Prescribed Prose and Poetry Texts
What the domain tests
Questions on the prescribed prose and poetry test close reading: theme, speaker, tone, vocabulary, narrative sequence, character, and literary devices (تشبيه، استعارة، كناية، طباق، جناس). Poetry items add بحر، قافية، and شرح البيت.
Core rules
- For prose, map who did what, where, why; note the moral or social issue and the author's attitude.
- For poetry, identify the address (self, beloved, patron, nation), the central emotion, and the image. Explain the image in plain Arabic before translating.
- Learn set vocabulary from each text; exam questions often ask "ما معنى..." using a word as used in the line.
- Quote only enough to prove your point; a common error is retelling the whole passage instead of answering.
- If asked for a figure of speech, name it and explain the two parts.
Worked example
Line: وما نيلُ المطالبِ بالتمنّي / ولكن تُؤخذُ الدنيا غِلابا. Reasoning: Theme is effort, not wishful thinking. بالتمنّي is contrast with غِلابا (by struggle/force). The line uses abstract nouns and a concessive لكن. Explanation: "Goals are not attained by wishing; the world is taken by effort." Do not call it ghazal; it is wisdom/advice poetry.
Traps
Confusing poet with speaker; identifying meter without naming the foot; mistaking a simile for a metaphor; ignoring context of a Quranic or historical allusion; and giving a general theme without textual evidence.