19 original verses, 25 bilingual teaching slides, 30 explained questions Read the bilingual lesson for ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād: Love, Ingratitude, the Wounded Horse and Final Boast (verses 57–75) and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. The closing arc: from longing to martial boasting
The closing section combines two apparently different pictures: longing for ʿAblah and the defence of the speaker’s battlefield reputation. A servant gathers news; the poet then complains of ingratitude, remembers his uncle’s charge, depicts his wounded horse, and ends by invoking the feud involving the sons of Ḍamḍam.
The movement from shāta mā qanaṣin to jazar al-sibāʿ places romantic figurative language beside violent pre-Islamic boasting. Each must be interpreted within its literary and historical setting, rather than taken as an instruction to the reader.
2. Verse 57: The inaccessible beloved: a hunting metaphor
يَا شَاةَ مَا قَنَصٍ لِمَنْ حَلَّتْ لَهُ حَرُمَتْ عَلَيَّ وَلَيْتَهَا لَمْ تَحْرُمِ
What a gazelle-like beloved for the one to whom she is permitted! She is forbidden to me; how I wish that were not so.
The hunting expression is a figurative designation for the beloved, not an invitation to hunt. The paired verbs ḥallat and ḥurimat sharpen the contrast between desirability and inaccessibility. The commentary offers tribal enmity as a possible background for the prohibition; the poem itself should not be turned into an unqualified legal ruling.
3. Verse 58: Sending an attendant for news
فَبَعَثْتُ جَارِيَتِي فَقُلْتُ لَهَا اذْهَبِي فَتَجَسَّسِي أَخْبَارَهَا لِي وَاعْلَمِي
So I sent my maid and told her: go, quietly inquire into her news for me, and learn her circumstances.
Baʿathtu is a first-person past verb. Idhhabī, fatajassasī and iʿlamī are feminine singular commands directed to the attendant. Their sequence gives momentum to the narrative: longing becomes an attempt to obtain information. It describes the poet’s conduct rather than prescribing it.
4. Verse 59: Inattention and apparent opportunity
قَالَتْ رَأَيْتُ مِنَ الْأَعَادِي غِرَّةً وَالشَّاةُ مُمْكِنَةٌ لِمَنْ هُوَ مُرْتَمِ
She said: I found the adversaries inattentive; the gazelle-like beloved seemed accessible to someone prepared to make an attempt.
Ghirrah denotes an opportunity created by the adversaries’ inattention. Al-shāh carries the earlier figurative label into the attendant’s report. Mumkinah signals apparent availability, not proof of lawful or assured access. The shift from the poet’s voice to the servant’s reported speech makes the scene dramatic.
5. Verse 60: A gazelle simile for the neck
وَكَأَنَّمَا الْتَفَتَتْ بِجِيدِ جَدَايَةٍ رَشَإٍ مِنَ الْغِزْلَانِ حُرٍّ أَرْثَمِ
When she turned, her graceful neck seemed like that of a young gazelle, delicate and free, with a distinctive pale marking near its mouth.
Kaʾannamā introduces the simile. Jīd is a neck; jadāyah and rashaʾ belong to the vocabulary of young antelope; artham indicates a distinctively marked muzzle. The comparison renders a brief turning movement vivid through an animal familiar to the poem’s audience.
6. Verse 61: A complaint about ingratitude
نُبِّئْتُ عَمْرًا غَيْرَ شَاكِرِ نِعْمَتِي وَالْكُفْرُ مَخْبَثَةٌ لِنَفْسِ الْمُنْعِمِ
I was told that ʿAmr does not appreciate my favour; ingratitude can sour even the benefactor’s spirit.
Nubbiʾtu is a passive past: “I was informed.” The poem moves from one reported failure to acknowledge a favour to a general observation about ingratitude. Here kufr is the denial of a favour, not a theological verdict on the person named ʿAmr.
