Basit

{{Title language|ar-Latn}} {{Short description|Metre used in classical Arabic poetry}} {{About|the metre used in classical Arabic poetry}} {{Arab culture}} '''{{Lang|ar-Latn|Basīṭ}}''' ({{langx|ar|بسيط}}) or '''{{lang|ar-Latn|al-basīṭ}}''' ({{lang|ar|البسيط}}), is a metre used in classical Arabic poetry. The word literally means "extended" or "spread out" in Arabic.<ref>{{cite book |author=Edward W. Lane |date=1863 |url=http://www.tyndalearchive.com/tabs/lane/ |title=Arabic–English Lexicon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408021742/http://www.tyndalearchive.com/tabs/lane/ |archive-date=2015-04-08 }}</ref> Along with the {{lang|ar-Latn|ṭawīl}}, {{lang|ar-Latn|kāmil}}, and {{lang|ar-Latn|wāfir}}, it is one of the four most common metres used in pre-Islamic and classical Arabic poetry.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Golston |first1=Chris |author2=Tomas Riad |year=1997 |url=http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~chrisg/index_files/ArabicMeter.pdf |title=The Phonology of classical Arabic meter |journal=Linguistics |volume=35 |pages=111–132, page 120 }}</ref>

==Form of the metre== The metrical form of the {{lang|ar-Latn|basīṭ}} is often as follows (where "–" is a long syllable, "u" is a short syllable, and "x" is {{lang|la|anceps}}, i.e., a syllable which can be either long or short):<ref>McCarus, Ernest N. (1983). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/43192553 "Identifying the Meters of Arabic Poetry"], ''Al-'Arabiyya'' vol 16. no. 1/2, pp. 57-83. (Georgetown University Press).</ref><ref>Wright, W. (1951). ''A Grammar of the Arabic Language'', vol. II, Cambridge University Press; pp. 350-390.</ref>

:| x – u – | x u – | – – u – | u u – |

The mnemonic words ({{lang|ar-Latn|tafāʿīl}}) used by Arab prosodists to describe this metre are: ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|Mustafʿilun Fāʿilun Mustafʿilun Faʿilun}}'' ({{lang|ar|مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ فَاعِلُنْ مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ فَعِلُنْ}}).

The metre is usually used in couplets of eight feet each.

==Example== An example is the {{lang|ar-Latn|qasīda}} by al-Mutanabbi (915–965): “The poet reproaches Sayf al-Dawla” (king of Aleppo), a poem of 38 couplets, from which come the following well-known verses:

:| u – u – | u u – | – – u – | u u – | :| u – u – | – u – | – – u – | u u – |

:{{lang|ar|إذا رَأيْـتَ نُيُـوبَ اللّيْـثِ بـارِزَةً ٭ فَـلا تَظُـنّـنّ أنّ اللّيْـثَ يَبْتَسِـمُ}} :{{lang|ar|و مهجـة مهجتي من هم صاحبها ٭ أدركتـــه بجواد ظهره حـــرم}} :{{lang|ar|رجلاه في الركض رجل و اليدان يد ٭ وفعلـــه ماتريد الكف والقدم}} :{{lang|ar|ومرهف سرت بين الجحفليـــن به ٭ حتى ضربت و موج الموت يلتطم}} :{{lang|ar|الخيل والليل والبيــداء تعرفنــــي ٭ والسيف والرمح والقرطاس و القلم}}

:{{transliteration|ar|’iḏā ra’ayta nuyūba l-layṯi bārizatan}} :{{transliteration|ar|falā taẓunnanna ’anna l-layṯa yabtasimū}}

:{{transliteration|ar|wamuhjatin muhjatī min hammi ṣāḥibihā}} :{{transliteration|ar|adraktuhā bĭ-jawādin ḍahruhū ḥaramu}}

:{{transliteration|ar|rijlāhu fir-rakḍi rijlun wal-yadāni yadun}} :{{transliteration|ar|wa-fi’luhū mā turīdu l-kaffu wal-qadamu}}

:{{transliteration|ar|wa-murhafin sirtu bayna l-jaḥfalayni bihi}} :{{transliteration|ar|ḥattā ḍarabtŭ wa-mawju l-mawti yaltaṭimu}}

:{{transliteration|ar|al-ḵaylu wal-laylu wal-baydā’u ta‘rifunī}} :{{transliteration|ar|was-sayfu war-rumḥu wal-qirṭāsu wal-qalamu}}

:If you see the lion’s fangs on display :do not imagine for a moment that the lion is smiling.

