The Book of Tropes

Kitāb al-badīʿ, also known as The Book of Tropes, is a significant work by the 9th-century Arab poet and critic Ibn al-Muʿtaẓẓ. This book is a compilation that lists and explains five major poetic devices, including metaphor and simile, along with other "discourse embellishments".1

Ibn al-Muʿtaẓẓ's aim was to show that these devices were present in Arabic writing from its earliest stages and that their use was a matter of taste. However, his work became a challenge for later writers on poetics, inspiring them to create even longer lists of such devices. The term "tropology" itself refers to a figurative mode of speech or writing, or a treatise on tropes.12