CHAPTER—I

1. Introduction

1.1. Classical Arabic Poetry - Its form and theme

1.2. Arabic poetry in the early Renaissance

1.2.1. Transition of poetic form and theme

 1. INTRODUCTION

The present Research Work entitled “TRANSITION OF CLASSICAL

ARABIC POETRY TO MODERNITY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
ROMANTIC POETRY OF AHMAD ZAKI ABU SHADI” deals with ‘Transition
to Modernity’. So by the word ‘Transition’ we mean the gradual change of form and
style from one to another. In the present context the word ‘Transition’ is very much
considered to be applicable for Arabic poetry as it got changed from its classical style
to modernity in respect of formation and thematic nature and style. The Modernist did
not like to follow the formal structure of classical period (i.e. Pre- Islamic restricted
traditional style) rather they relied much on the ‘Thematic Aspect’ and they argued
that formation or style might be used in accordance with subject- matter of the poetry,
while there should not be any bar of using ‘Qafiya’ or Rhyme, which was very much
essential in Pre-Islamic poems or odes.

In order to furnish a true line of continuity, it was necessary to examine the

background of the poetry of that period with a view to tracing some of the poetic
traditions which played an important part in influencing the contemporary scene. Thus
it has been possible to trace the beginning of certain trends which played an important
role in the development of poetry in this century. The experiments of current period
can be seen as a synthesis of the achievements of Arab poetic creativity in modern
times. Ideally, current avant-garde poetry adopts the Romantic aspect of self
experience.

The fifties saw the disintegration of age-old assumptions about form and poetic
diction as well as of traditional attitudes in poetry. There has been indeed a long
struggle in modern Arabic poetry to cross the frontiers of national limitation on to the
wider international sphere of art. Political passion, which has been the major factor in
initiating the first changes in the spirit, approach, diction, style and theme of Arabic
poetry in the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, could not by itself continue to
be a major influence on the artistic aspect of a poem. Other factors made themselves
felt and it was the sum total of the individual’s national, social, cultural, emotional and
artistic experience which brought about the momentous changes in the periods.
 There is no doubt that Arabic poetry is now passing through an acute phase of
experimentation. Even more fundamental experiments in this poetry are yet to be
made. Everything in current Arab life is dynamic, and despite the fact that modern
Arabs are now decisively oriented towards technology, poetry still plays an important
role in their culture and one feels, will once again prove to be the first medium of
expression of a quick changing sensibility. These changes will be concentrated at the
beginning on the intricate and highly varied metric forms of the Arabs where the real
adventure lies. So far the attempts at writing poetry in the medium of prose have been
promoted mainly by similar experiments in the west, notably French, not by real
artistic need at the time. With all the foregoing experiments in these forms, they have
now become malleable enough for further experiments of a more drastic nature. It is
feasible that in the near future more poets will follow these pioneers and furnish their
own forms. It is also possible and probable that a tendency towards more accentual
rhythms will impose itself.

In this work, I have tried to show the gradual change and development of new
formative styles of contemporary Arabic poetry, and have shown how it was capable
of lending itself, within a comparatively short period of time, to the varied
experiments of the Neo-Classicists, the Romantics, to the factual direct approach of
some Neo-Realists and to all the obliquities of the current period.

The contemporary poetry continues to develop and while experiments are still
carried out in form and content. The present work is a survey intended to show a clear
picture of the changes that took place time to time in regard to Modern Arabic poetry
and its development.

The work is mainly divided into four chapters dealing with all the aspects of
gradual changes of Arabic poetry.

The first chapter of this work is highlighted on the form and theme of classical
Arabic poetry and the position of Arabic poetry in early Renaissances.

The oldest form of Arabic poetry is traditionally traced back to rhyme without
metre ‫‘ )سجع‬Saj) or as we can say ‘rhymed prose’. It was regarded as possessing
magical powers.
The rhymed prose used by the oracles and soothsayers is to be considered the
first stage in the development of the poetical form. This form of expression was
adopted by the pre-Islamic Arab seers to distinguish it from the common speech. The
Arabs used ‘Saj or Saja’ to express their ideas as well as to give people the impression
that they had spiritual power and that their rhymed sentences had descended from
heaven. Though this kind of poetry is not preserved but was used by the magicians
and their famIliyar spirits in the earlier periods. ‘Saja’ was considered as a basic
tendency towards poetic temperament of the Arabs and was a preliminary stage in the
formation of Arabic poetry. After all, it may be mention here that the form and theme
of Arabic poetry is gradually changed by the poets through the ages.

The role of the poets, in illuminating poetry in modern literary renaissance is a

notable one. In the late 19th and the earlier part of the 20 th century much of the poetry
was the product of particular events and situations. Basically, the poems were of the
old forms and languages with new themes. Despite the limitation of traditional form,
style and diction, there were several remarkable poets namely, Mahmud Sami Al-
Barudi, Ahmad Shauqi, Hafiz Ibrahim, Khalil Mutran and Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi
etc., Moreover, al-Barudi represents the first stage of the literary renaissance in poetry,
in which stages the subject matter was (i.e. prevailing situations), but forms and
language were traditional. He was well known as ‫( رائد الشعراء‬i.e. the leader of the
poets), who composed all types of poetry as eulogy, satire, self glorification, elegy,
bravery poetry and amatory verse. Besides, Aisha al-Taimuriya a contemporary of Al-
Barudi was the first Arab woman writer to achieve distinction in the field of Arabic
poetry. Though her style of poetry was old fashioned but her verses were of sophistic
nature.
They have a great contribution to Nahda because of hundred or more books
have been written separately or jointly. Both the poets had left a substantial output to
the development of Modern Arabic poetry. As we know that, ‘Nahda’ (renaissance)
starts with the French invasion of Egypt. Many Arab authors even today feels that the
Nahda is not yet over and hold the view that Arabic literature is still going through a
preparatory phase of awakening, which ultimately will lead to a new literary
culminating point. This is probably found in many Egyptian writers, that the poetry is
considered as more advanced than the prose. In fact, the Arabic poetry basically grew
as well as developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Second chapter of this work discusses about the precursors of poetic revival
and the stages of the Modern Arabic poetry.
In the beginning of nineteenth century the Arab literary renaissance was started,
first in Lebanon and thereafter in Egypt. Though, the precursors were mainly
interested in prose and experimented with it, but at the same time they also
experimented in poetry, which needed a longer time to be developed.

Gradually, the Arabs started to react to the changes that took place in the
literary world of the Arabs. As we know poetry is regarded as the greatest and most
pleasant mode of literary expression of the Arabs, it also came under the western
influence with a little relation to the traditional Arabic form of qasida i.e. ode.
Therefore, they continued to pursue the same path as in the eighteenth century. The
first real poetic revival (Renaissance) took place in the second half of the nineteenth
century in Egypt that came with the outcome of the Napoleonic invasion. Napoleon
Bonaparte introduced the Arabic printing press in Egypt, which brought a true cultural
awakening and aroused a deeper interest in learning and reviving the literary
achievements of the past. So far the poetry was concerned, many collections were
published. Thus the poets all over the Arab world became able to read the poetries of
their own choice.

