Madīd (metre) explained

The Madīd (Arabic: مَدِيد, "protracted") metre is one of the metres used in classical Arabic poetry. The theoretical pattern of the metre is as follows, where u = a short syllable, – a long syllable, and x = anceps (either long or short):

Arabic: فَاعِلَاتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ فَاعِلَاتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ

| x u – x | x u – | x u – – | x u – |

However, more usually the metre is found in a trimeter version. The full version of the trimeter is as follows:

Arabic: فَاعِلَاتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ فَاعِلَاتُنْ

| x u – x | x u – | x u – – |

In two of the examples below, the metre is used in a catalectic trimeter version (i.e. shortened by one syllable), as follows:

Arabic: فَاعِلَاتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ فَاعِلُنْ

| x u – x | x u – | x u – |

In the above catalectic trimeter version, the 2nd and 3rd anceps syllables (x) are usually long (never both short),[1] and the 3rd is almost always short.[2] The final foot | u u – | may become | – – |.

The Madīd metre is only rarely used. Only 0.43% of Vadet's corpus of 1st–3rd century AD poetry are in this metre.[3] It does not occur at all in Stoetzer's corpus of 8th-century poems or in the 10th-century poet al-Mutanabbi.[4] The tetrameter version is rarely found in practice except in prosodists' examples.[5]

Examples

Tetrameter

The longer tetrameter version of this metre is rare. The following line, a mother's lament for her son, is found in the Ḥamāsa, an anthology of poems compiled in the 9th century by Abū Tammām:[6]

Arabic: rtl=yes|ليت قلبي ساعةً صبرهُ عنكَ مَلَك * ليت نفسي قُدِّمت للمنايا بدلك

| – u – – | – u – || – u – – | u u – |

"Would that my heart for an hour * could control its grief for you;

Would that my soul could be sacrificed * to Fate instead of you."

In this version, there is a clear break between the two halves of the hemistich.

Trimeter

The trimeter is more common than the tetrameter. The following line is by the 8th-century Iraqi poet Abu-l-ʿAtahiya:[7]

Arabic: rtl=yes|إنّما أنتَ بوادي ٱلمنايا * إن رماكَ ٱلموت فيه أصابا

| – u – – | u u – | – u – – |

| – u – – | – u – | u u – – |

"Lo, you are dwelling in Fate's vale;

when Death strikes you, it will not fail."

Trimeter catalectic

More often the trimeter is used in a catalectic version, that is, with the final syllable missing. A well known poem in this catalectic version is the following by the Baghdadi Sufi poet Sumnūn al-Muḥibb (also known as Samnūn, died c. 910 AD):[8]

Arabic: rtl=yes|كان لى قلب أعيش به * ضــــــاع منى فى تقلبه

Arabic: rtl=yes|رب فاردده عليّ فقد * ضاق صدري في تطلبه

Arabic: rtl=yes|وأغث ما دام بي رمقٌ * يا غياثَ المستغيثِ به

– u – – | – u – | u u –

– u – – | – u – | u u –

– u – – | u u – | u u –

– u – – | – u – | u u –

– u – – | – u – | u u –

– u – – | – u – | u u –

"I had a heart which I lived with;

I lost it in its turning.

Lord, return it to me, since

my breast has become narrow in searching for it.

And succour me as long as life remains,

O succour of him who seeks assistance."

Another version of the metre is used by the Arabian poet Baha' al-din Zuhair (1186–1258) in the love ode which begins:[9]

Arabic: rtl=yes|کل شیء منک مقبول * وعلی العینین محمول

Arabic: rtl=yes|والاذی یرضیک من تلفی * هین عندی ومبذول

– u – – | – u – | – –

u u – – | – u – | – –

– u – – | – u – | u u –

– u – – | – u – | – –

"Everything from you is acceptable

and bearable in my eyes;

And what pleases you of my destruction

is easy for me and (readily) bestowed."

In this version of the metre, the final u u – is optionally changed to – –. This variation, affecting the last three syllables of the line, is also found in the Basīṭ metre, and is also common in Persian poetry.[10]

Medieval Hebrew poetry

This metre is almost never used in medieval Hebrew poetry. However, Halper quotes a piyyut written by the 12th-century Spanish scholar Abraham ibn Ezra in the trimeter version of the metre, which runs as follows:[11]

| – u – – | – u – | – u – – |

Because of the rarity of short syllables in Hebrew, Ibn Izra chooses the long alternative of each anceps.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-1/madid-SIM_4404?s.num=18 "Madīd"
  2. Wright, W. (1896), A Grammar of the Arabic Language, vol. 2, p. 367.
  3. Golston, Chris & Riad, Tomas (1997). "The Phonology of classical Arabic meter". Linguistics 35 (1997), 111-132.
  4. Frolov, Dmitry (1996). "The Circles of al-Khalil and the structure of Luzumiyyat of Abu 'l-'Ala' al-Ma'arri". Studies in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures. Memorial Volume of Karel Petraček, Praha, 1996, 223-236.), p. 3.
  5. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-1/madid-SIM_4404?s.num=18 "Madīd"
  6. Quoted by Halper, B . "The Scansion of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry". The Jewish Quarterly Review vol. IV, (1913–14), p. 215.
  7. Quoted by Halper, B . "The Scansion of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry". The Jewish Quarterly Review vol. IV, (1913–14), p. 216.
  8. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/sumnun-SIM_7191?s.num=172&s.rows=50&s.start=150 Sumnūn
  9. Quoted in A.J. Arberry, Arabic Poetry: A Primer for Students no. 24.
  10. L.P. Elwell-Sutton (1976), The Persian Metres, pp. 128–135.
  11. Halper, B . "The Scansion of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry". The Jewish Quarterly Review vol. IV, (1913–14), p. 216.