ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Bashshār b. Burd’s significant contribution to the creation of the muḥdath (new, novel) ghazal, a parodic, critically charged genre that grew out of and in conversation with the nasīb (the opening motifs of the qaṣīda) and its offshoot the ʿudhrī ghazal. Bashshār’s ghazals are mainly centered around ʿudhrī poetry, not only in the way they use its elements and conventions, but also in structuring these elements to create an identifiable poetic pattern, which he then parodies and comments on. Bashshār’s parodic ghazal is no longer the talk of love or of erotic encounters per se, but most importantly it is a poetic/critical play on them, for the purpose of revealing that play and exploring and understanding the role of the nasīb in the qaṣīda. It is through parody that the ghazal gains its muḥdath critical consciousness.