The Egyptian writer Mahmud Sami al-Barudi ( ‫ )محمود سامي البارودي‬was the torch
bearer of Modern Arabic poetry and who was also known as ‘rab al-seif wal qalam’
‫( رب السيف و القلم‬Lord of sword and pen). Besides Barudi there were many writers, who
worked a lot in the modern literary revival like Ayesha Taimuriya, Ahmad Faris al-
Shidyaq, Mahmud Safwat al-Sa’ati and Nasif al-Yaziji etc.

The first stage of modern Arabic poetry begins at the middle of the nineteenth
century and ends its last part with the appearance of the fully developed poetry of
Ahmad Shauqi. During this period the late-medieval poetic paradigm was still
paramount, but poets in Lebanon and Egypt were gradually deviating from it. These
Christian and Muslim poets were consciously aiming for the restoration of the radiant
classical model and were following in its footsteps. They had no ambition to evolve a
new poetic tradition unknown to the Arabs; neither were they purposely trying to
transform old concepts and practices to suit time. In this connection, mentions have
been made about the various stages of Modern Arabic poetry that makes a real poetic
development in modern Arabic literature. They are Neo-Classicism, Pre-Romanticism,
Romanticism, Social Realism and Symbolism. In every stage the poets extended their
contribution to the development of Modern Arabic Poetry.

Third chapter of this thesis emphasizes on Romanticism with its meaning,

definition, significance and the principal concepts of Arabic and English Romanticism
with the poets and their Romantic Arabic poetic contribution to the development of
Modern Arabic Poetry. Accordingly, depicts the contribution of Mahjar and Apollo
movement poets to the development of Modern Arabic poetry.

Fourth chapter is the concluding chapter and it is based on the poetry of

Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi dealing with the contemporary issues of the society through
the ages. The chapter carries on the object of forming the Apollo society and their
innovations to the Modern Arabic Poetry. Another section of this chapter highlights
the kinds and style of his poetry, in addition to the western influence on his poetry.
The final section of the work points out about the later Romantic poets like Fadwa
Touqan, Nazik al-Malaika and Salma Khadra al-Jayyushi and their contribution to the
Modern Arabic literature.

The Conclusion and Bibliography follows the fourth Chapter respectively.

 1.1. Classical Arabic Poetry - Its form and theme

The Arabic poetry is classified in two groups: classical and modern. Classical
poetry was written before the Arabic renaissance ‘al-Nahda’
ḍ (‫)النهضة‬, i.e. beginning of
19th century. Thus, all poetry that was written in the classical style is called ‘classical’
or ‘traditional poetry’ since it follows the traditional style and structure, which is also
known as ‘horizontal poetry’ in reference to its horizontal parallel structure.

The literary meaning of the word ‘classical’ is relating to or characteristic, art

and culture of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The word representing the highest
standered within a long established form. Generally, it is a form or system felt to be of
first significance before modern times.1 On the other hand, the poetry that was
developed during Renaissance or ‘al-Nahda’ is known as Modern poetry. As we see,
that the modern poetry deviated from the classical poetry in its content, style,
structure, rhyme and topics.

In the present context by ‘Classical Arabic poetry’ we mean the Poetry written
during ‘Jahiliyya’ period (‫)ايييام الجاهلييية‬. The word ‘Jahiliyya’ means ‘Ignorance or
Barbarism’.2 Which mean to say the days of ‘Ignorance’. The period before the
writing of the Qur'an and the rise of Islam is known to Muslims as Jahiliyyah or
period of ignorance. Here the word has been used as ‘Jahiliyya’ as the Arabs were
unlettered and they didn’t have the power of reasoning and patience but they had the
talent of exceptional calibre. This makes them to called as ‘Ignorant’. They reached to
perfection in poetry only through ‘Oral’ transmission and attained to its exactness
during ‘Jahiliyya’ period preceding 7th century. That is to say before Islam and so it is
called ‘Pre-Islamic period’. There was no formal prose literature except folk tales,
legends, proverbs, maxims etc. Poetry was the only medium to express their
conditions and thoughts. In fact, their poetry represented all the aspects of their life
and these are vividly reflected in the songs and odes of the poets which have come
down to us. Their poetry carries the record of their life and culture, therefore, their
poetry was regarded as ‘Diwan al-Arab’ ‫( الشعر ديوان العرب‬Register of the Arabs) and a
1
Soanes, Catherine, Hawker, Sara and Elliott, Julie, ‘Oxford English Dictionary’, Indian
Edn., pp-210
2
Hitti, P.K. ‘History of The Arabs’, pp-87-88
mirror of Arabian life. It was through poetry they expressed their sorrow and
happiness of defeat and victory an expression of Arab people’s cultural ideas and
greatest aspiration.

According to the Scholar Ibn khaldun, “The art of poetry among literature was
a good sort for the Arabs therefore; they made it the Register (Public record) of their
knowledge and wisdom.”3
In fact, the poetry preserved the history of the Arabs. Poetry was their sole
medium of expression, as they depicted a clear picture of human conditions, their
experiences, battles, national achievements, glory of their rulers along with the special
kind of wisdom, chivalry and valour etc. throughout the centuries. In this regard Ibn
Sallam Jumhi says, - “Verse in the Days of Ignorance was to the Arabs the record of
all they knew.”4
The famous writer P.K.Hitti also gives his opinion that- “In his heroic age of
literature poetry was the only means of literary expression.”5
The poetry that developed before the advent of Islam, scanty as it was, it
reflected the cultural and economic affairs of the day. Without an understanding of
their social life, it is impossible to recognize the emotional, intellectual and rational
growth to understand their literary taste and attitude towards poetry and criticism. 6
Thus, to understand and appreciate the trend of development of Arabic poetry
from classical to Modern, it is essential to trace back to its original form of poetry
existed during the classical period (Pre-Islamic period).
Arabic poetry had obscure beginning. The oldest form of Arabic poetry is
traditionally traced back to rhyme without metre ‫)سجع‬, Saj) or known as ‘rhymed
prose'. It was regarded as possessing magical powers.
The rhymed prose used by the oracles and soothsayers (‫ )كهان‬is to be considered
the first stage in the development of the poetical form. 7 This form of expression was
adopted by the pre-Islamic Arab seers to distinguish it from the common speech. The
Arabs used ‘Saj or Saja’ to express their ideas as well as to give people the impression
3
Khaldun, Ibn., ‘Al-Muqaddima’, Vol.III, pp-375
4
Jumhi, Ibn Sallam,: ‘Tabaqat’, Vol.I, pp-24
5
Hitti, P.K., ‘History of the Arabs’, pp-93
6
Hussain, Dr. M.Iqbal, ‘Classical Arabic Poetics: An Introduction’, pp-21
7
Hitti, P.K., ‘History of The Arabs’, 9th Edn., pp-92
that they had spiritual power and that their rhymed sentences had descended from
heaven. Though this kind of poetry is not preserved but was used by the magicians
and their famIliyar spirits in the earlier periods.
In this regard, the famous writer, litterateur Jurji Zaidan wrote in his book as:
“the Arabs spoke in rhymed prose. It may be that they coined ‘Saja’ to preserve their
intellectual achievement which they wanted to safe from decay”.8 ‘Saja’ was
considered as a basic tendency towards poetic temperament of the Arabs and was a
preliminary stage in the formation of Arabic poetry.
Later on, Saja became a merely rhetorical ornament, the distinguishing mark of
all eloquence whether spoken or written, but originally it had a deeper and almost
religious, significant as the special form adopted by poets, soothsayers as well as in
their supernatural revelations and for conveying to the vulgar every kind of mysterious
experience.9
Thereafter, the Saj or Saja ( ‫ ) سجع‬was replaced and developed by the metre
called ‘Rajz’ or ‘Rajaz’ ‫))رجز‬. The Rajaz (‫ )رجز‬is thus the oldest and the simplest
poetic form. This is an irregular iambic metre usually consisting of four to six feet,
each hemistich of which is confined to a separate rhyme. Since old times, the Rajaz (
‫ )رجز‬had been prevalent in Arabia and the first Arab to use it was, according to
tradition, a man known as Mudar bin Nisar. It so happened that once he fell from his
camel and got his hand fractured. When he was taken up from the ground, he cried in
agony: ‫( !ويدى ! ويدى‬Oh my hand! Oh my hand!). This is the most popular view about
the origin of Arabic poetry. The general opinion of critics and scholars boil down to
the point that Rajaz or Rajz was based on the paces of the camel.
R.A.Nicholson gave his observation in these words: “Rajz primarily means “a
tremor (which is a symptom of disease) in the hind-quarters of a camel.”10
According to Jurji Zaidan’s : “Rajz is the most ancient metre of the (Arabic)
poetry. Each verse has its separate rhyme. It is like Saja, but it is rhythmically
balanced.”11
On the other hand Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafi’e described that ‘Rajz’ was not a kind
8
Zaidan, Jurji, ‘Tarikh Adab al-Lughat al- Arabiyya’, Vol.I, pp-58
9
Nicholson, R.A., ‘A Literary History of The Arabs’, pp-74
10
Nicholson, R.A., ‘A Literary History of The Arabs’, pp-74
11
Hussain, Dr. M.Iqbal, ‘Classical Arabic Poetics: An Introduction’, pp-25
of poetry as ‘Saja’ was not considered verse. He claimed that: ‘Rajz is not, in fact,
poetry; it is only a rhyme like Saja’.12 But majority of critics counted Rajz as poetry.
In fact, the contact with foreign culture as well as literature forms a glaring
contrast to the state of Arab. That was particularly noticeable in the case of poetry,
because of the extraordinary degree to which Arabic poetry tended to adhere to
conventions.

