Ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
1. In
Arabic
.
Ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
collective
ḳ
a
ṣ
īd
is the name given in
Arabic
to some poems of a certain length. It
is derived from the root
ḳ
a
ṣ
ada
, “to aim at”, for the primitive
ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
was intended to
eulogize the tribe of the poet and denigrate the opposing tribes. Later it was concerned
with the
eulogy
of a personality or a
family
from whom the poet was soliciting help or
subsidies. Although the funerary
elegy
(
mart
̲
h
̲
iya
or
rit
̲
h
̲
ā
ʾ
) does not seem to have been
included originally under the same designation, the form of the
ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
may nevertheless
be classified in this poetic genre. On the other hand, the poetic satire (
hid
̲
j
̲
ā
ʾ
), which,
furthermore, does not go beyond insult in verse, is often called
ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
by the ancient
poets, even though it does not present all the characteristics of the
ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
.
The classical
ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
, represented ideally by the pre-Islamic or at least archaic poems
[see
mu alla
ʿ
ḳ
āt
], collected and perhaps also given their form during the first centuries of
Islam
, has been defined by Ibn
Ḳ
utayba in a famous passage many times translated and
commented upon (see Gaudefroy- Demombynes,
Introduction au Livre de la poésie et
des poètes
, Paris 1947, xvi-xviii, 13-15, 54-55), and then by the various literary critics
who pronounced their judgments (particularly Ibn Ras
̲
h
̲
ī
ḳ
, see A. Trabulsi,
La critique
poétique des Arabes
,
Damascus
1955,
passim
). It contains a series of successive
developments whose conventional character implies a tradition already immemorial. The
ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
, which numbers at least seven verses, but which generally comprises far more,
consists essentially of three parts of variable length: (1) a prologue in which the poet
sheds some tears over what was once the camping place of his beloved now far off
(
bukā alā 'l-a
ʾ ʿ
ṭ
lāl
), then describes the charms of the latter, which he forebears to pursue
(the
nasīb
[see
g
̲
h
̲
azal
]). (2) The poet's narration of his journey (
ra
ḥ
īl
) to the person to
whom the poem is addressed. This part of the
ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
is a pretext for descriptions of the
desert and the hero's mount, as well as for lyrical flights of
eloquence
, for example on the
insignificance of man. (3) As a general rule, this
ra
ḥ
īl
leads without any great transition
into the central theme, constituted by the panegyric of a tribe, a protector or a patron, or
in satire of their enemies.
The
Arabic
ḳ
a
ṣ
īda
is a very conventional piece of verse, with one rhyme, whatever its
length, and in a uniform metre. Consequently, the charm and originality of certain of the
themes employed cannot prevent boredom and monotony from reigning over these never-
ending poems. These formal constraints were moreover resented by the poets themselves;
they are without doubt the
cause
of the fragmentary character of many of the pieces,
which took a particularly long time to compose. Tradition reports numerous examples of
poets paralysed by the tyranny of the form. Furthermore, this situation can no doubt
This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.

This is the end of the preview.
Sign up
to
access the rest of the document.
- Spring '08
- molouk,gavenpocken
- Poetry, ADAS
-
Click to edit the document details