ABSTRACT
The qas ˙ ı¯da is the most distinctive form of Arabo-Persian poetry and the
standard for critical discussions of the poetic art. Its formal divisions, established by tradition and hallowed by centuries of practice, are at once conventional and flexible, lending themselves to adaptation to a variety of purposes, both serious and parodic, both in the qas
˙ ı¯da-form itself and in briefer forms such as the qit
˙
( a
and ghazal. The bipartite model of the Abbasid panegyric qas ˙ ı¯da (nası¯b + rah
˙ ı¯l/
madı¯h ˙ ) was to influence later modifications of the form by both Arabic and
Persian poets; it is to the relationship between the two major parts of the qas ˙ ı¯da
that we shall turn first.