12
al-Rafi, Mustafa Sadiq, ‘Tarikh al-Adab al-Arab’, pp-11-12
Generally the Arabic poetry is divided into the following stages:

1. Pre-Islamic period (500 to 622 A.D.)

2. Islamic period: beginning with the migration of the prophet from Mecca to
Medina in 622 A.D.

3. Umayyad period (661 to 750 A.D.)

4. Abbasid period (750 to 1258 A.D.)

5. The age of Mamluks (1258 to 1516 A.D.)

6. Ottoman (1516 to 1798 A.D.)

7. Modern period (1798 A.D. to present day)

Among all these stages, the most important period comprises the history of the
Arab under Islam. It includes the life of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the
orthodox caliphates till to the present day.
As far as the Arabic literature is concerned, during the Pre-Islamic period there
was only a spoken literature that was preserved by the oral tradition. The Jahiliyya or
Pre-Islamic Age covers scarcely more than a century, from about 500A.D. when the
oldest poems were recorded and composed until the Islamic period to 622 A.D. The
influence of these hundred and twenty years was great and lasting one.

It may mention here that, in the classical Arabic literature, poetry was held
superior to prose, as they were recorded by oral tradition. However, the sixth century
begins to show the flowering of a lively written tradition. That was captured over two
centuries later with two important compilation of the Mu’allaqat(‫ )المعلقات‬and the
Mufaddaliyat (‫)المفضليات‬. It throws us the actual picture of Arab social, moral and
intellectual life, we are able to find in it a treasure of maxims and parables born of
long experience. The finest examples for poetry in the sixth and seventh centuries
before Islam in Arabia were the seven odes called ‘Sab’a Muallaqat’ (‫)السبع المعلقات‬.
Among the ancient odes ‘Seven Muallaqat’ hold the first place. The literary meaning
of Muallaqat is suspended. They are still honoured throughout the Arabic speaking
world as masterpieces of poetical composition. Each of the odes or long poems was
awarded the annual prize at the greatest fair of ‘Ukaz’ (‫ )عكاذ‬and was inscribed in
golden letters and suspended on the Pagan Shrine of Ka‘aba in Mecca. 13
The name was merely intended as an allusion to the place of honour they hold
on the Arabian Peninsula, even as a chandelier may be suspended in the midst of an
apartment, or rather as a necklace may be worn hanging about the neck for they were
also called ‘al-Sumut’ (‫‘ )السيييموط‬the necklaces of pearls.’14 The poets whose
masterpieces have received the honour of being thus grouped together are:
i) Imru a1-Qais
ii) Zuhair bin Abi Salma
iii) Tarafa bin al-A’bd
iv) Labid bin Rabia
v) Amr ibn Kulthum
vi) Antara bin Shaddad
vii) Harith ibn Hilliza
They were also known as Seven Muallaqat Poets. Among them the first place
in point of time and also in the opinion of many critics, in merit belongs to Imru al-
Qais, known as ‘the leader of the poets to hell-fire’. His Muallaqa, with a fine picture
of a storm, illustrates his gift for natural descriptions as well as the frankness of his
amatory verse. The self centeredness marks his work finds it’s most intense
expression. In his famous Muallaqat, he described his inner feelings for his beloved,
as such
Stay! Let us weep, while memory tries to trace
The long-lost fair one’s sand-girt dwelling-place;
Though the rude winds have swept the sandy plain,
Still some faint traces of that spot remain.
My comrades reined their coursers by my side,
And ‘Yield not, yield not to despair’ they cried.
(Tears were my sole reply; yet what avail

