The Couplet Where Everyone Named the Wrong Device
A teacher is marking a 5-mark poetry appreciation answer on an original couplet: العلمُ نورٌ يهدي المرءَ في الظُّلَمِ / والجهلُ ليلٌ بلا نجمٍ ولا عَلَمِ. Candidates must identify the theme and one poetic device with explanation and effect. Of 30 scripts, 14 write تشبيه for العلمُ نورٌ, 9 write استعارة, 4 write كناية, and 3 leave the device blank. One candidate writes: “The poet compares knowledge to light using the particle ك, and ignorance to night; the device is تشبيه because there is comparison.” Another writes: “استعارة because light and night are borrowed for knowledge and ignorance; there is no comparison particle.” The teacher must decide which answer earns the device marks and how to handle the first candidate’s mention of ك although the line contains no ك. The mark scheme allows 2 marks for naming the device, 2 for explanation, and 1 for effect.
1. Identify the device in العلمُ نورٌ and الجهلُ ليلٌ. Is it تشبيه, استعارة, or something else? Justify using the words actually present.
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The core device is تشبيه بليغ. Both sides of the comparison are stated: العلمُ is the مشبّه and نورٌ is the مشبّه به; الجهلُ is the مشبّه and ليلٌ is the مشبّه به. What is omitted is the أداة (ك، مثل) and the وجه شبه. That omission makes it a concise or baligh simile, not a full simile with an explicit particle.
It is not best called استعارة here because in استعارة one side is normally deleted: for example, رأيتُ أسدًا يخطب uses أسد for a brave man without stating the man. In this couplet, both العلم and نور, and both الجهل and ليل, are explicit. The line also contains طباق between نور and ليل, and between العلم and الجهل, which strengthens the contrast.
2. How should the teacher mark the first candidate, who correctly says تشبيه but claims the line uses ك? How should the second candidate be marked?
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The first candidate should receive the 2 marks for naming تشبيه, because the conclusion is right for العلمُ نورٌ. However, the explanation mark should not be full: the candidate invents a particle ك that is not in the line. A fair award is 3 out of 4 for device plus explanation, with the written comment: “Right device, wrong evidence; the comparison is بليغ because the أداة is omitted.” The effect mark can still be awarded if the candidate explains that light guides and night blinds.
The second candidate names استعارة, which is not the best label because both sides are explicit. That candidate should lose the device marks but may earn partial explanation credit if they correctly explain the light/dark contrast. If they also mention طباق, the teacher can award the device mark for طباق instead, because it is genuinely present. The key principle is: mark the label against the actual words, not against a remembered definition.
3. Write a short board explanation that distinguishes تشبيه بليغ from استعارة using this couplet, and state the poem’s theme in one sentence.
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Board explanation:
- تشبيه بليغ: both sides are mentioned, but the tool and point of resemblance are deleted. Example from the line: العلمُ نورٌ = knowledge is like light. We can still see both العلم and نور.
- استعارة: one side is deleted and the other is borrowed. Example: رأيتُ أسدًا for a brave man; the man is not mentioned.
- Therefore العلمُ نورٌ is تشبيه بليغ, not استعارة, because العلم and نور are both present.
The theme in one sentence: العلم يهدي الإنسان في الظلام، والجهل يتركه في ليل بلا هداية، فالعلم نور والجهل ظلام. The effect is to make an abstract moral contrast visual and memorable through light and darkness.