LessonsRadd al-ʿAjz ʿalā al-Ṣadr: Repetition, Paronomasia and Derivation in Prose and PoetryQuiz

«قد كانت البيض القواضب في الوغى / بواتر فهي الآن من بعده بتر»
The shining swords once cut decisively in battle; after him they have become blunted or bereft of their cutting force.

Bawātir begins the second hemistich and butr closes it. Both evoke the root b-t-r, while the thought moves from effective cutting to loss of that force.

The formal echo also reinforces the reversal in the meaning.

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Derivation at the second-line opening

Radd al-ʿAjz ʿalā al-Ṣadr: Repetition, Paronomasia and Derivation in Prose and Poetry

«قد كانت البيض القواضب في الوغى / بواتر فهي الآن من بعده بتر»
The shining swords once cut decisively in battle; after him they have become blunted or bereft of their cutting force.

Bawātir begins the second hemistich and butr closes it. Both evoke the root b-t-r, while the thought moves from effective cutting to loss of that force.

The formal echo also reinforces the reversal in the meaning.