Madīd (metre)

The Madīd (مَدِيد, "protracted") metre is one of the metres used in classical Arabic poetry. The theoretical pattern of the metre is as follows, where u = a short syllable, – a long syllable, and x = anceps (either long or short):
 * فَاعِلَاتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ فَاعِلَاتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ
 * Fāʿilātun Fāʿilun Fāʿilātun Fāʿilun
 * x u – x | x u – | x u – – | x u – |

However, more usually the metre is found in a trimeter version. The full version of the trimeter is as follows:
 * فَاعِلَاتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ فَاعِلَاتُنْ
 * Fāʿilātun Fāʿilun Fāʿilātun
 * x u – x | x u – | x u – – |

In two of the examples below, the metre is used in a catalectic trimeter version (i.e. shortened by one syllable), as follows:
 * فَاعِلَاتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ فَاعِلُنْ
 * Fāʿilātun Fāʿilun Fāʿilun
 * x u – x | x u – | x u – |

In the above catalectic trimeter version, the 2nd and 3rd anceps syllables (x) are usually long (never both short), and the 3rd is almost always short. The final foot | u u – | may become | – – |.

The Madīd metre is only rarely used. Only 0.43% of Vadet's corpus of 1st–3rd century AD poetry are in this metre. It does not occur at all in Stoetzer's corpus of 8th-century poems or in the 10th-century poet al-Mutanabbi. The tetrameter version is rarely found in practice except in prosodists' examples.

Tetrameter
The longer tetrameter version of this metre is rare. The following line, a mother's lament for her son, is found in the Ḥamāsa, an anthology of poems compiled in the 9th century by Abū Tammām:


 * ليت قلبي ساعةً صبرهُ عنكَ مَلَك * ليت نفسي قُدِّمت للمنايا بدلك


 * layta qalb-ī sāʿatan * ṣabra-hū ʿanka malak
 * layta nafs-ī quddimat * li-l-manāyā badalak


 * – u – – | – u – || – u – – | u u – |


 * "Would that my heart for an hour * could control its grief for you;
 * Would that my soul could be sacrificed * to Fate instead of you."

In this version, there is a clear break between the two halves of the hemistich.

Trimeter
The trimeter is more common than the tetrameter. The following line is by the 8th-century Iraqi poet Abu-l-ʿAtahiya:


 * إنّما أنتَ بوادي ٱلمنايا * إن رماكَ ٱلموت فيه أصابا


 * ʼinnamā ʼanta bi-wādi l-manāyā
 * ʼin ramāka l-mawtu fīhi ʼaṣābā


 * – u – – | u u – | – u – – |
 * – u – – | – u – | u u – – |


 * "Lo, you are dwelling in Fate's vale;
 * when Death strikes you, it will not fail."

Trimeter catalectic
More often the trimeter is used in a catalectic version, that is, with the final syllable missing. A well known poem in this catalectic version is the following by the Baghdadi Sufi poet Sumnūn al-Muḥibb (also known as Samnūn, died c. 910 AD):
 * كان لى قلب أعيش به * ضــــــاع منى فى تقلبه
 * رب فاردده عليّ فقد * ضاق صدري في تطلبه
 * وأغث ما دام بي رمقٌ * يا غياثَ المستغيثِ به


 * kāna lī qalbun ’aʿīšu bihī
 * ḍāʿa minnī fī taqallubihī
 * rabbi fardudhu ʿalayya fa-qad
 * ḍāqa ṣadrī fī taṭallubihī
 * wa-ʼaḡiṯ mā dāma bī ramaqun
 * yā ḡiyāṯa l-mustaḡīṯi bihī


 * – u – – | – u – | u u –
 * – u – – | – u – | u u –
 * – u – – | u u – | u u –
 * – u – – | – u – | u u –
 * – u – – | – u – | u u –
 * – u – – | – u – | u u –


 * "I had a heart which I lived with;
 * I lost it in its turning.
 * Lord, return it to me, since
 * my breast has become narrow in searching for it.
 * And succour me as long as life remains,
 * O succour of him who seeks assistance."

Another version of the metre is used by the Arabian poet Baha' al-din Zuhair (1186–1258) in the love ode which begins:


 * کل شیء منک مقبول * وعلی العینین محمول
 * والاذی یرضیک من تلفی * هین عندی ومبذول


 * kullu šayʼin minka maqbūlū
 * wa ʿala l-ʿaynayni maḥmūlū
 * wa-l-laḏī yurḍīka min talafī
 * hayyinun ʿindī wa mabḏūlū


 * – u – – | – u – | – –
 * u u – – | – u – | – –
 * – u – – | – u – | u u –
 * – u – – | – u – | – –


 * "Everything from you is acceptable
 * and bearable in my eyes;
 * And what pleases you of my destruction
 * is easy for me and (readily) bestowed."

In this version of the metre, the final u u – is optionally changed to – –. This variation, affecting the last three syllables of the line, is also found in the Basīṭ metre, and is also common in Persian poetry.

Medieval Hebrew poetry
This metre is almost never used in medieval Hebrew poetry. However, Halper quotes a piyyut written by the 12th-century Spanish scholar Abraham ibn Ezra in the trimeter version of the metre, which runs as follows:




 * ’esmĕchah ki ’eftĕchah pi lĕhodot
 * ’e‘ĕneh tuv ma‘ăneh shir yĕdidot


 * – u – – | – u – | – u – – |

Because of the rarity of short syllables in Hebrew, Ibn Izra chooses the long alternative of each anceps.