Abstract
SYNOPSIS From earlier manuscripts, mostly in Arabic script, different types of verse‐form are identified in the following study of Swahili poetry. The formal quatrain is shown to have been the most popular form when Swahili poetry was at its best, in the middle and second half of the last century. The author provides examples of what were probably much older verse‐forms, especially long‐measure verse. An example is given from the earliest extant Swahili manuscript poem, Umm al‐Qura, by Sayyid Aidarus, written in A.D. 1749. Modern Swahili poets do not all observe the canons of traditional verse, nor do they experiment in so wide a field as the earlier writers. This is partly due to the scarcity of early manuscripts and subsequent ignorance of the earlier manner. The present article is the first study of its kind, based on existing material.
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