al-Badi fi Naqd al-Shi'r
- Author died
- 584 AH
- Editions
- United Arab Republic - Ministry of Culture and National Guidance - Southern Region - General Administration of Culture
al-Badi fi Naqd al-Shi'r (Arabic: البديع في نقد الشعر, lit. 'The Novel in Poetic Criticism') is a classical Arabic treatise on rhetoric and poetic criticism by the Syrian prince, warrior, and man of letters Usama ibn Munqidh (488–584 AH / 1095–1188 CE) .
Contents and Structure
The work is arranged into ninety-five chapters treating numerous stylistic embellishments and rhetorical devices (al-muhassinat al-badi'iyya) . Usama's conception of rhetorical figures expands significantly upon earlier classifications, grouping various figures without strictly separating the domains of badi' (rhetorical figures), bayan (figurative expression), and ma'ani (semantics) . His chapter headings introduce categories uncommon in other treatises on the subject, such as the chapters on the rare and the trite (al-nadir wa-l-barid), gracefulness and sternness (al-rashaqa wa-l-jahama), obedience and defiance (al-ta'a wa-l-'isyan), poem endings and conclusions (al-awakhir wa-l-maqati'), and instruction and delineation (al-ta'lim wa-l-tarsim) .
Usama concludes the work with practical counsels for poets and prose writers . These include warnings against convoluted meanings (al-ta'qid fi al-ma'ani) and overly obscure diction (al-taqa''ur fi al-alfaz), as well as guidance on carefully joining separately composed verses into a unified poem—reiterating the view of Ibn Tabataba—and diligently revising compositions in the manner of al-Hutay'ah and Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma . He also advises selecting agreeable meters and rhymes, handling poetic borrowing skillfully, tailoring eulogies to the status of the patron, and following Qudamah ibn Ja'far by praising moral character rather than physical attributes . He summarizes that the principal beauties of verse are antithesis (al-tatbiq), paronomasia (al-tajnis), and parallelism (al-muqabala), while the principal beauties of poetic meaning are metaphor (al-isti'ara), simile (al-tashbih), and proverbial illustration (al-mathal) .
Reception
The rhetorician Ibn Abi al-Isba' (d. 654 AH) criticized Usama's taxonomy sharply in his Tahrir al-Tahbir, asserting that Usama's treatment fell into severe confusion and overlapping errors by incorporating poetic defects ('uyub) and varieties of literary plagiarism (al-sariqat) under the category of rhetorical merits . Conversely, the literary historian Ihsan Abbas observed that despite the formal proliferation of terms, Usama showed a practical grasp of literary criticism by anchoring his rhetorical taxonomy with actionable advice on poetic craft and judgment .
Manuscripts and Editions
Manuscripts of the work are preserved in several collections, including the State Library in Berlin, the Institute of Oriental Studies in Saint Petersburg, the Municipal Library in Alexandria, and Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in Cairo . An anonymous abridgment of the work is held at the Leiden University Library . The text was critically edited by Ahmad Ahmad Badawi and Hamid 'Abd al-Majid (with review by Ibrahim Mustafa) and published in Cairo in 1960 .
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