فَإِنَّ قَنَاتَنَا يَا عَمْرُو أَعْيَتْ عَلَى الْأَعْدَاءِ قَبْلَكَ أَنْ تَلِينَا[
O ʿAmr, our spear-shaft has resisted becoming pliant before enemies long before you.
Key vocabulary:[ Qanātunā literally is a spear-shaft and figuratively firmness; talīnā means to become supple.
The verse advances the speaker’s claim of autonomy, his reply to an opponent, or his ancestral prestige.
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ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm: Defying Royal Authority, the Spear Metaphor, and Ancestral Honour (verses 52–63)
فَإِنَّ قَنَاتَنَا يَا عَمْرُو أَعْيَتْ عَلَى الْأَعْدَاءِ قَبْلَكَ أَنْ تَلِينَا[
O ʿAmr, our spear-shaft has resisted becoming pliant before enemies long before you.
Key vocabulary:[ Qanātunā literally is a spear-shaft and figuratively firmness; talīnā means to become supple.
The verse advances the speaker’s claim of autonomy, his reply to an opponent, or his ancestral prestige.