هر کسی کو دور ماند از اصل خویش باز جوید روزگار وصل خویش
اصل خویش | دور ما(ن)د (ا)ز | هر کسی کو |
فاعلن | فاعلاتن | فاعلاتن |
اگر آن ترک شیرازی بدست آرد دل مرا بخال هندویش بخشم سمرقند و بخارا را
تر | (آ(ن | گر | ا |
لن | عی | فا | م |
را | ما | (لِ(لی | د |
لن | عی | فا | م |
شم | بخ | یش | دو |
لن | عی | فا | ???? |
شم | بخ | یش | (دو (دُ |
لن | عی | فا | م |
هر چند که رنگ و بوی زیباست مرا چون لاله رخ و چو سرو بالاست مرا
معلوم نشد که در طربخانه خاک نقاش ازل بهر چه آراست مرا
… has the metre:
مَفعُولُ مَفَاعِلُن مَفَاعِیلُ فَعَل
(mafʿūlu mafāʿilun mafāʿīlun faʿal)
را | م | ست | با | زی | ی | بو | گو | رن | که | د | چن | هر |
عل | ف | ل | عی | فا | م | لن | ع | فا | م | ل | عو | مف |
… which may not appear immediately decipherable to learners who have just started getting familiarised withʿarūż. It is one of the most frequently used metres in Khayyam’s work and has the rhythm of tan tan ta | ta tan ta tan | ta tan tan ta | ta tan – a 6/8 beat, common not only to Persian, but to Kurdish, Azeri, Armenian, Afghan, Uzbek, and Tajik, music. Musically, it is easier to understand this metre, which is in fact a repetition of the unit ta tan tan ta | ta tan ta tan, with some beats silenced: ta tan tan ta | ta tan ta tan || ta tan tan ta | ta tan ta tan It is a frequent metre in Khayyam’s work. Once you know it in one rubāʿī, you will be able to read other rubāʿīs with correct scansion. Correct scansion ultimately comes from reading a lot of Persian poetry. It is the feeling for the rhythm as well as the language itself that will help you understand the metre of a particular poem correctly. These three posts only give you the basic knowledge of ʿarūż, the fundamental concepts such as letter grouping, the repetition of arkān, the f-ʿ-l system, syllabification, syllable length etc., and these concepts give you an idea of how classical Persian poetry works and therefore help you determine the metre of a poem, but the ability to scan a poem automatically can only be obtained through practice. Many edited editions of the most famous Persian poets include the metre of every poem in the annotations, and that helps you see the logic clearly and familiarises you with ʿarūż faster. Listening to recitation by native speakers is also a good idea. Persian music will also be useful – songs composed on traditional poems are of course the best, but even the lyrics of modern pop seldom deviate from the principles of syllable length and poetic rhythm. The more Persian poetry/music you listen to, the easier it is for you to internalise the prosody.
Iskandar Ding
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