Rajaz (رَجَز, literally 'tremor, spasm, convulsion as may occur in the behind of a camel when it wants to rise' [1] ) is a metre used in classical Arabic poetry. A poem composed in this metre is an urjūza. The metre accounts for about 3% of surviving ancient and classical Arabic verse. [2] Some historians believe that rajaz evolved from saj'. [3]
This form has a basic foot pattern of | ⏓⏓⏑ – | (where '–' represents a long syllable, '⏑' a short syllable, and '⏓' a syllable that can be long or short), as exemplified through the mnemonic (Tafā'īl) Mustafʿilun Mustafʿilun Mustafʿilun (مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ). [4] Rajaz lines also have a catalectic version with the final foot | ⏓ – – |. [5]
The form of each (metron) may be ⏑ – ⏑ –, – – ⏑ –, or – ⏑ ⏑ –; only rarely ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ –. [5]
Lines are most often of three feet (trimeter), but can also be of two feet (dimeter). Thus the possible forms are:
Uniquely among the classical Arabic metres, rajaz lines do not divide into hemistichs. [6] The early Arab poets [5] rhymed every line on one sound throughout a poem. [7] A popular alternative to rajaz poetry was the muzdawij couplet rhyme, giving the genre called muzdawija. [8]
Although widely held the oldest of the Arabic metres, [9] rajaz was not highly regarded in the pre- and early Islamic periods, being seen as similar to (and at times indistinguishable from) the rhymed prose form saj' . It tended to be used for low-status, everyday genres such as lullabies, or for improvisation, for example improvised incitements to battle.
Rajaz gained in popularity towards the end of the Umayyad period, with poets al-‘Ajjāj (d. c. 91/710), Ru‘ba (d. 145/762) and Abū al-Najm al-‘Ijlī (d. before 125/743) all composing long qaṣīda -style pieces in the metre. Abū Nuwās was also particularly fond of the form. [10]
In the twentieth century, in response to the aesthetics of free verse, rajaz, both in traditional form and more innovative adaptations, gained a new popularity in Arabic poetry, with key exponents in the first half of the century including poets ‘Ali Maḥmūd Ṭāhā, Elias Abu Shabaki, and Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (cf. his 'Unshūdat al-Maṭar'). [11] Since the 1950s free-verse compositions are often based on rajaz feet. [12]
A famous, early example is the following incitement to battle by Hind bint Utbah (6th/7th century CE), showing the form | ⏓⏓⏑ – | ⏑ – ⏑ – |, with the first two elements mostly long, and the fifth one always short: [13]
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The rajaz metre is very similar to the sarī‘, of which the first two metra are the same as rajaz, but the third is shortened: [5]
Unlike the rajaz, sarī‘ is used in couplets.
The third metron is usually – ⏑ –, ⏑ ⏑ – being very rare, especially at the end of a couplet. [5]
The two metres are considered by some scholars to be variations of the same metre. [14] [15]
In languages with quantitative poetic metres, such as Ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic, Sanskrit, and classical Persian, an anceps is a position in a metrical pattern which can be filled by either a long or a short syllable.
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