7. Verse 62: An uncle’s charge tested in battle
وَلَقَدْ حَفِظْتُ وَصَاةَ عَمِّي بِالضُّحَى إِذْ تَقْلِصُ الشَّفَتَانِ عَنْ وَضَحِ الْفَمِ
I kept my uncle’s charge in the bright forenoon, in an intense moment when lips drew back and teeth showed.
Waṣāt ʿammī is an uncle’s charge or counsel. Taqliṣu al-shafatān depicts lips withdrawing to expose the teeth, a concrete image of strain. The temporal particle idh locates the moment when the poet claims to have honoured the charge.
8. Verse 63: The vortex of battle
فِي حَوْمَةِ الْحَرْبِ الَّتِي لَا تَشْتَكِي غَمَرَاتِهَا الْأَبْطَالُ غَيْرَ تَغَمْغُمِ
In the very vortex of battle, whose overwhelming dangers even heroes can scarcely complain of except in muffled murmurs.
Ḥawmat al-ḥarb is the middle of battle, while ghamarāt describes its engulfing crises. Taghamghum is indistinct muttering. Even acknowledged heroes are presented as reduced to murmurs, magnifying the danger through contrast.
9. Verse 64: Advancing against the spears
إِذْ يَتَّقُونَ بِيَ الْأَسِنَّةَ لَمْ أَحِمْ عَنْهَا وَلَكِنِّي تَضَايَقَ مُقْدَمِي
When others used me as a shield against spearpoints, I did not recoil; rather, the space for my advance became constricted.
Yattaqūna biya means they shelter behind or through the speaker. Lam aḥim denies turning away; wa-lākinnī then corrects a possible inference. His advance is physically obstructed, not abandoned by choice—an instance of explaining an apparent limitation without surrendering honour.
10. Verse 65: The rallying army and renewed charge
لَمَّا رَأَيْتُ الْقَوْمَ أَقْبَلَ جَمْعُهُمْ يَتَذَامَرُونَ كَرَرْتُ غَيْرَ مُذَمَّمِ
When I saw their assembled force advance, exhorting one another, I charged again and did so without blame.
Lammā joins perception to response. Yatadhāmarūn is a reciprocal form, “urging one another on.” Karartu signifies a renewed charge. Ghayra mudhammam asserts that the action brought the speaker no reproach, a standard feature of tribal self-praise.
11. Verse 66: Spears compared to well ropes
يَدْعُونَ عَنْتَرَ وَالرِّمَاحُ كَأَنَّهَا أَشْطَانُ بِئْرٍ فِي لَبَانِ الْأَدْهَمِ
They called out “ʿAntar!” while the lances at the dark horse’s chest seemed like long ropes lowered into a well.
The call “ʿAntar!” creates immediate dramatic address. Ashtān biʾr are well ropes; labān al-adham is the chest of the dark horse. The well-rope comparison makes the great number and length of lances visually intelligible.
12. Verse 67: The horse clad in blood
مَا زِلْتُ أَرْمِيهِمْ بِثُغْرَةِ نَحْرِهِ وَلَبَانِهِ حَتَّى تَسَرْبَلَ بِالدَّمِ
I kept driving the front of the horse’s throat and chest against them until it appeared clothed in blood.
Mā ziltu conveys sustained action and ḥattā introduces the outcome. Tasarbala bi-l-dam makes blood into a garment: an image of extensive wounding, not literal clothing. The wounded horse exposes the cost of the heroic performance.
13. Verse 68: The horse’s wordless complaint
فَازْوَرَّ مِنْ وَقْعِ الْقَنَا بِلبَانِهِ وَشَكَا إِلَيَّ بِعَبْرَةٍ وَتَحَمْحُمِ
Struck in the chest by lances, the horse twisted aside and seemed to complain to me with tears and a low neigh.
Izwarr means turning away or leaning aside. ʿAbrah denotes a tear and taḥamḥum the horse’s low whinny. Shakā ilayya personifies the horse’s distress: its bodily response becomes a complaint addressed to its rider.