:And a soul whose owner’s concern was my soul :I have overtaken on a steed whose back was inviolable;

:His two hind legs in the galloping were one and his two forelegs were one, :and his action was whatever my hand and my foot desired.

:And I have ridden with a blade between the two armies, :until I struck while the wave of death was crashing round me.

:The horses and the night and the desert know me :and the sword and the spear and the paper and the pen.

==Variations== Although in the poem of al-Mutanabbi quoted above, the last foot of each half-verse is always | u u – |, other poets use the metre in the following form, where "<u>uu</u>" represents a biceps element, i.e. one where the two short syllables can optionally be replaced by one long one. :| x – u – | x u – | – – u – | <u>uu</u> – |

An example is the following drinking-song by Abu Nuwas which begins:

:{{lang|ar|دَعْ عَنْكَ لَوْمي فإنّ اللّوْمَ إغْرَاءُ * ودَاوني بالّتي كانَتْ هيَ الدّاءُ}}

:{{transliteration|ar|daʿ ʿanka lawmī fa-’inna l-lawma ’iḡrā’u}} :{{transliteration|ar|wa-dāwinī bil-latī kānat hiya d-dā’u}} :| – – u – | – u – | – – u – | – – | :| u – u – | – u – | – – u – | – – |

:"Censure me not, for censure but tempts me; :cure me rather with the cause of my ill—"<ref>Translation from Kennedy, Philip F. (1997). ''The wine song in classical Arabic poetry: Abu Nuwas and the literary tradition.'' Oxford University Press.)</ref>

The metre also exists in a trimeter form of which the half-verse is as follows: :| x – u – | – u – | x – u – |

There is also a catalectic trimeter form: :| x – u – | – u – | x – – |

Occasionally the first foot of each half-verse can be | – u u – |.

Very rarely (in less than 1% of lines) the third foot can be | u – u – |.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stoetzer |first=Willem |date=1982 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4183063 |title=Some Observations on Quantity in Arabic Metrics |journal=Journal of Arabic Literature |volume=13 |pages=66–75 }}</ref>

==In a musical context== The term {{transliteration|ar|basīṭ}} is also used in a musical context; in the ''Andalusi nubah'', or classical suites, of Morocco, each {{transliteration|ar|nubah}}, or suite, is divided into five main movements (called {{transliteration|ar|mīzān}} {{lang|ar|ميزان}}; plural: {{transliteration|ar|mawāzīn}} {{lang|ar|موازين}}) each of which uses a different rhythm, as follows:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://membres.lycos.fr/duhri/andalusian-music.htm |title=Andalusian Music |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080507194646/http://membres.lycos.fr/duhri/andalusian-music.htm |archive-date=7 May 2008 }}</ref>

# {{transliteration|ar|Basīṭ}} ({{lang|ar|بسيط}}, 6/4) # {{transliteration|ar|Qāim wa nusf}} ({{lang|ar|قائم ونصف}}, 8/4) # {{transliteration|ar|Btāyhī}} ({{lang|ar|طايحي}}, 8/4) # {{transliteration|ar|Darj}} ({{lang|ar|درج}}, 4/4) # {{transliteration|ar|Quddām}} ({{lang|ar|قدام}}, 3/4 or 6/8)

==See also== *Arabic prosody *Tawil *Metron (poetry)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C68vc8plVI A recitation in Arabic of al-Mutanabbi's line] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AxuhrJgD4E Recitation of the Abu Nuwas poem] by Bashar Al-Roumi *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va3x5oF_Wpg Version of the Abu Nuwas poem sung to a lute] *[https://www.basit.com.sa] basit

Category:Arabic and Central Asian poetics Category:Poetic rhythm Category:Arabic music Category:Arabic poetry Category:Arabic poetry forms