Āmūzish-i vazn dar shiʻr va tarānah

A practical guide to the craft of metre, written for poets, songwriters and curious readers who wish to understand the music that underlies Persian verse. Beginning with a brisk survey of the development of Persian poetry from the Sāmānid revival through the schools of Khurāsān, ʻIrāq and India to the innovations of the modern age, it then turns to the technical heart of the subject. Successive chapters introduce scansion, the syllable, prosodic spelling, consonants and vowels, the metrical foot, and the licences a poet may employ, together with the conventions of padding and the table of feet. Throughout, the author favours plain explanation and worked examples over dense theory, building the reader gradually towards the more intricate questions of quantitative metre. A generous set of exercises allows the principles to be tested in practice, making the volume equally suited to private study and to use as a classroom companion for those approaching Persian versification.