Kāmil (Arabic: كَامِل "perfect") is the second commonest metre (after the ṭawīl) used in pre-Islamic and classical Arabic poetry.[1] The usual form of the metre is as follows (where "–" represents a long syllable, "u" a short syllable, and "uu" one long or two shorts):[2][3]
- | uu – u – | uu – u – | uu – u – |
The mnemonic words (tafāʿīl) used by Arab prosodists to describe this metre are: Mutafāʿilun Mutafāʿilun Mutafāʿilun (مُتَفَاعِلُنْ مُتَفاعِلُنْ مُتَفَاعِلُنْ).
The kāmil resembles the wāfir metre in that it makes use of biceps elements (that is, places in the verse where two short syllables can be replaced by one long one).
- ^ Golston, Chris & Riad, Tomas (1997). "The Phonology of classical Arabic meter". Linguistics 35 (1997), 111-132; p. 120.
- ^ McCarus, Ernest N. (1983). "Identifying the Meters of Arabic Poetry", Al-'Arabiyya vol 16. no. 1/2, pp. 57-83. (Georgetown University Press).
- ^ Wright, W. (1896). A Grammar of the Arabic Language, vol. II, Cambridge University Press; pp. 350-390.