Abstract
Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī (d. 414/1023) actively contributed to the rich and diverse debate that took place in all fields of adab in the middle Abbasid period. In the 25th night of this Kitāb al-imtā‘ wal-l-mu’ ānasa , al-Tawḥīdī talks about the respective virtues of poetry and prose. This highly entertaining debate, where jest and earnest ( jidd wa-hazl ) are skillfully interwoven, also stands under the influence of Aristotelian ideas that were applied to literary theory. The article offers a commented translation with references to other contemporary sources.
Highlights
^"^ On what lines of poetry qualify as sawdhid, see Lane, Lexicon, 1611 entry "sáhid", where, in contrast to the above argument, it is stated that passages fi-om early Arabic prose and the Koran may be taken as sawdhid
By substituting 'ibâra for the «philosophical» lafz, the homonymy of the word lafz is avoided,. He said: And when the matter has come to this state as we have described it, prose has its undeniable virtue, and poetry its eminence that cannot be negated or concealed
As for the rhetoric of intellect: the sense of the speech should reach the soul before the speech itself reaches the ear, and the benefitfi"omthe way of [grasping] the meaning should be greater than the one [originating]fi*omthe embellishment fl42| of the expression and the rhyming of letters, simple style should prevail over artistic style, the purport should be noticeable and be as plain as daylight, and the goal should be obtained by the imagination as a result of sound arrangement [of arguments]
Summary
^"^ On what lines of poetry qualify as sawdhid, see Lane, Lexicon, 1611 entry "sáhid", where, in contrast to the above argument, it is stated that passages fi-om early Arabic prose and the Koran may be taken as sawdhid.
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