14. Verse 69: If the horse could speak
لَوْ كَانَ يَدْرِي مَا الْمُحَاوَرَةُ اشْتَكَى وَلَكَانَ لَوْ عَلِمَ الْكَلَامَ مُكَلِّمِي
Had the horse understood dialogue, it would have protested aloud; had it known speech, it would have spoken with me.
Law constructs a counterfactual: the animal does not possess human speech. Al-muḥāwarah is exchange or dialogue; mukallimī would be “one who speaks to me.” The second verse completes the earlier personification while acknowledging the horse’s real limits.
15. Verse 70: The riders’ call and morale
وَلَقَدْ شَفَى نَفْسِي وَأَذْهَبَ سُقْمَهَا قِيلُ الْفَوَارِسِ وَيْكَ عَنْتَرَ أَقْدِمِ
The riders’ cry, “Come on, ʿAntar, advance!” relieved my spirit and dispelled its affliction.
Shafā and adh-haba suqmahā portray emotional relief as a cure. Qīl al-fawāris is the riders’ utterance; aqdim is an imperative to advance. The external cry transforms the speaker’s inner distress into renewed determination.
16. Verse 71: Horses crossing yielding ground
وَالْخَيْلُ تَقْتَحِمُ الْخَبَارَ عَوَابِسًا مِنْ بَيْنِ شَيْظَمَةٍ وَآخَرَ شَيْظَمِ
The horses plunged through treacherous soft ground with strained faces, among them powerful mares and stallions.
Taqtaḥimu conveys forceful entry, while khabār refers to difficult yielding ground. ʿAwābisa is a circumstantial accusative describing the horses’ grimacing strain. Shayẓamah and shayẓam are closely related descriptive terms differentiated in form for female and male animals.
17. Verse 72: Tractable mounts and firm decision
ذُلُلٌ رِكَابِي حَيْثُ شِئْتُ مُشَايِعِي لُبِّي وَأَحْفِزُهُ بِأَمْرٍ مُبْرَمِ
My mounts are tractable wherever I choose to go; my judgment accompanies me, and I press it forward with a firm resolve.
Dhulul is the plural of a tractable mount. Ḥaythu shiʾtu gives a sense of control over direction. Lubbī is judgment or sound mind, while amr mubram suggests a firmly resolved course. The poet joins riding skill with deliberation rather than presenting force alone.
18. Verse 73: The two sons of Ḍamḍam
وَلَقَدْ خَشِيتُ بِأَنْ أَمُوتَ وَلَمْ تَدُرْ لِلْحَرْبِ دَائِرَةٌ عَلَى ابْنَي ضَمْضَمِ
I feared dying before the revolving fortunes of war had overtaken the two sons of Ḍamḍam.
Khashītu is first-person past; lam tadur is a jussive imperfect after lam. Dāʾirat al-ḥarb personifies war as a cycle that returns upon adversaries. The names are part of the poem’s specific historical feud, whose details are developed in the two following lines.
19. Verse 74: Honour, threats and dual forms
الشَّاتِمَيْ عِرْضِي وَلَمْ أَشْتُمُهُمَا وَالنَّاذِرَيْنِ إِذَا لَمْ أَلْقَهُمَا دَمِي
Those two insulted my honour though I had not insulted them; they had vowed concerning my blood if they could not confront me.
The dual forms al-shātimay and al-nādhirayn qualify the two sons mentioned immediately before. ʿIrḍī means personal or family honour; damī, my blood or life. The verse supplies the speaker’s stated reason for the feud, not an ethical endorsement of vengeance.
20. Verse 75: The final martial boast
إِنْ يَفْعَلَا فَلَقَدْ تَرَكْتُ أَبَاهُمَا جَزَرَ السِّبَاعِ وَكُلِّ نَسْرٍ قَشْعَمِ
If they act, I have already left their father as carrion for beasts of prey and aged vultures.