13
Hitti, P.K., ‘History of The Arabs’, Revised 10th Edn., pp-93
14
Huart, Clement, ‘A History Of Arabic Literature’, pp-10
 Tears shed on sands, or sighs upon the gale ?) 15
Aside from the famous seven odes of pre-Islamic poetry, a collection named
after its compiler, al-Mufaddal al-Dabbi, al-Mufaddaliyat, containing one hundred and
twenty odes composed by lesser lights. A number of diwans (i.e. anthologies) and a
large number of fragments and excerpts in the Diwan al-Hamasah, (‫)ديييوان الحماسيية‬
edited by Abu Tammam and in the ‘Kitab al-Aghani’ (‫ )كتاب الاغاني‬of al-Isbahani.16
Mufaddaliyat is also known as an anthology of ancient Arabic poems, compiled
by the celebrated philologist Al-Mufaddal bin Muhammad bin Ya’la bin Amr bin
Salim bin ar-Rammal al-Dabbi, commonly Known as Al-Mufaddal ad-Dabbi (‫المفضل‬
‫)الض بي‬.17 The anthology contains 126 poems, some are complete odes and others are
fragments, chiefly from the lesser pre-Islamic poets. All of them are of the Golden
Age of Arabic poetry and also considered as the best collection of poems or a record
of thought as well as the poetic art of Arabia in the last two pre-Islamic centuries.
The poems of Mufaddaliyat are composed by several poets and authors, who
are chiefly known and highly respected. Few of them are; Alqamah ibn Abadah,
Mutammim ibn Nuwayrah, Salamah ibn Jandal, Al-Shanfara, A’bd Yaghuth anf Abu
Dhu’ayb and al-Harith ibn Hilliza.
Here, it would be relevant to mention here that, there are two indigenous forms
in classical Arabic poetry, called as ‘Qasida’ (Ode) and the other one is ‘Qita’h’
(Fragment). Qasida plays a central role in the history of Arabic poetry. The later one is
often merely a portion of the former, detached from its context. These twin original
broad poetic form or kinds were a public sort of poetry pre supposing an audience and
meant to be declaimed loudly because of their pronounced rhetorical and musical
features continued from the 7th century to the beginning of the 20th century.
The features of Qasida and Qita’h are as follows:
Qasida (‫( )القصيدة‬Long Poem)
The Arabic word for Ode is Qasida ‫))القصيييدة‬. Each line of the long poem
Qasida, roughly of the same length as an English couplet is divided into two halves of
equal metrical value. Generally both rhyming only in the opening of the poem,

15
Gibb, H.A.R., ‘History of Arabic Literature’, pp-18
16
Hitti, P.K., ‘History of The Arabs’, Revised 10th Edn., pp-94
17
M.Th.Houtsma, Arnold, T.W.,Basset, ‘First Encyclopaedia of Islam’, Vol.VI, pp-625
especially in what is known as Qasida (‫)القصيييدة‬, translated as Ode. Poems were
monorhymes; the same rhyme persisted throughout the poem at each verse end. It
represented the only, as well as most finished type of poetical composition. This form
of poetry enjoyed a privileged position and reached to its perfection.
It consists of an elaborately structured ode from 20 to 100 verses and maintains
a single end rhyme through the entire piece. It may define as, the arrangement of the
rhymes is in such a way that, while the two halves of the first verse rhyme together.
This early poetry had a large diction, famIliyar imagery and rich vocabulary probably
called from various dialects of Arabia.
On the other hand, from the point of view of Ibn Qutaiba, the Qasida is divided
into three broad sections: the nasib, the rahil and the madih. It is the nasib that opened
the Qasida. When the poet satisfied that his audience were listening to him attentively
he come torahil where he lamented the fatigue of his travel, the passing of sleepless
nights, the oppressiveness of the midday heat and then emaciation of his camel. When
a poet caught the attention of listener he started self-praise madih or fakhrin which he
described his superiority over his peers and story of his braveness. 18
The chief external characteristics of Arabic poetry is that the same rhyme runs
through the whole poem, which in the case of the most elaborate form, the Qasida or
ode, numbers sixty to a hundred lines. 19
Generally it opens with a reference to the ruins of a camp set up near water and
grass where once he or she had stayed for a weeks and made friendship with a dame.
He passes from the same place after a long time and at once locates the tent site of the
beloved. Thus sets into motion a train of memories both happy and sad.
It would be mention here that, there are two types of Qasida namely
a) Primary Qasida
b) Secondary Qasida.
The primary Qasida was not just a poem in the famIliyar modern sense of the
words. It had more than a literary function. The Qasida has sometimes a polemic
quality (as in the Muallaqa of al-Harith), sometimes a rhetorical quality (as in that
‘Amr’) and epic quality (as in Antara his Muallaqa) or it may contain such features as
18
Qutaibah, Ibn, ‘Al- Shi‘rwa al- Shuara’, Vol.I, pp-5
19
Gibb, H.A.R., ‘History of Arabic Literature’, pp-14
the lofty address to wisdom. Qasida really stands in a class of its own.
On the other hand, the secondary Qasida predominantly literary and craft
manly. It is generally the product of literary than primary experience. Though in the
primary Qasida ‘self-praise’ get prominence but in the secondary Qasida the element
of self-praise is generally reduced to a minimum.
However, the emergence of the long poem ‫( القصيدة‬Ode) is said to have been
not older than a century or at most a century and a half before Islam. It is difficult to
say about the first composer of the Qasida. In this regard Umar bin Shabba in his
classes of poets says ‘it is not possible to ascertain the first poet’. Literary men have
expressed different views about the matter. Every tribe claims that the first poet
belonged to it. The Yamani tribes claim that Imru’al Qais ‫ )المرأ( القيس‬was the first poet
to compose an Ode, on the other hand the tribe Banu Asad claim that Abid bin al-
Abras was the first poet to do so, in the same way Bakr declare Amr bin Qamia, al-
Muraqqish, the eldest to be leader of the Qasida composers, the Iyad do the same in
respect of their poet Abu Duad. Similarly the Taghlib make the same claim in respect
of their poet and chief Muhalhil, who as a creator of the qasida, his surname has
generally been translated ‘The Subtle Poet’, but it seems more probably to have been a
nickname given him on account of his having used the expression halhaltu, in one of
his lines, to denote ‘I made an echo’. Only a very small number of his verses are
extant.20
Few other critics say that al-Afwah al-Audi preceded the poets just mentioned
and that he was the first to compose an Ode. All these poets were close to one another
in time. Perhaps, the earliest of them did not precede the hijra by a hundred years or
so.21
In Pre-Islamic Arabia the formal foundation of Arabic poetry were securely laid
down. From the literary points of view of prosody and verification practically
everything goes back to that early time, the well-known sixteen metres with their
elaborate structure, the absence of rhyme less verse, in the serious poem the use of
monorhyme and of rajaz (a vaguely iambic kind of metre) with its rhyming couplets
for less weighty themes. Later on, the emergence in Muslim Spain in the eleventh
20
Huart, Clement, ‘A History Of Arabic Literature’, pp-12
21
Muzhir, Suyuti, Vol. II, pp-296
century of a complex type of strophic or stanzaic poetry known as ‘Muwashshah’ (
‫)الموشحة‬. The principal ‘genres’ or ‘topics’ (aghrad), subsequently which Arab critics
regarded as comprising the domain of Arabic period.
The themes of pre-Islamic poetry were varied, almost as diverse as the moods
and attitudes of the pre-Islamic Arabs. Arabic poetry has enough evidence of this
diversity.
The following is a classification of Arabic Poetry according to its subject
matter.
They are:
a) Madih (‫( )المديح‬Eulogy / Panegyric) - It was the foremost significant form.
Here the poet eulogies the bounty, the liberality and other pagan virtues of a
chief who has helped him or his tribe in difficulty. It was not motivated, except
in case of professional poets with the hope of getting a reward. The second
category of eulogistic poetry has some resemblance to the type of love poetry
inspired by a spirit of gallantry.
b) Hija (‫( )الهجاء‬Satire / Lampoon) - Here the poet satirizes his adversaries, as
because insult was the main weapon and the target would be subject to
withering ridicule. It was resorted to for defending one’s honor or that of one’s
tribe and to expose the vices of the other party.
c) Fakhr ((‫( الفخر‬Self-glorification / Boasting) - Here the main task of the poet
was to sing the qualities which he or his tribe possess, as like noble decent,
bravery, revenge, chivalry, hospitability, steadfastness to word and good
neighbourly relations in high esteem etc. for these he/she felt great pleasure and
pride. However the Fakhr is gradually being transformed from private self-
praise in matters of hasb/ nasb (Noble ancestry) to a medium whereby political
struggle is glorified. The self glorification occurs in the entire Muallaqat. It
may be personal or tribal.
The poet Hasan bin Thabit composed boasting verses during pre-
Islamic period, where he boasts of his noble ancestry thus;
‫ا لم ترنا اولدنا عمروبن علمر – لنا شرف يعاو على كل مرتقي‬
 ‫ رسافي قرار الرض ثم سمت له – فروع تسامي كل نجم محلق‬22

