«فَلَمَّا اسْتَأْذَنْتُهُ فِي الْمَرَاحِ إِلَى الْمَرَاحِ»[
When I asked permission to return to my lodging.
The two occurrences of al-marāḥ point to departure or return on the one hand, and a resting place or lodging on the other. Repetition of sound with different meaning creates paronomasia.
A simple act—asking leave to go home—becomes rhetorically ornate. At this precise point the patron interrupts departure by imposing the composition task.
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The Marāghah Maqāmah: A Test of Eloquence and an Unusual Constraint
«فَلَمَّا اسْتَأْذَنْتُهُ فِي الْمَرَاحِ إِلَى الْمَرَاحِ»[
When I asked permission to return to my lodging.
The two occurrences of al-marāḥ point to departure or return on the one hand, and a resting place or lodging on the other. Repetition of sound with different meaning creates paronomasia.
A simple act—asking leave to go home—becomes rhetorically ornate. At this precise point the patron interrupts departure by imposing the composition task.