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Basīṭ (Arabic: بسيط), or al-basīṭ (البسيط), is a metre used in classical Arabic poetry. The word literally means "extended" or "spread out" in Arabic.[1] Along with the ṭawīl, kāmil, and wāfir, it is one of the four most common metres used in pre-Islamic and classical Arabic poetry.[2]
The metrical form of the basīṭ is often as follows (where "–" is a long syllable, "u" is a short syllable, and "x" is anceps, i.e., a syllable which can be either long or short):[3][4]
- | x – u – | x u – | – – u – | u u – |
The mnemonic words (tafāʿīl) used by Arab prosodists to describe this metre are: Mustafʿilun Fāʿilun Mustafʿilun Faʿilun (مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ فَاعِلُنْ مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ فَعِلُنْ).
The metre is usually used in couplets of eight feet each.
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 come the following well-known verses:
- | u – u – | u u – | – – u – | u u – |
- | u – u – | – u – | – – u – | u u – |
- إذا رَأيْـتَ نُيُـوبَ اللّيْـثِ بـارِزَةً * فَـلا تَظُـنّـنّ أنّ اللّيْـثَ يَبْتَسِـمُ
- و مهجـة مهجتي من هم صاحبها * أدركتـــه بجواد ظهره حـــرم
- رجلاه في الركض رجل و اليدان يد * وفعلـــه ماتريد الكف والقدم
- ومرهف سرت بين الجحفليـــن به * حتى ضربت و موج الموت يلتطم
- الخيل والليل والبيــداء تعرفنــــي * والسيف والرمح والقرطاس و القلم
- ’idā ra’ayta nuyūba l-layti bārizatan
- falā taẓunnanna ’anna l-layta yabtasimū
- wamuhjatin muhjatī min hammi ṣāḥibihā
- adraktuhā bĭ-jawādin ḍahruhū ḥaramu
- rijlāhu fir-rakḍi rijlun wal-yadāni yadun
- wa-fi’luhū mā turīdu l-kaffu wal-qadamu
- wa-murhafin sirtu bayna l-jaḥfalayni bihi
- ḥattā ḍarabtŭ wa-mawju l-mawti yaltaṭimu
- al-kaylu wal-laylu wal-baydā’u ta‘rifunī
- 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.
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 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:
- دَعْ عَنْكَ لَوْمي فإنّ اللّوْمَ إغْرَاءُ * ودَاوني بالّتي كانَتْ هيَ الدّاءُ
- daʿ ʿanka lawmī fa-’inna l-lawma ’iḡrā’u
- 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—"[5]
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 – |.[6]
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 (ميزان; plural: mawāzīn, موازين)) each of which uses a different rhythm, as follows:
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