d) Ritha ‫( ))الرثاء‬Elegy) - Here the poet praises the qualities of a dead person. So,
it was a combined sense of grief and consolation for loss with a rehearsal of the
dead person’s virtues that serve as an appropriate celebration of communal
ideas. Among the elegy composers, Al-Khansa became celebrated as the
greatest poetess of the Pre-Islamic period.
e) Nasib (‫( )النسسسيب‬Verse on Beauty and Love of Women) - Here the poet
portrays the passion of his heart. Described aptly as an elegiac reminiscence of
love in which the poet expresses his gloomy and nostalgic meditations over the
ruins of the desert encampment of the beloved. He also describes her charms
and his own emotional reactions. In this kind of ode sometimes we find very
interesting and vivid pictures of feminine beauty as well.
f) Wasf ‫( ))الوصسسف‬Description/ descriptive poetry) - Here the poet gives the
variety of description in a poem ranging from the simple enumeration of
attributes. Sometimes poet also gives good descriptions of flowers and gardens.
As in Muqallaqa of Imru al-Qais, the picture of his riding beast the scenery of
the desert, its impressive solitudes, the exploits of romantic gallantry, the battle
and the frolics method in the desert and so on. Later on, it was developed in the
Abbasid period; thereafter in the Wasf pieces we find very little interaction
between nature and the poet.
g) Ghazal (‫( )غزل‬Amatory verse) - The ghazal is a love lyric from five to 12
verses that probably originated as an elaboration of the qasida's opening
section. The content was religious, secular, or a combination of both. It is a
series of couplets, called shers, no more than a dozen or so. The Ghazal not
only has a specific form but also traditionally deals with just one subject: love,
specifically an unconditional and superior love. A traditional Ghazal consists of
five to fifteen couplets, typically seven. Essentially it was a new development
in the Arabic poetry, emerged at the early days of the community of Muslim.
h) Hamasa (‫( )حماسسسة‬Bravery and fortitude/War poetry) - One of the great

22
Mazumdar, R.K., ‘Life and Poetry of Hassan bin Thabit’, pp-57
 anthologies of Arabic literature. It was gathered together in the 9th century. It
did not only mean bravery in war but a lot besides this, it meant a resolute and
unyielding attitude towards the forces of nature whatever their form.
i) Tardiyyah (‫ ))تردية‬Hunt poetry) - The many hunt scenes to be found in the
earliest Arabic poetry. One of the most notable is in Imru ʾ al-Qays’s
muʿallaqah, illustrate the love of this sport among the Arabs of the desert.
j) Zuhdiyyat (‫( )زهدية‬Ascetic poems) - Zuhdiyat stresses the inevitability of
death and an avoidance of life’s excesses in favour of a path of self-denial and
contemplation.
k) Al-Hikma (‫( )الحكمة‬Wise sayings) - The verses which contains some moral
truth or precepts of practical wisdom. Elegiac verses often replete with
reflections on life and death which lead on to the utterance of the words of
wisdom as for instance Labid bin Rabia, the Muallaqa poet says in a line of his
elegies:
“All but God is vain
Every delight, inevitably, must vanish”.
All the above mentioned topics may be termed as the overall unity of the
Qasida. By this it meant the harmoniously integrated interaction between elements of
symbolism, nostalgia and formal order, inherent in the standard pattern of Qasida with
its varied modifications and other important poetic elements such as rhythm, diction
and feeling.
Therefore, it may say that, elements of the glorification of feat and arms, the
praise of the virtues of hospitality and the love, by far the richest element of the three,
which has evoked some of the finest poems in the whole of Arabic literature.

Qita:(‫( )قطعة‬Short Poem)

It was a shorter form of poetry, served as a monothematic poem. The literary

meaning of Qita is ‘fragment piece’, which is a misleading term since often it is a
short independent whole that was never part of a larger structure. According to many
ancient critics the difference between qasida and qita is a matter of length only.23
23
Bert Roest, Herman, Vanstiphout, L.J., ‘Aspects of Genre of and Type in Pre-Modern
 It consists of only one incident without elaborate descriptions. It depicts a
particular occasion, a brief elegy on a fallen hero, war about private or public,
personal or tribal were the chief objects of Qita.

Thus, poetry held an important position in pre-Islamic society with the poet or
sha'ir filling the role of historian, soothsayer and propagandist.

The poet in Arabic is one sense, one who perceives things that other people
cannot do. Such a view of the poet encouraged the notion that such people were born
and not made. The poetic gift was the consequence of innate rather than acquired
qualities; not that certain skills did not have to be learned, but that spark of intangible
genius had to be already present for a poet to become really great. Poets of Pre
-Islamic Arabian society were believed to be gifted with insight, and their utterance
possessed special power, the power of words. A truly gifted poet was a cause for great
rejoicing for the tribe he belonged.24

Among the most famous poets of the pre-Islamic era are Imru' al-Qais,
Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya, Al-Nabigha, Tarafa, Zuhayr and Antara. Other poets, such as
Ta'abbata Sharran, Al-Shanfara, 'Urwah ibn al-Ward were known as su'luk or
vagabond poets, much of whose works consisted of attacks on the rigidity of tribal life
and praise of solitude.

The early Arabs used poetry as a weapon against their enemy tribes. They used
Arabic literature as a silent sword aimed at the hearts of the opposing camp, not with
the purpose of drawing blood, but with the goal of insulting the pride of their enemies
through words. Clement Huart presented proof for this in his book A History of Arabic
Literature. According to him, the poet was expected to compose satires which would
consequently provoke the poets of their enemy tribes to come up with retaliating
satires.
However, in this period, poetry literature consisted on Islamic feelings. The

