- Shairi
Shairi (Georgian: შაირი pronounced IPA|), also known as "Rustavelian Quatrain", is a
monorhymed quatrain used byShota Rustaveli in thethe Knight in the Panther's Skin .It consists of four 16-syllable lines, with a
caesura between syllables eight and nine. While there are stanzas with as many as five syllables rhyming, generally shairi uses either feminine or dactylic rhyme. It is worth noticing that despite the feminine and dactylic forms of rhyme, in Georgian shairi stress is very week due to the nature of theGeorgian language , which is characterized by dynamic and very weak stress placed onantepenultimate syllable in words longer than two syllables and onpenultimate in two syllable words.Two distinct forms of shairi exist: Magali (high) Shairi and Dabali (low) Shairi. Rustaveli used both types in his poem.
Magali Shairi
In Maghali Shairi, lines are broken into four sections of four syllables, with a caesura after the second section: xxxx xxxx//xxxx xxxx.
Dabali Shairi
In Dabali Shairi, each line is broken into four segments of five and three syllables: xxxxx xxx//xxxxx xxx.
External links
* [http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/005/522.shtml Shairi] : Poetry Base / Poetry Gnosis, A Resource for Learning and Teaching Poetry.
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