do-baytī

{{Short description|Ancient form of Persian poetry}}

Do-bayti ({{langx|fa|دوبیتی}}) (literally "two-couplet"), also known as fahlaviyat, is an ancient form of Persian poetry. It is used to describe a Persian quatrain (a stanza or poem of four lines), similar to Ruba'i but different in meter.Blum (1995).

A do-bayti has four half-lines of 11 syllables each, and usually uses the hazaj meter:

:| u – – – | u – – – | u – – |

The first two syllables may sometimes be replaced by – u or – –.Maling, J.M. (1973). [https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/12989 The Theory of Classical Arabic Metrics]. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. PhD Thesis, p. 128.

The rhyme scheme is a a a a or a a b a.

When sung to a traditional melody, the first two lines are sung continuously in one 22-syllable phrase, and the 3rd and 4th lines in another, a little lower in pitch.Blum (1995). (See External links below.)

An example from Baba Taher

A well-known writer of do-bayti poems is the 11th-century Baba Taher-e Oryan of Hamadan, who wrote in the Hamadani dialect (which, however, is very close to standard Persian).Browne, E.G. (1902). A Literary History of Persia, vol. 1, p. 83. An example of one of his poems (converted to standard Persian) is the following:Ganjoor, Baba Taher, dobeyti no. 18. (See External links).

:{{lang|fa|rtl=yes|درازی دو زلفانت مرا کشت}} * {{lang|fa|rtl=yes|سیاهی دو چشمانت مرا کشت}}

:{{lang|fa|rtl=yes|خم ابرو و مژگانت مرا کشت}} * {{lang|fa|rtl=yes|به قتلم حاجت تیر و کمان نیست}}

:{{lang|fa-Latn|siyāhī-yē do čašmān-at ma-rā košt}}

:{{lang|fa-Latn|derāzī-yē do zolfān-at ma-rā košt}}

:{{lang|fa-Latn|be qatl-am hājat-ē tīr ō kamān nīst}}

:{{lang|fa-Latn|xam-ē 'abrū vo možgān-at ma-rā košt}}

:"The blackness of your two eyes has killed me!

:The longness of your two locks has killed me!

:You have no need of arrows and a bow to despatch me

:The curve of your eyebrow and eyelashes has killed me!"For the homoerotic military imagery cf. [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/homosexuality-iii "Homosexuality iii. in Persian Literature"] (Encyclopaedia Iranica)

For another example, see the article Persian metres#Do-bayti.

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Blum, Stephen (1995, updated 2011). [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/do-bayti Do-bayti]. Encyclopaedia Iranica online.