It comprises distichs (bayt) of two 'lines'—in Arabic usually written side by side, with a space dividing them, the first being called the sadr (صدر, literally "chest") and the other the ʿajuz (عجز, literally "belly").
Its basic form is as follows (the symbol – representing a long syllable, ⏑ representing a short syllable, and x representing a syllable that can be short or long):[1] This form can be exemplified through the traditional mnemonic Faʿūlun Mafāʿīlun Faʿūlun Mafāʿilun (فَعولُن مَفاعيلُن فَعولُن مَفاعِلُن).
In Classical verse, each distich is a complete syntactic unit.
One early exponent was Imru' al-Qais, whose Mu‘allaqa is in the metre.
[4] Its famous opening distich runs:[5] قفا نبك من ذِكرى حبيب ومنزل / بسِقطِ اللِّوى بينَ الدَّخول فحَوْملِ qifā nabki min dhikrā ḥabībin wa-manzilī / bi-siqṭi l-liwā bayna d-dakhūli fa-ḥawmalī[6] Stay—Let us weep at the remembrance of our beloved, at the sight of the station where her tent was raised, by the edge of yon bending sands between Dahul and Haumel.