In yafʿalā is a conditional using the dual. Jazar al-sibāʿ denotes carrion for predators; nasr qashʿam evokes an aged, powerful vulture. The severe final image heightens martial boasting and closes the personal feud narrative, without turning it into a general moral model.
21. Vocabulary map: love, information, ingratitude
WordBasic meaningRole in verseqanaṣhuntingmetaphor for belovedghirrahinattentionreported opportunityjīdnecksimile of beautyrashaʾyoung gazellecomparison of appearancekufringratitudemoral complaint
Some meanings are literal; others depend on context. Reading shāh as a literal sheep or kufr here as a theological pronouncement would distort the literary passage.
22. Grammar: condition, command, continuity and dual
ExpressionConstructionFunctionidhhabī / iʿlamīfeminine singular commandsaddressing the attendantlam aḥimnegation + jussivedenies retreatmā ziltuincomplete/auxiliary verbcontinuitylaw kānacounterfactual conditionimagined horse speechin yafʿalācondition + dualtwo adversaries
Law posits an unreal situation (“if the horse knew speech”), whereas the final in introduces a possible action of the two adversaries. Distinguishing them prevents a grammatical and interpretive error.
23. Rhetoric: simile, personification and metaphor
The opening shāta mā qanaṣin figures the beloved as sought-after game; jīd jadāyah is an explicit simile. In the battlefield, spears are compared to well ropes; tasarbala bi-l-dam makes blood a garment.
With shakā ilayya and law kāna yadrī, the horse’s physical suffering becomes an imagined human exchange. Dāʾirat al-ḥarb makes warfare a revolving fortune. These devices serve distinct ends: beauty, suffering, and finally martial self-assertion.
24. The horse: bravery and the cost of battle
The dark horse’s chest first appears amid lancepoints likened to ropes. Next comes the image of blood clothing its body; then a sideways movement, tears, and a low neigh present acute pain.
The sequence prevents the audience from seeing only a flawless victory image. The poet’s counterfactual “if it knew dialogue” explicitly marks the horse’s imagined speech as poetry, not a literal conversation. Its suffering is an integral part of the scene.
25. Synthesis: tensions and the end of the poem
The concluding passage brings together thwarted love, a complaint about ingratitude, fidelity to an uncle’s charge, the costly battlefield performance, and a severe final boast against the sons of Ḍamḍam.
These are distinct aspects of the poetic persona: lover, benefactor, rider, and tribal adversary. The sixth Muʿallaqah closes with jazar al-sibāʿ. The next lesson should therefore begin anew with the introduction to al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥillizah and the seventh poem.
Practice questions
Question 1
What is the poetic referent of “shāta mā qanaṣin”?
- The beloved’s allure and desire to reach her
- A literally hunted sheep
- Battle spoils
- The horse’s breed
Question 2
What does the contrast ḥallat / ḥurimat express?
- Two journeys of the beloved
- Peace between two armies
- Two commands from an uncle
- Being desired yet inaccessible to the poet
Question 3
Who is addressed by fatajassasī, and in what form?
- First-person past; the poet
- Masculine plural present; riders
- Feminine singular imperative to the attendant
- Masculine plural imperative; enemies
Question 4
What did the servant report with ghirrah?
- The army’s large number
- An opportunity from the adversaries’ inattention
- Rain beginning
- Certainty that the horse was injured
Question 5
What feature is central to the jadāyah simile?
- The beloved’s graceful turning neck
- The horse’s hooves
- Steel spearheads
- A camel’s speed
Question 6
What is the form of nubbiʾtu?
- Plural imperative: inform!
- Active participle: informer
- Active present: he informs
- First-person passive past: I was informed
Question 7
What does kufr mean in verse 61 in this context?
- The name of a cave
- A type of armour
- Ingratitude for a favour
- A definitive ruling on someone’s faith
Question 8
What does waṣāt ʿammī indicate?
