Namaeh Farhangistan

Namaeh Farhangistan

Khāghāni and the Historical Evolution of Cyclic Meter in Persian Poetry

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Omid Tabibzadeh
Professor of Linguistics, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/nf.2026.556916.1481
Abstract
Based on Abol-Hasan Najafi’s theory, this paper deals with the question whether the two meters of “Mustaf'alo Mustaf'al Mustaf'alo Mustaf'al” (traditionally scanned as “Maf'ulo Mafā’ilon Maf'ulo mafā’ilon”) and “Mustaf’alon Mafā'el Mustafa’alon Mafā'el” (traditionally scanned as “Maf'ulo Fā’elαton Maf'ulo Fā’elαton”) are cyclic meters or not? According to Abul-Hasan Najafi's structuralist and synchronic approach, these two meters are cyclic, but within the framework of a diachronic or historical approach, answering this question needs some historical information too. These two meters were current in Persian poetry from the second half of the 5th century AH to the end of the 6th century. The poet, using the optional variation of bicep, changes two short quantities at the middle of the two long meters “Mustaf'alo Mustaf'alo Mustaf'alo Mustaf'al” and “Mustaf’alon Mafā'elo Mustafa’alon Mafā'el” into long ones and produces the two meters of “Mustaf'alo Mustaf'al Mustaf'alo Mustaf'al” and “Mustafa’alon Mafā'el Mustafa’alon Mafā'el” respectively. These two latter meters are called pseudo-cyclic meters here and they are briefly represented as “Mustaf'alo Mustaf'al/” and “Mustaf’alon Mafā'elo/”. The most important feature of any pseudo-cyclic meter is that the last syllable of the first hemistich of each line can never be a super-heavy syllable unless the first syllable of the following hemistich begins with "alef". From the late sixth century onwards, the two pseudo-cyclic meters gradually transformed into cyclic meters of “Mustaf'alo Mustaf'al//” and “Mustaf’alon Mafā'elo//”, i.e., the last syllable of their first hemistich in each line could be a super-heavy syllable without the next syllable having to begin with “alef”. It has also been shown how Khāqāni made the greatest contribution to the formation of the above procedure.
Keywords
Khāghāni
historical prosody
evolution of meters
long meters
pseudo-cyclic meters
cyclic meters
Subjects
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Namaeh Farhangistan
Volume 25, Issue 5 - Serial Number 105
Nameh Farhangestan (Khaghani Studies)
November and December 2026
Pages 33-80

  • Receive Date 02 November 2025
  • Revise Date 26 November 2025
  • Accept Date 03 December 2025