«وَآخُذُ اللَّفْظَ فِضَّةً فَإِذَا مَا صُغْتُهُ قِيلَ إِنَّهُ ذَهَبُ»
I take a word like silver; when I shape it, people call it gold.
*Ṣāgha* literally concerns forming metal or jewellery. Here, verbal arrangement and refinement are imagined as the goldsmith’s craft.
The metaphor claims that an ordinary word becomes precious through artistic placement. It establishes an ideal of craftsmanship, but does not itself establish the poet’s actual earnings.
Opening interactive controls...
The Alexandrian Maqāmah — The Husband’s Poetic Defence and the Craft of Eloquence
«وَآخُذُ اللَّفْظَ فِضَّةً فَإِذَا مَا صُغْتُهُ قِيلَ إِنَّهُ ذَهَبُ»
I take a word like silver; when I shape it, people call it gold.
*Ṣāgha* literally concerns forming metal or jewellery. Here, verbal arrangement and refinement are imagined as the goldsmith’s craft.
The metaphor claims that an ordinary word becomes precious through artistic placement. It establishes an ideal of craftsmanship, but does not itself establish the poet’s actual earnings.