the ’Arúz, and Fa’lun (- -), here, again by Khabn, further reduced to Fa’al (U -).

Ishak of Mosul, who improvises the piece, calls it “so difficult and so rare, that it went nigh to deaden the quick and to quicken the dead”; indeed, the native poets consider the metre Madíd as the most difficult of all, and it is scarcely ever attempted by later writers. This accounts for its rare occurrence in The Nights, where only two more instances are to be found, Mac. N. ii. 244 and iii. 404.

The second and third circle will best be spoken of together, as the Wáfir and Kámil have a natural affinity to the Hazaj and Rajaz. Let us revert to the line:—

U - - - | U - - - | U - - |
Akámú ’l-wajda fí kalbí wa sárú.

Translated, as it were, into the language of the Prosodists it will be:—

Mafá’ílun[FN#456] ’Mafá’ílun Fa’úlun,

and this, standing by itself, might prima facie be taken for a line of the Hazaj (iii. C. I), with the third Mafá’ílun shortened by Hafz (see above) into Mafá’í for which Fa’úlun would be substituted. We have seen (p. 247) that and how the foot Mufá’alatun can change into Mafá’ílun, and if in any poem which otherwise would belong to the metre Hazaj, the former measure appears even in one foot only along with the latter, it is considered to be the original measure, and the poem counts no longer as Hazaj but as Wáfir. In the piece now under consideration, it is the second Bayt where the characteristic foot of the Wáfir first appears:—

U - - - | U - U U | U - - |
Naat ’anní’l-rubú’u wa sákiníhá

U - U U - | U - U U - | U - - |
Wa kad ba’uda ’l-mazáru fa-lá mazáru.

Anglicè (vol. iii. 296):—

Far lies the camp and those who camp therein; * Far is her tent
shrine where I ne’er shall tent.

It must, however, be remarked that the Hazaj is not in use as a hexameter, but only with an ’Arúz majzúah or shortened by one foot. Hence it is only in the second ’Arúz of the Wafír, which is likewise majzúah, that the ambiguity as to the real nature of the metre can arise;[FN#457] and the isolated couplet:—

U - - - | U - - - | U - - |
Yárídu ’l-mar-u an yu’tá munáhu

U - - - | U - - - | U - - |
Wa yabá ’lláhu illá ma yurídu

Man wills his wish to him accorded be, * But Allah naught accords
save what he wills (vol. iv. 157),

being hexametrical, forms undoubtedly part of a poem in Wafír although it does not contain the foot Mufá’alatun at all. Thus the solitary instance of Hazaj in The Nights is Abú Nuwás’ abomination, beginning with:—