A book of measuring poetry

The book "The Measure of Poetry" by Ibn Tabataba, is one of the sources of literary and critical heritage among the Arabs. It came about from the author of the book in the publisher's introduction for Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyah, with explanation and verification by Abbas Abdul Sattar (First edition / Beirut / 1982 AD): "He is Abu al-Hassan Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al-Alawi, his lineage traces back to Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, and (Tabataba) is the adjective that attached to Ibrahim ibn Ismail Al-Alawi, as he stuttered with the Qaf, making it a Taa." page 7. Ibn Tabataba was born in Isfahan, grew up and was educated there, and did not leave it for others, as Yaqut Al-Hamawi says in Mu'jam Al-Adab, and he died in the year 322 AH. (See: pages 6, 7). The book "The Measure of Poetry" is considered a small-sized book compared to some other heritage books; its pages in the mentioned verified edition amounted to 171 pages, but it is large in size with its benefits and topics it covered. We start with the title of the intriguing book in its time and place (The Measure of Poetry), and from the meanings of "Al-‘Iyār" in the dictionary, it is what is estimated by weight or measure, and as we see, it is closer in meaning to the title of our book; for it measures and weighs poetry according to the conditions of its craft and criticism. Ibn Manzur's Lisan Al-Arab states: "..and ‘Ayyar الدينار: it is the one who weighs with it, and ‘Ayyar the balance and measure, and he measured them and compared between them, and ‘Ayyar: it is to estimate them and look at what is between them (Material: ‘Ayyar, Lisan Al-Arab, Volume 4, Dar Sader, page 623)." The book contains poetic and critical issues and questions, which had taken hold of the scholars of literature and language at that time. Among the issues Ibn Tabataba discussed in his book are: poetry of the newly born, the measure of poetry, types and tools of simile, verses that their speakers drowned in their meanings, the well-structured and comprehensive poetry, the forced and contrived poetry, the beautiful poetry with weak meaning, the correct poetry with poor composition, shared meanings (theft), rhymes and meters, and others. Ibn Tabataba presented his book with a valuable critical introduction, and then cited his issues, supported by Arabic poetry verses. His speech sometimes contains digressions, as was the custom of ancient writers. In his introduction, he distinguishes between poetry and prose: "Poetry, may God make you happy, is spoken words that are distinct from prose, which people use in their communications." page 9. He continues talking about the artistic features of poetry, and its occurrence between natural talent and craft or natural talent and experience; the one whose taste and musical sense are disturbed must be corrected, refined, and rectified. He says: "The composition that deviates from its direction harms the ears and spoils the taste, and its composition is known and limited. So, the one whose natural talent and taste are sound does not need to rely on the prosody, which is its measure, and the one whose taste is disturbed must not neglect its correction and refinement through knowledge of prosody and skill in it, until his knowledge becomes as innate as natural talent that requires no effort..." page 9. This is one aspect of criticizing poetry and measuring it, which is judged by quality or mediocrity, and I mean by measurement and weight here the judgment of its goodness or badness. Poetry is situated between taste, natural talent, craft, and lack of pretense, as we infer from Ibn Tabataba's words. (See also: Electronic Comprehensive Library, verified by Abdul Aziz bin Nasser Al-Mane’, Al-Khanji Library). In the craft of poetry, Ibn Tabataba makes words, meanings, and meters the basis for building the poetic poem, saying: "If the poet wants to build a poem based solely on the meaning he wants to build the poetry on in his mind in prose, and prepares for it the words that match it, the rhymes that correspond to it, and the meter that makes it easy for him to say..." page 11. The issue of words and meanings is one of the prominent issues that occupied the ancient scholars of the Arabic language, and it is one of the prominent issues in his book, clarifying the close relationship between words and meanings. The poet must choose compatible and appropriate meanings for words, just as he chooses suitable words for meanings, he says: "And meanings have words that resemble them, so they improve in some and become ugly in others; they are like a beautiful girl’s face that increases in beauty in some places and not others..." page 14. Ibn Tabataba provided poetic models for these critical issues and questions, but we cannot mention many of them in this brief quick reading. However, we mention two models as examples of what he mentioned. In the section (Well-structured poetry), he quotes the poet Hatim: "Leave noble deeds, do not travel to their goal, and sit because you are the one who feeds and dresses." (See: page 113). Ibn Tabataba did not explain this verse in detail but said two words about (Al-Kasi), indicating his admiration and strong admiration, as he mentions it in the chapter of well-structured poetry, saying: "His saying 'Al-Kasi' is astonishing in its placement." page 113. In another place, he says: "Among the well-structured, perfected, and comprehensive meanings, with good arrangement, smooth words, and flowing expressions, which came out like prose in ease and order, with no coercion in its rhymes, nor pretense in its meanings...," the poem of Zohair: "I am tired of the hardships of life, and whoever lives eighty years, no father for him, will be tired; see how death randomly strikes whom it will, and whom it misses, he ages and grows old; and he who does not compromise in many matters, will be bitten by fangs and trampled by a herd."