Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T08:40:44.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Theory of Reduplication: Eightfold Meters in Classical Persian Poetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Amr Taher Ahmed
Amr Taher Ahmed*
Affiliation:
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is a known fact that classical Persian poets were partial to poetic meters composed of eight feet, known as muthamman. On this topic, however, two issues remain unsolved: How did the Persian poets devise these meters in the first place? Despite their flagrant predilection for eightfold meters, why did the Persians never use such meters as sarīʿ and qarīb in this form? This paper argues that the Persians, influenced by the structure of the Arabic eightfold base meters, crafted their muthamman meters after a specific process of reduplication. This theory also accounts for the lack of eightfold sarīʿ and qarīb meters, their structure being incompatible with the reduplication process.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , May 2017 , pp. 391 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmed, Amr, and Paoli, Bruno. “Métrique des premiers vers persans” [The Prosody of Early Persian Verses]. Bulletin d’Études Orientales 50 (2010): 127–140. doi: 10.4000/beo.198Google Scholar
Benveniste, Émile. “Le Mémorial de Zarêr, poème pehlevi mazdéen” [The Memorial of Zarêr, a Mazdean Pehlevi Poem]. Journal Asiatique 220 (1930): 245–293.Google Scholar
Bohas, Georges, and Paoli, Bruno. Aspects formels de la poésie arabe [Formal Aspects of Arabic Poetry]. Toulouse: AMAM, 1997.Google Scholar
Danner, Victor. “Arabic Literature in Iran.” In The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 4, edited by Fry, R. N., 566–594. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Fouchécour, C. H., Doerfer, G., and Stoetzer, W. “Rubāʿī (pl. Rubāʿiyyāt).” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2nd ed., edited by Bearman, P., Bianquis, Th., Bosworth, C. E., van Donzel, E., and Heinrichs, W. P. Consulted online on October 6, 2016. <http://dx.doi.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0933>>Google Scholar
Elwell-Sutton, L. P. The Persian Meters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Elwell-Sutton, L. P. “The Rubāʿī in Early Persian Literature.” In The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 4, edited by Fry, R. N., 633–657. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Farzād, M. Persian Poetic Metres. Leiden: Brill, 1967.Google Scholar
Fazīlat, Mahmūd. Āhang-e sheʿr-e pārsī [The Music of Persian Poetry]. Tehran: SAMT, 1387/1999.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “Āhu-i kuhi … Le chamois d’Abu Hafs de Sogdiane et les origines du robāi” [Āhu-i kuhi... Abu Hafs of Sogdiana's Chamois and the Origins of the Rubāi]. In W. B. Henning Memorial Volume, 238–244. London: Lund Humphries, 1970.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “Deux questions de linguistique iranienne: la construction passive du parfait transitif—la versification du moyen-iranien occidental” [Two Questions of Iranian Linguistics : The passive form of the Transitive Perfect- The Versification of Western Middle-Iranian]. In E. Benveniste aujourd’hui. Actes du colloque international du CNRS (Tours, 28–30 septembre 1983), edited by Serbat, G., 239–248. Paris/Louvain: Peeters, 1984, tome II.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “Encore la versification pehlevie” [More on Pahlavi Versification]. In Jérusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 26 (Studies in Honour of Shaul Shaked), 130–139. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2002.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “La versification d’un hymne manichéen en parthe” [The Versification of a Manichaean Hymn in Parthian]. In Religious Themes of Pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia, Studies in Honour of Pr. G. Gnoli, edited by Cereti, C. G., Maggi, M., and Provasi, E., 223–230. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2003.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “La versification d’un poème pehlevi” [The Versification of a Pahlavi Poem]. In Tafazzoli Memorial Volume, edited by Sadeghi, A. A., 39–47. Tehran: Sokhan Publisher, 2001.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “La versification en parthe et son héritage persan” [Parthian Versification and its Persian Heritage]. In Iranian Languages and Texts from Iran and Turan, Ronald E. Emmeric Memorial Volume, edited by Macuch, Maria, Maggi, Mauro, and Sundermann, Werner, 161–171. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “Le mètre du Draxt asûrîg” [The meter of the Draxt Asûrîg]. Orientalia suecana 51–52 (2002–03): 327–336.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “Le mètre épique baloutchi et les origines du motaqâreb” [The Baluchi Epic Meter and the Origins of the Motaqâreb]. In Arabic Prosody and its Applications in Muslim Poetry, edited by Johnson, L. and Utas, B., 81–90. Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 1994.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “The Rise of the New Persian Language.” In The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 4, From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs, edited by Frye, R. N., 595–632. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Māhyār, ʿAbbās. ʿArūz-e fārsī, shīve-ī now barāye āmūzesh-e ʿarūz va qāfiye [Persian Prosody, a New Method for Teaching Prosody and Rhyme]. 5th ed. Tehran: Qatre, 1379/2000.Google Scholar
Najafī, Abolhasan. Darbāre-ye tabaqebandī-ye vaznhā-ye sheʿr-e fārsī [Classification of Persian Poetic Meters]. Tehran: Nīlūfar, 1394/2015.Google Scholar
Najafī, Abolhasan. Ekhtiyārāt-e shāʿerī va maqālehā-ye dīgar dar ʿarūz-e fārsī [Poetic Licenses and Other Essays on Persian Prosody]. Tehran: Nīlūfar, 1394/2015.Google Scholar
Nöledeke, Theodor. The Iranian National Epic, or the Shahnamah. Translated by Bogdanov, Lonid Th. Philadelphia, PA: Porcubine Press, 1979.Google Scholar
Paoli, Bruno. De la théorie à l’usage: Essai de reconstitution du système de la métrique arabe ancienne [From Theory to Usage : A Tentative Reconstruction of the Ancient Arabic Prosodic System]. Damas: IFPO, 2008.Google Scholar
Shamīsā, Sīrūs. Farhang-e ʿarūzī [Dictionary of Prosody]. 3rd ed. Tehran: Ferdowsī, 1375/1996.Google Scholar
Shamīsā, Sīrūs. Seyr-e rubāʿī dar sheʿr-e fārsī [The Evolution of the Rubāʿī in Persian Poetry]. Tehran: Āshtiyānī, 1363/1984.Google Scholar
Shams-e Qeys-e Rāzī. Al-muʿjam fī maʿāyīr ashʿār al-ʿajam [Compendium on the Poetry of the Persians]. Edited by Shamīsā, Sīrūs. Tehran: ʿElm, 1388/2009.Google Scholar
Thiesen, Finn. A Manual of Classical Persian Prosody. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1982.Google Scholar
Tūsī, Nasīr-al-Dīn Mohammad b. Mohammad. Miʿyār al-ashʿār (dar ʿelm-e ʿarūz va qavāfī) [The Standard of Poetry (on the Science of Prosody and Rhymes)]. Edited by Feshārakī, Mohammad. Tehran: Mirāth-e Maktūb, 1389/2010.Google Scholar
Utas, Bo. “Arabic and Iranian Elements in New Persian Prosody.” In Arabic Prosody and its Applications in Muslim Poetry, edited by Johanson, Lars and Utas, Bo, 129–141. Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 1994.Google Scholar
Utas, Bo. “Prosody: Meter and Rhyme.” In A History of Persian Literature: Volume 1, General Introduction to Persian Literature, edited by de Bruijn, J. T. P., 96–122. London: I. B. Tauris, 2009.Google Scholar