LessonsImruʾ al-Qays: Dialogue in ʿUnayzah’s Litter, Boasting, and an Oath (Verses 13–18)Quiz

The six verses move through entry into the litter, the woman’s complaint, the poet’s answer, his boast about earlier experiences, the divided movement of a nursing mother, and finally resistance and an oath on a dune. Keeping the sequence in view makes the separate images read as a coherent passage.

VerseMain subjectLanguage focus
13Entry into a khidrApposition; murjilī
14A tilting litterMāla; context of ʿaqarta
15Reins and affectionImperative; prohibition; metaphor
16Romantic boastingUnderstood rubba; murḍiʿ
17Turning to a childIdhā mā; shiqq; lam
18Resistance and an oathTaʿadhdharat; ālat

The next passage begins a-fāṭima mahlan baʿḍa hādhā al-tadallul, where the poet’s address turns toward more direct pleading and complaint.

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Verses 13–18: events, speech, and language

Imruʾ al-Qays: Dialogue in ʿUnayzah’s Litter, Boasting, and an Oath (Verses 13–18)

The six verses move through entry into the litter, the woman’s complaint, the poet’s answer, his boast about earlier experiences, the divided movement of a nursing mother, and finally resistance and an oath on a dune. Keeping the sequence in view makes the separate images read as a coherent passage.

VerseMain subjectLanguage focus
13Entry into a khidrApposition; murjilī
14A tilting litterMāla; context of ʿaqarta
15Reins and affectionImperative; prohibition; metaphor
16Romantic boastingUnderstood rubba; murḍiʿ
17Turning to a childIdhā mā; shiqq; lam
18Resistance and an oathTaʿadhdharat; ālat

The next passage begins a-fāṭima mahlan baʿḍa hādhā al-tadallul, where the poet’s address turns toward more direct pleading and complaint.