Literary Cultures’, pp-21

24
Allen, Roger, ‘An Introduction to Arabic Literature’, pp- 67
Prophet of Islam and his four caliphs did not ignore poetry literature totally excepting
that part which had inciting glorifying, satirical content. There is sufficient proof to
show that he and his four caliphs liked poetry, as he asked ‘Ata bin-al-Hadrami’ and
‘Al-Khansa’ to recite poetry. About a dozen of poets, who attached to the Prophet and
sometimes praised him in simple terms. They also played a vital role in the field of
Arabic poetry during the Islamic period, three of them are more famous namely,
Hasan bin Thabit, Al-Hutai, Ka’ab bin Malik and A’bdullah bin Rawa. They are also
considered as the most ardent constant defenders of Islam.
A tradition suggests that all the first caliphs were famous poets with Hazarat
Ali at the top but they were not professional poets at all. They recited the verses of
other poets or their own only to lend vigour and poignancy to their words.
From various sources it is seen that poetry literature was also in vogue along
with the Quran and the Hadith literature in the early Islamic period. According to Ibn
Khaldun, the most of the learned among the first Muslims who excelled in the
religious or intellectual sciences were non-Arabs. At that time Arabs did not know the
way by which learning is taught of the art of composing books and of the means
where by knowledge is unregistered. Those who could repeat the Quran and relate the
Hadith were called the readers. This oral transmission continued upto the days of
Harun al-Rashid, who caused the Hadith to be set down in writing.25
A number of poetry during this period can be called Islamic because it
contained ideas introduced by Islam such as the Unity of Allah, His power, majesty
and glory or condemned pre-Islamic practices such as idolatry, superstitions and
prejudices or advocated virtues recommended by Islam, such as fear of Allah, Unity,
Restraint, Justice and Fair play.
The poetry of the Umayyad period (7 th century B.C.) closely reflects the socio-
economic changes resulting from the Islamic movement and the Arab conquest the
military settlements of the Arabs outside Arabia, the growth of Luxury, a money
economy the rise of an important government and the imposition of its authority over
the tribesman and the emergence of religious and political parties and tribal factions.
The results of these changes are most clearly seen in the transmission of the

25
Khaldun, Ibn. ‘Al-Muqaddima’, pp-543
occasional poem and the cultivation of particular themes by individuals or schools.
The main development after the establishment of the new religion is the
appearance of a new type of love poetry which, however, sensuous it might be, was
not entirely free from a tendency towards idealization or emotionalism. A group of
poets became associated with a type of Love Sentiment, in many ways a prototype of
the medieval European country love known as ‘al-hawa al’udhr’i (after the tribe of
Udhra). These were Kulayeb Jamil, Laily and Majnun (the mad one) and their names
became coupled in medieval literary accounts with the names of the women they
loved, namely ‘Azza, Buthaina, Mayya and Laila, respectively, and one of them
Majnun, became the subject of many attractive legends and in modern times of verse
drama.
The most remarkable new development is the rise of the independent ‘love-
poem’ (‫ )اغزل‬in the wealthy and luxurious cities of Hijaj using a simplified linguistic
structure influenced by Hijaj conversational style and though its close association with
the rise of new musical profession metrically adapted to the needs of singing.
All these give evidence of the new vigour and plasticity which had been
imparted to the literary arts of the Arabs by the Islamic movement and its political and
social consequences. Poetry, without losing any of its artistic qualities becomes less
formal and more functional, style and content compliment and harmonise with one
another.
During the first century of Umayyad period it was cultivated almost
exclusively by a group of Bedouin extraction in al-Iraq by al-Akhtal and al-Nabigha
stands closest to the spirit of pre-Islamic poetry, both in his tribal odes and his
panegyrics of the Umayyad Caliphs.
Together with the poets Jarir and al-Farazdaq, al-Akht ṭal forms a famous trio in
early Arabic literary history, for which they became well known as trio poets, who
stand out pre-eminently in the list of Umayyad poets. They also tried to develop the
three schools of literature during the Umayyad era, i.e. religious, political and ghazal
(love poem). The trio poets along with some other less famous poets were involved in
a sort of political dual called naqa’id. Naqa’id is a reply to a poem in the same
rhythm, rhyme and meter, but with entirely opposite meaning. For example a Fakhr
(boast) is replied with a Hija (satire).
Besides the religious and political poems; that composed by Al-Akhtal, Jarir
and Farazdaq, they favoured the poetic form as well i.e. love lyrics called ‘ghazal’. As
for ghazal, two further schools of poetry developed: ‘Udhri’ and ‘Hijazi’. Both of
these types of poetry were very simple and used everyday spoken language to express
love. The Udhri poetry was all about serious love, wine songs and hunting poems.
Usually a poet expressed love for one woman through poetry and the name of this
poet got coupled with his lover. This is because he stuck with one woman and never
changed his preference. For example, Qays became very famous as ‘Majnoon Leila’,
and his poems were identified as ‘Qays-Leila’. On the other hand, the ‘Hijazi’ poetry
had nothing to do with serious love; it was all about fun with many women. A famous
Hijazi poet was Omar-Ibn-Abi-Rabia, who was very popular among women in his
poetry. Music and partying also accompanied the Hijazi poems, although the musical
instruments were very different from what we have today. The Umayyad era lasted
until 750 A.D.26
For better or for worse, the early Umayyad poets set the example for later
poets: they imitated the pre-Islamic models and were excessively concerned with the
eulogy of their patrons. From now a panegyric occupied a disproportionately large
place in the output of poets, and every ruler or governor of note saw to it there were
one or more poets in his court whose main task it was to celebrate his achievement
and immortalize his name.
We might therefore have expected the new conditions and ideas introduced by
Islam would rapidly work a corresponding revolution in the poetical literature of the
following centuries. However, was far from being the case. The Umayyad poets clung
tenaciously to the great models of Heroic Age and even took credit for their skilful
imitation of the antique odes. The early Mohammadan critics, who were philologists
by profession, held first to the principle that poetry in pre-Islamic times had reached a
perfection which no modern bard could hope to emulate, and which only the lost
ideals of chivalry could inspire. To have been born after Islam was in itself a proof of

26
. https://b00019503.wordpress.com/2007/04/03/early-islam-and-umayyad/
poetical inferiority.27
During the Abbasid period radical changes took place in poetry. There was a
move towards shorter, less stylized poems with shorter metres. The poetry then
reflected the civilized urban life with its opulent luxury and influence of foreign
cultures mostly Persian. The Qasida was still an important form, but it was rarely of
the traditional composite type. Rather it was a weighty mono-rhyme poem of
reasonable length devoted to one of several recognized themes – eulogy, elegy and
satire etc. The Abbasid rule proved itself the golden period of Muslim education. The
first three centuries of the Abbasid period (750-1055AD) witnessed the great
flowering of medieval Arabic literature and have been called its golden age, all this
time Islamic culture assimilated major portions of the Greek and Roman intellectual
traditions, adapted them and added its own distinctive contributions.
In Abbasid era; some new types of poems were composed by the poets, such as
i) ‫( خمريات‬Wine poetry)
ii) ‫( زهد‬Asceticism)
iii) ‫( طرد‬Hunting)
iv) ‫( عتاب‬Complaint to the Patron)
Some poets created special themes of their own such as Abu Firas’s Rumiyyat,
which he wrote in exile as a prisoner of war in Rome. The themes of love and wine
poetry were later adopted in mystical poetry by poets like Ibn al-Faris.
In the later Abbasid era, a popular brand of poetry known as ‘Zajal’ or
‘Muwashshah’ was developed. It consisted of 4, 5 and 6 stanzas. This stanza poetry
had its origin in Muslim Spain in early tenth century A.D. The introduction of this
type in modern Arabic literature was as much too European models as medieval
Arabic popular poetry.
The unavoidable reaction in favour of the new trend of poetry and of
contemporary literature in general was hastened by various circumstances which
combined to overthrew the prevalent theory that Arabian heathendom and the
characteristics Pagan virtues-honour, courage and liberality etc. were alone capable of
producing poetical genius. Among the Chief currents of thought tending in this
27
Nicholson, R.A., ‘A Literary History of the Arabs’, pp-285
direction, we may note the pietistic and theological spirit fostered by the ‘Abbasid
Government’, and the influence of foreign, pre-eminently Persian culture. At all, it
was a revolt against rigid rule of classicism and to create new trends and movement of
Arabic Poetry Literature.
The characteristics of the new poetry which followed the accession of the
‘Abbasids’ and flourished under the patronage of the court. In that time, there was no
organized book trade, no wealthy publishers, so that poets were usually dependent for
their livelihood on the capricious bounty of the caliphs and his favourites whom they
be lauded. A huge sum was paid for a successful panegyric and the bards vied with
each other in flattery of the most extravagant description. 28

