In the third century of the Hegiras there rose to fame two Arab poets who composed in different styles which eventually gave rise to a vigorous controversy. While Abu Tammiam (+ about 230) made abundant use of metaphors (not infrequently far-fetched), similes, antitheses, paronomasia and other literary devices which rendered his style sometimes complicated and obscure, al-Buhturi (+ 284), in contrast, wrote in the conventional way giving his poetry, in the main, a simple and flowing style and a selective diction.