ABSTRACT
Proportional segmentation establishes relations of balance and symmetry among the segments of a poem. Such symmetries often enhance the poem's meaning: for example, the parallelism between the segments of nasīb and madīḥ in Farrukhīs “Ramaḍān” qaṣīda establishes relations of congruence and contrast between the two sections which are essential to interpreting the poem. This is also the case with Manūchihrī's so-called “double” qaṣīda, in which the ʿitāb, because of its positioning, can be seen to be directed (obliquely) at the prince. But such symmetries do not convey meaning in and of themselves, beyond the poems in which they occur; in other words, they are not signifiers in their own right, in the sense that they do not refer to structures located outside the poems in which they figure. In other poems, however, symmetrical patterns — both spatial and numerical — function not only to enhance, but to establish, meaning.