28
Nicholson, R.A., ‘A Literary History of the Arabs’, pp-289-290
 It is impossible to do justice about the principal ‘Abbasid Poets’, but the
following four may be taken as fairly representatives:
i) Abu Nuwas
ii) Abul Atahiya
iii) Al-Mutanabbi
iv) Abul-‘Ala al-Ma‘arri
These eminent poets began a new movement in Arabic poetry; they changed
the formation and themes and also gave new concept by their poems as well.
Among them it is often forgotten that Abu Nuwas was a great poet, who in the
opinion of those most competent to judge, takes rank above all his contemporaries and
successors, including Mutanabbi and is not surpassed in poetical genius by any
ancient bard.
There were of course a few dissident voices who with the spread of the empire
and the vast increase in sophistication and civilized urban living under the Abbasids,
saw the absurd irrelevances of pre-Islamic poetic conventions to modern life. For
instance, the bucolic poet Abu Nuwas suggested a prelude in praise of wine instead of
the practice of opening a poem with mourning over deserted encampments. But the
reaction against the conventions was only half-hearted and Abu Nuwas himself
followed the traditional practice in many of his works.
The Diwan of Abu Nuwas contains poems in many different styles, such as-
Panegyric (Madih), Satire (Hija), Songs or Chase (Tardiyyat), Elegies (Ritha) and
Religious poems (Zuhdiyyat); but love and wine were the two motives by which his
genius was most brilliantly inspired. Generally his wine songs (Khamriyyat) are
acknowledged to be incomparable. Here are few lines from one of his shortest wine
poems:-
Thou scholar of the grape and me,
I ne’er shall win thy smile!
Because against thee I rebel,
`Tis churlish to revile.
Ah, breathe no more the name of wine
Until thou cease to blame,
 For fear that thy foul tongue should smirch
Its fair and lovely name! 29
Abu Nuwas practised what he preached and hypocrisy at any rate cannot be
laid to his charge.
Thus, the Abbasid rule proved itself the golden period of Muslim education.
The first three centuries of the Abbasid period (750-1055AD) witnessed the great
flowering of medieval Arabic literature and have been called its golden age, all this
time Islamic culture assimilated major portions of the Greek and Roman intellectual
traditions, adapted them and added its own distinctive contributions.
After the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 A.D. the Mongols
captured Egypt and Syria. It was only then that Cairo, which was the capital of one of
the most powerful states in the Islamic World, became the cultural centre of the Arab
World. In one sense, it has retained this position until the present day.
However, Cairo gained this function at a time when the movement of the
Muslim civilization had declined considerably, it become the capital of a culture
which had passed its zenith some time before. In the centuries following the
destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols.
The literary production during the Mamluk Sultanate was massive in scope.
Especially the Arabic poetry that composed during the Mamluk Empire is a vast and
rich resource for the study of Arabic and Islamic cultures. Yet it is a resource that is
seldom tapped due largely, It may suspect, to its raw state, for the majority of this
verse is to be found only in manuscript form. Brockelmann, for example, lists
approximately twenty diwans from this period, most of which are still in manuscript
today, and this number grows substantially when one includes additional holdings at
Cairo's Dar al-Kutub and the Arab League Manuscript Institute; other collections,
such as those in Damascus and Istanbul, will undoubtedly add to the total. 30

From among these many manuscripts, about a dozen have been edited and
published over the last century. In addition, a substantial number of edited Arabic
poems from the Mamluk period may be found in a wide variety of published sources

29
Nicholson, R.A., ‘A Literary History of the Arabs’, pp-294
30
Brockelmann, Carl, ‘Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur’, 2 nd Edn. pp-23-24
including chronicles, such as Ibn Taghribirdi's al-Nujum al-Zahirah, biographical
works, such as al- Safadi's al-Wafi bi-al-Wafayat, and several poetic works and
anthologies, including Ibn Hajjah al-Hamawi's Khazanatul Adab wa Ghayatul Arab.
Some poems from these and other published works have been collected by ‘Umar
Farrookh in volume three of his ‘Ta’rikhu al-Adab al-‘Arabi’. Farookh's
encyclopaedic work is arranged chronologically and includes brief biographies,
bibliographical information, and samples of verse by over seventy-five poets of the
Mamluk era.31

Besides him, various authors from diverse backgrounds produced works across
the gamut of genres and indifferent languages that supported by the patronage of the
Mamluk elite. The popularity of ornamentation and literary devices among the
Mamluk era poets no doubt contributed to their being classified by earlier Western
scholars as ‘merely elegant and accomplished artists playing brilliantly with words
and phrase but doing little else. 32 The major poets of this era are; al-Ashraf al-Ansari,
Al-Shabb al-Zarif and Al- Busiri, who was well known for his ode to the Prophet; Safi
al-din al-Hilli.

Thus, Mamluk Arabic poetry presents often conflicting perspectives on

religious life, exposing some of the complexity and centrality of competing religious
views and their underlying roots in Mamluk society. But despite their different
emphases, many mystical and non-mystical religious poems from this period reveal a
devotional quality, which is particularly pronounced in poems praising the Prophet
Muhammad and his family. Though some such panegyrics were composed prior to the
thirteenth century, it was under the Mamluks that a distinct poetic genre to praise the
Prophet al-madih˝ al-nabawi was extensively developed and codified by al-Busiri and
his many imitators.33

