aruz

A measure in verses based on the openness or closeness, shortness or length of syllables. Originally it was used in Arabic poetry and it reached the Turkish language through Persian mediation. Because of the characteristic features of the Turkish language - avoiding consonants piling up and the lack of long vowels - it was impossible to use the aruz perfectly, poets handled the strict original rules rather freely. Metrical feet of 1-5 (usually 3-4) syllables form bigger units of 2, 3, 4 metrical feet, which define the measure of the half-line of the beyt (misra).

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