البسيطAl-basīṭ metre

One of the sixteen classical metresFour feet to each half-line

Two of the thirty texts in Matn are in al-basīṭ.

One bayt, foot by foot

Under each half, the words are rewritten as they are spoken, then counted: a bar for a long syllable, a cup for a short one. Read from the right, with the Arabic.

Step through lights each syllable in turn, holding a long syllable twice as long as a short one.

Ṣadr, the first half

بَانَتْ سُعَادُ فَقَلْبِي اليَوْمَ مَتْبُولُ

  1. بَاْنَتْ سُعَاْbā long,nat long,su short,ʿā long,مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilun
  2. دُ فَقَلْdu short,fa short,qal long,فَعِلُنْfaʿilunkhabn
  3. بِلْيَوْمَ مَتْbil long,yaw long,ma short,mat long,مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilun
  4. بُوْلُوْbū long,lū long,فَعْلُنْfaʿlunqaṭʿʿarūḍ

ʿAjuz, the second half

مُتَيَّمٌ إِثْرَهَا لَمْ يُفْدَ مَكْبُولُ

  1. مُتَيْيَمُنْmu short,tay long,ya short,mun long,مُتَفْعِلُنْmutafʿilunkhabn
  2. إِثْرَهَاْʾith long,ra short,hā long,فَاْعِلُنْfāʿilun
  3. لَمْ يُفْدَ مَكْlam long,yuf long,da short,mak long,مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilun
  4. بُوْلُوْbū long,lū long,فَعْلُنْfaʿlunqaṭʿḍarb
Banat Su'ad, bayt 1

Read for scansion, with the missing vowel marks supplied:بَانَتْ سُعَادُ فَقَلْبِي الْيَوْمَ مَتْبُولُمُتَيَّمٌ إِثْرَهَا لَمْ يُفْدَ مَكْبُولُ

Reading the scansion

A metre
A metre (baḥr) is a set pattern of long and short syllables. Every bayt of the poem keeps to it, with a few permitted changes. The system goes back to al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad of Basra, who described fifteen metres. A sixteenth, al-mutadārak, was added after him.
Long and short
A short syllable is a consonant with a short vowel: bi, ta. A long syllable has a long vowel, as in bā and qū, or ends in a consonant, as in bis and qal. Only what is pronounced counts, so the bayt is first written out as it is spoken.
Feet
The syllables fall into feet (tafʿīlāt). Each foot is named with a word built on the root f-ʿ-l, and the word has the foot’s rhythm: mus-taf-ʿi-lun is long, long, short, long.
Two halves
A bayt has two halves, the ṣadr and the ʿajuz. In al-basīṭ each half has four feet. The last foot of the ṣadr is the ʿarūḍ and the last foot of the ʿajuz is the ḍarb. Some changes are allowed only in these two places.
In this bayt
  • The ī of فَقَلْبِي is shortened before the silent lām of الْيَوْمَ.
  • This is the opening bayt and its halves rhyme (taṣrīʿ), so the ʿarūḍ takes the ḍarb’s form, faʿlun (long, long), instead of the usual faʿilun (short, short, long).
  • The final ḍamma of each half is lengthened: mat-bū-lū, mak-bū-lū.

The four metres in Matn

Every text in Matn is in one of four metres. Each row is one half-line in its sound form, read from the right.

The four metres of the texts in Matn, one half-line each
MetreOne half-line, sound formShapeTexts
الرجزal-rajazmustafʿilun: long long short long, mustafʿilun: long long short long, mustafʿilun: long long short longThree matching feet, each ending short, longTexts in Matn 24
الطويلal-ṭawīlfaʿūlun: short long long, mafāʿīlun: short long long long, faʿūlun: short long long, mafāʿīlun: short long long longA three-syllable foot, then a four-syllable one, twice overTexts in Matn 3
البسيطal-basīṭmustafʿilun: long long short long, fāʿilun: long short long, mustafʿilun: long long short long, fāʿilun: long short longA long foot, then a short one, twice overTexts in Matn 2
الكاملal-kāmilmutafāʿilun: short short long short long, mutafāʿilun: short short long short long, mutafāʿilun: short short long short longEach foot opens with two quick shortsTexts in Matn 1

Texts in al-basīṭ

The scansions were made by hand and cross-checked with pyarud 1.0.0. Permitted forms follow al-Damāmīnī, al-ʿUyūn al-ghāmiza ʿalā khabāyā al-Rāmiza. Reciters lengthen and pause freely.