Masnavi (poetic form)

Masnavi, or mathnawī, is the name of a poem written in rhyming couplets, or more specifically, "a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines". Most mathnawī followed a meter of eleven, or occasionally ten, syllables, but had no limit in their length. The mathnawi consists of an indefinite number of couplets, with the rhyme scheme aa/bb/cc.

Mathnawī have been written in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and Urdu cultures.

Arabic mathnawi poetry is called muzdawidj. It is a poetic style that includes alliteration or a rhyme scheme within the ending words of two lines, and follows a specific meter. It is very similar to the Persian, Urdu, and Turkish mathnawi, with one major difference: most Muzdawidj follows an aaa/bbb/ccc pattern, while the other mathnawi follow an aa/bb/cc pattern.

In Persian mat̲h̲nawī (مثنوى), the poems strictly adhere to a meter of 11 syllables, occasionally ten. While the length of a mat̲h̲nawī is not prescribed and is therefore unlimited, most of the better known mat̲h̲nawī are within a range of 2,000-9,000 bayts (verses). The first known mat̲h̲nawī poem was written in the Sāmānid period (4th/10th century). Despite certain dates indicating a possibility otherwise, modern scholars believe it is a continuation of an Iranian verse form, not of its Arabic counterpart(there is some debate that the word mat̲h̲nawī is derived from Arabic, but most scholars believe that the Persians coined the word themselves).

Mat̲h̲nawī are usually associated with the didactic and romantic genres, but are not limited to them. There is great variety among Persian mat̲h̲nawī, but there are several conventions that can help a reader recognize a mat̲h̲nawī poem. Most mat̲h̲nawī have a distinction between the introductory and body paragraphs (although it is not always easy to determine where that is), praise of the one God and prayers, a eulogy of the Prophet, reflections on the value of poetry, and occasionally a description of an object as a significant symbol.

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