Despite the straightforward distinction between sentimental and occasional poems made by Ḥājj Dākōn and ʿAlī Nāṣir Balḥāf, these categories exist in their purest forms only at the extreme ends of a spectrum whose intermediate range includes poems that link events with personal sentiment or vice versa. An event may lead to an emotional reflection on the part of the poet, or, conversely, a mood or feeling may be subsequently tied to an historical occurrence. Whether a poem is judged occasional or sentimental is a function of authorial inspiration and the audience’s surmise: Has the poet been provoked to poetic expression due to a specific event or by a sentiment? Which of the two appears to have been the motivating factor behind the poem? Thus, the poem’s occasionality or sentimentality may be judged through an initial impression, not by how the poem ultimately concludes.