Poetry: Prescribed Textbook Poems
What the domain tests
Poetry questions test your understanding of prescribed Persian poems: theme, central idea, simple imagery, rhyme, and the poet’s message. You may be asked to explain a line, identify قافیه (rhyme) and ردیف (refrain), or state the moral of a couplet.
Core terms
- بیت (bayt): a couplet of two half-lines.
- مصرع (misra): one half-line of a couplet.
- قافیه (qafiya): the rhyming word before the refrain.
- ردیف (radif): a repeated word or phrase after the rhyme.
- مضمون (mazmun): theme or meaning.
Worked example
Couplet: دل من روشن است / جان من گلشن است Question: What is the ردیف? Reasoning: The repeated element after the rhyming words is است (“is”). The rhyming words before it are روشن and گلشن. Therefore است is the radif, while روشن/گلشن form the qafiya. If the question asks for the theme, answer: The speaker’s heart and soul are full of light and beauty.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling the rhyming word the radif; the radif is the repeated element after the rhyme.
- Translating metaphor literally: گلشن (rose garden) can mean a place of beauty, not an actual garden.
- Explaining every word instead of the line’s overall meaning.
- Ignoring the refrain when counting rhyme patterns.
- Writing a personal response when the question asks for the poet’s message.