"Elegy for al-Andalus," as rithā', or poem of lament, is typical of its genre in that it consists of an enumeration of the qualities of the subject and a mourning of its loss; what is atypical is that, whereas the subject of this ancient poetic form is almost always a hero or nobleman lost in battle, ar-Rundi personifies al-Andalus and speaks about it as if it were the dead or dying hero.