''Basīṭ'' ( ar, بسيط), or ''al-basīṭ'' (البسيط), is a
metre used in classical
Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that.
Arabic poetry ...
. The word literally means "extended" or "spread out" in Arabic. Along with the ''
ṭawīl
''Ṭawīl'' ( ar, طويل, literally 'long'), or ''al-Ṭawīl'' (), is a meter used in classical Arabic poetry.
It comprises distichs (''bayt'') of two 'lines'—in Arabic usually written side by side, with a space dividing them, the first bei ...
'', ''
kāmil'', and ''
wāfir Wāfir (, literally 'numerous, abundant, ample, exuberant') is a meter used in classical Arabic poetry. It is among the five most popular metres of classical Arabic poetry, accounting (alongside ''ṭawīl'', ''basīṭ'', '' kāmil'', and ''mutaq ...
'', it is one of the four most common metres used in pre-Islamic and classical Arabic poetry.
Form of the metre
The metrical form of the basīṭ is often as follows (where "–" is a long syllable, "u" is a short syllable, and "x" is , i.e., a syllable which can be either long or short):
:, x – u – , x u – , – – u – , u u – ,
The mnemonic words (''tafāʿīl'') used by Arab prosodists to describe this metre are: ' ().
The metre is usually used in couplets of eight feet each.
Example
An example is the ''
qasīda'' by
al-Mutanabbi (915-965): “The poet reproaches Sayf al-Dawla” (king of Aleppo), a poem of 38 couplets, from which comes the well-known verse:
:
:
:
:, u – u – , u u – , – – u – , u u – ,
:, u – u – , – u – , – – u – , u u – ,
:"If you see the lion’s fangs displayed,
:do not imagine for a moment that the lion is smiling."
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 "
uu" represents a
biceps
The biceps or biceps brachii ( la, musculus biceps brachii, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join ...
element, i.e. one where the two short syllables can optionally be replaced by one long one.
:, x – u – , x u – , – – u – ,
uu – ,
An example is the following drinking-song by
Abu Nuwas which begins:
:
:
:
:, – – u – , – u – , – – u – , – – ,
:, u – u – , – u – , – – u – , – – ,
:"Censure me not, for censure but tempts me;
:cure me rather with the cause of my ill—"
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 – , .
[Stoetzer, Willem (1982]
"Some Observations on Quantity in Arabic Metrics"
''Journal of Arabic Literature'' Vol. 13 (1982), pp. 66-75
In a musical context
The term ''basīṭ'' is also used in a musical context; in the ''
Andalusi nubah'', or classical suites, of
Morocco, each ''nubah'', or suite, is divided into five main movements (called ''mīzān'' (; plural: ''mawāzīn'', )) each of which uses a different rhythm, as follows:
#''Basīṭ'' (6/4)
#''Qāim wa nusf'' (8/4)
#''Btāyhī'' (8/4)
#''Darj'' (4/4)
#''Quddām'' (3/4 or 6/8)