LessonsImruʾ al-Qays: The Horse’s Form, Similes, and Wild Quarry (Verses 59–64)Quiz

Madāk ʿarūs is a smooth stone used for grinding or rubbing perfume or similar substances for a bride. Repeated use makes the surface polished. Ṣalāyat ḥanẓal is a slab or stone used for grinding colocynth, a bitter desert fruit.

Both household objects evoke a smooth, worn, hard surface, which is the selected quality of the horse’s back.

The first half of the verse locates the two back surfaces; the second supplies their tactile resemblance. The imagery is material and concrete rather than an abstract assertion of beauty.

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The bride’s grinding stone and the colocynth slab

Imruʾ al-Qays: The Horse’s Form, Similes, and Wild Quarry (Verses 59–64)

Madāk ʿarūs is a smooth stone used for grinding or rubbing perfume or similar substances for a bride. Repeated use makes the surface polished. Ṣalāyat ḥanẓal is a slab or stone used for grinding colocynth, a bitter desert fruit.

Both household objects evoke a smooth, worn, hard surface, which is the selected quality of the horse’s back.

The first half of the verse locates the two back surfaces; the second supplies their tactile resemblance. The imagery is material and concrete rather than an abstract assertion of beauty.