ABSTRACT
As scene after scene sheds light on the facets of the poet's persona - or as episodes periodically conceal him - he grows into a palpable character animating the qa$fda as a whole. This and the following chapter show how scenes and episodes are built around him into an overarching dramaturgy. Qa$fda L191, whose incipit forms the chapter heading, stands out as composed almost exclusively of scenes. Its strophe, as many others, assembles dialogue scenes, monologues, and evocations, creating with the varying fictional participants a dynamic environment for the poet's persona. 1 Operating in a tight interplay, the fictional personae guide the course of action. According to their character, they confront the poet with word and gesture, prompting his reaction. The personae succeed each other in such a way that a scene dominated by one of them introduces, in the grammatical third person, the persona about to enter in the next scene. White hair, mentioned in the first dialogue scene to the poet's defense, '0 my accuser, the white hair of my head has tamed me for you' (a-'iidhUa riitjanf laid shaybu ra'sf, 2-4), appears as a conversation partner in the second dialogue, '1 said, greeting white hair, "Welcome )'QY guide of the erring towards the truth'" (wa-qultu musalliman li-l-shaybi ahlan bi-hiidf l-mukh{i'fna Uii l-$awiibf, 9-11).
