Ritha is a genre of Arabic poetry corresponding to elegy or lament. Alongside elegy proper, ritha may also include tahrid, a related mode of exhortation.
Facts
Place of Origin Notable ExampleAl-Khansa's elegy for her brother Sakhr 1 Defining TraitSubjects are almost invariably dead male warriors and lords who fell in battle 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Ritha
Characteristics section, second sentence
Almost all known pre-Islamic women's poetry is in this form.
Characteristics section, poem introduction
as in the poems of al-Khansa' (d. ca. 644) for her brother, Sakhr, killed in tribal combat
Characteristics section, third sentence
The subjects of the ritha' are (almost) invariably dead male warriors (fursan) and lords (sadah), predominantly those who fell in battle.
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