Magin_Edward-thesis

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BS: Most of our styles in writing poems―it’s the same as those used in Iran or in
Arabic language or even in Turkish. All these nations have the same ways of writing
poems.
EM: And you mentioned that the meter, or the number of syllables in poems―Is
this always the choice of the author, or do you have names for the length of lines or
meters?
BS: It starts from six to seven and goes up to 16; 16 is the top. It is the poet’s
choice how to write. This we call it “the way” of the poem. But in Arabic language, there
is something more complicated than our style. They call it bahar. Bahar means ‘the sea.’
There are 16 oceans or seas in Arabic language. It is so very complicated and our
Classical poets―Kurdish poets―used these bahars, like Melaye Cezîrî. It gives the
poems more rhythm and more music, really. It gives the poems a sort of music. It is
something like musical tones and the time in musical notes. Every sign in musical writing
is dependent on the time, half or quarter. When we use this 16 or 14 we…well, two things
control us in this measurement―the vowel and the consonant. (pause in interview)
EM: When we paused, you mentioned the special form in Arabic that is very
difficult. We are saying that for the length of a sentence―the line in poetry―the poet is
limited by the vowel and consonant. What were your thoughts when you said that? You
were going to say something else.
BS: This is the basic thing. In Arabic poems and Kurdish poems, always in the
area of the Middle East―this is the basic measure of a poem, the “way” of the poem.
Because as you know, any speech in the world is based on vowels and consonants. So,
when we try to analyze any line in traditional or Classical poems, you will find the same
number from the first line to the final line. This is the simple way of measuring the
poems. But in Arabic, as I told you, there are the bahars. They developed something
more complicated from this basic thing, vowels and consonants. They derived 16 aspects
of measurements or 16 different styles of measuring the sound, such as VCCCV, VCVCVC,