- A pledge to hunt a gazelle
- Honouring an uncle’s charge
- The attendant’s itinerary
- Purchase of equipment
Question 9
What does ḥawmat al-ḥarb denote?
- The centre or thick of battle
- A town market
- A resting stable
- The beloved’s dwelling
Question 10
What is the effect of ghayra taghamghum?
- All heroes laugh loudly
- The army performs music
- No danger is present
- Even heroes are reduced to indistinct muttering
Question 11
Why was the advance limited in lam aḥim / taḍāyaqa muqdamī?
- He chose to abandon battle
- The horse was sold
- The space for advancing became constricted
- Rain washed the route away
Question 12
What collective action is meant by yatadhāmarūn?
- Everyone falling asleep
- Urging one another to fight
- Calculating trading accounts
- Watering camels
Question 13
Why are lances likened to ashtān biʾr?
- To depict their length and number
- Because the spears were wells
- Because the horse wanted water
- Because rope could stop bleeding
Question 14
What is the force of mā ziltu here?
- Immediate and total cessation
- Denial of the past
- Only a future wish
- The continued duration of an action
Question 15
What figure is tasarbala bi-l-dam?
- Literal wearing of armour
- Bathing the horse
- Metaphorically clothing the horse in blood
- Cosmetic decoration
Question 16
What movement does izwarr describe?
- Flying into the air
- Turning aside under pain
- Stopping to sleep
- Playing joyfully
Question 17
What device is prominent in shakā ilayya bi-ʿabrah wa-taḥamḥum?
- Personifying the horse’s pain as a complaint
- Calling a gazelle
- Forming rhyme by repetition
- Exact calculation of time
Question 18
What kind of condition is law kāna yadrī mā al-muḥāwarah?
- A factual claim the horse spoke
- A contract condition
- A date in war history
- Counterfactual: imagining the horse could converse
Question 19
Who voices wayka ʿAntara aqdim?
- The attendant
- An uncle by letter
- The fellow cavalrymen
- The beloved’s mother
Question 20
What is the grammatical role of ʿawābisa in al-khabār ʿawābisa?
- Nominative subject
- Accusative ḥāl describing the horses
- Genitive annexation complement
- A past-tense verb
Question 21
What contrasts shayẓamah and shayẓam?
- Feminine and masculine descriptive forms
- Singular and plural synonyms
- Active and passive verbs
- A verb and a particle
Question 22
What does lubbī add after dhulul rikābī?
- Only the camel’s age
- ʿAblah’s location
- The cost of spears
- Judgment alongside control of the mounts
Question 23
What does lam do to tadur?
- Turns it into an imperative
- Turns it into a verbal noun
- Makes the imperfect jussive and negates a past occurrence
- Makes an active participle
Question 24
What is meant by ʿirḍ in al-shātimay ʿirḍī?
- Land area
- Personal or family honour
- An animal’s back
- Travel distance
Question 25
To whom does the dual al-nādhirayn refer?
- To the two sons of Ḍamḍam
- To two wounded horses
- To two attendants
- To two rhymes
Question 26
What number is encoded in the subject of yafʿalā?
- Singular
- Sound plural
- Broken plural
- Dual
Question 27
What does jazar al-sibāʿ convey?
- Pasture for animals
- A defensive wall
- Carrion for beasts of prey
- A jewel worn by the beloved
Question 28
What does qashʿam qualify in nasr qashʿam?
- A young she-camel
- An old or imposing vulture
- The colour of a sword
- The hunting ground
Question 29
Which sequence best matches the closing verses?
- Love → inquiry and ingratitude → war horse → tribal feud
- Rain → farming → accounting → trade
- Mosque → sermon → law → prayer
- Ship → boat → trade → harbour
Question 30
How should the complaining, wounded horse be interpreted?
- Proof of human speech in an animal
- Denial that the battle is real
- A scene unrelated to the speaker
- Real injury expressed through personification
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