Today the Mamluk era is known for its works of poetry, history and for that it
may call popular entertainment.
31
Farookh, Umar, ‘Ta’rikh al-Adab al-‘Arabi’, Beirut: ‘Dar al-‘Ilm lil-Malayin’, pp-602-977
32
Nicholson, R.A., ‘A Literary History of the Arabs’, pp-448
33
Mubarak, Zaki, ‘Al-Madaih al-Nabawiyah fi al-Adab al-‘Arabi’,Cairo: Dar al-Sha‘b,
Husayn, ‘al-Adab al-Sufi’, esp. pp-216-220
 On the other hand, the literary historians are agreed that the Ottoman period of
Arabic literature, that is the period, which begins with the Ottoman conquest of Syria
(1516) and Egypt (1517) and is conveniently thought to end with Napoleon expedition
to Egypt (in 1798), marks in fact the nadir of Arab culture. Of course, it was not a
period of utter darkness as popular handbooks sometimes lead us to believe, and
scholars like Gibb and Bowen are no doubt right when they insist that ‘to deny all
significance or value to the Arabic literature of the eighteenth century is not
justifiable’. But even Gibb and Bowen admit that the literature ‘confirms the general
impression of a society which had exhausted its own resources’. The recovery of
Arabic letters, the movement generally known as Arabic as ‘al-Nahdah’ (‫)النهضيية‬
meaning Renaissance began to be felt first in the Lebanon, Syria and Egypt and from
there it spread gradually and in varying degrees to the rest of the Arab world.
The basic structural unit in Ottoman poetry is the couplet (Beyit). The basic
characteristic of poetry is that poetical forms should be in meters called ‘aruz’, which
is adopted from Persian literature. The vast majority of the diwan poetry was lyric in
nature and the main genres in Ottoman poetry were ghazal (love), Qasida (panegyric)
and mesnevi (romance). Here ghazal was the most common genre. Qasida was written
for special occasions (like- birth, death, victory, enthronement, weddings and so
forth).
Ottoman diwan poetry is also characterized by the recurrence of three central
figures: the lover, the beloved and the rival. Ottoman poetry is replete with symbolic
relationships among these three. The lover may often be read as referring to the poet,
whereas the beloved may be understood as reffering to the sultan, a person in higher
position or an actual beloved. The emotional situation of the lover was expressed with
the use of metaphor and other literary devices such as simile. The classical ottoman
poetry enriched by the widely respected work of oral poets.
The best- known classical Ottoman poets are - Mevlana, Dehhani and Sultan
Veled in the 13th century; Nesimi, Seyyad Hamza, Ahmed Fakih in the 14 th century;
Ahmed Pasha, Necati and Seyhi in the 15th century; Fuzuli, Baki and Hayali in the 16 th
century; Tashcah Yahya, Nefi and Nabi in the 17 th century and Nedim in the 18th
century. With the effects of westernization, both the form and content of Ottoman
poetry changed dramatically, introducing new subjects and concrete ideas often
nationalistic ones, even the literary language became plainer and more direct. 34
In the eighteenth century most of the Arabic poetry in continual troubled by the
passion for verbal jugglery, the aim of the poets apparently being to impress their
audience with their command of the language, with their ability to manipulate it with
acrobatic effects. They vied with one another in imposing the most ludicrous
limitations and constraints upon themselves, such as writing verse in which every
word alliterates, or in which a world begins with the same letter as that with which the
proceeding one ends, or in which every word or every letter, or every other letter must
be dotted. Sometimes poets would pride themselves on writing panegyric verses
which if read backwards would have a complete opposite, satirical significance. 35 The
same essential lack of seriousness is found in the pursuit of badi, empty figures of
speech for their own sake, just as it is reflected in the preponderance of verse written
on trivial social occasions in which greetings and compliments are exchanged by the
poets or versifiers, and of which the theme is mutual admiration, and the phraseology
in ‘gaudy and inane’, to borrow the famous epithets used by Wordsworth in his
adverse criticism of the poetic diction of some of the bad English verse of the
eighteenth century.
The subject matters of the poems were traditional, limited largely to panegyric
and ghazal, mystical, devotional and didactic verse, descriptive and bucolic verse,
especially in the case of the circle of Amir Ridwan (one of the few real patrons of
literature in Egypt) which after wrote exaggerated descriptions of the Sensuous
pleasures available at his court from wine-drinking to merry-making in the gardens of
his richly decorated places. These descriptions were written by poets whose eyes were
rarely fixed on their subject but, as in the case of the other themes, they abound in
conventional images. For instance, the beloved always appeared like a gazelle, for
figure swaying like a willow tree or branch, her face like a full moon, her eyes languid
and sending forth, fatal arrows which pierce through men’s hearts, her lips like red
beads, teeth like pearls, cheeks like roses and breast like pomegranates. She is always
coy and unwilling and the poet is desperately lovelorn and so on.
34
Agoston, Gabor, Bruce Alan Masters, ‘Encyclopaedia of the Ottoman Empire’, pp-338
35
Ruwwad, Marun Abbud, ‘Al–Nahda al-Haditha’, pp-39
1.2 Arabic poetry in the early Renaissance

The new trend of Romanticism did not come in a day, it had to undergo various
changes and techniques by its composers. However, no one can deny the fact that in
the development of Modern Arabic Poetry, the influence of West or rather to say
European has been such that Modern Arabic Poetry deviated to some extend from its
classical heritage. It is fact that the impact of West brought about a change in the Arab
World not only in the technical military aspects, but also in the social, economic and
literary fields. However, this impact of the West was felt much in literature and that
was in poetry.
From the literary point of view of Arabic poetry in Egypt in the early revival
period gives the impression of adherence to traditional form with nostalgic feelings to
past Arab greatness, which formed a natural preface to the Arab and owned them a
respectable position in the modern world. The nostalgia is an inevitable element in
revivalist poetry. The role of the poet, in illuminating poetry in modern literary
renaissance is notable one. In the late 19 th and the earlier part of the 20 th century much
of the poetry was the product of particular events and situations. Basically, the poems
were of the old forms and language with new themes. Despite the limitation of
traditional form style and diction, there were several remarkable poets namely, Al-
Barudi, Ahmad Shauqi, Hafiz Ibrahim. Shauqi produced poems of nationalism,
Laments on the abolition of Turkish caliphate by Mustafa Kamal and eulogized Sultan
of Turkey. Hafiz could crystallize Egyptian resentment of the British occupation as in
a short poem entitled “‫”شكووي مصر من الحمتلل‬. Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi experimented
with personified poetry (Arabic), Ali Abu Nasr, a close confidant of the ruler Khidvi
Ismail wrote traditional type of poetry which was preoccupied with verbal ability.
Another poet who belonged to the close circles of the palace was Ali al-Laith.
He has written an ode in praise of Sultan A’bdul Aziz, the then Ottoman ruler.
Mahmud Safwat al-Sa’ati is another court poet of distinction. In fact, he was the
pioneer of the whole Nahdah, poetical movement, his verse were conventional type.
The first great modern Arab poet was al-Barudi, he was one of the best Arab poets
since al-Mutanabbi. He was a soldier and a statesman as well as the prime minister of
Egypt for a short spell; on the literary side he adapted old themes and forms to
contemporary situation. In poetry he was a towering figure. Though a political poet he
also excels in description, whether of nature antiquities or modern invention.
Moreover, al-Barudi represents the first stage of the literary renaissance in poetry, in
which stages the subject matter was (i.e. prevailing situations), but forms and
language traditional. He was well known as ‫(رائد الشعراء‬i.e. the leader of the poets).
Besides, Ayesha al-Taimuriya a contemporary of Al-Barudi was the first Arab woman
writer to achieve distinction in the field of Arabic poetry. Though her style of poetry
was old fashioned but her verses were of sophistic nature.
Between 1890 and 1930, Egyptian poetry was dominated by two giants; one is
Ahmad Shauqi and other one is Hafiz Ibrahim. In addition, Khalil Mutran was another
important figure in Modern Arabic poetry. Shauqi and Hafiz were the twin geniuses
who were considered the spokesman of Egypt and to a lesser extent the Arab World.
They were Champions of the Turkish Sultans of the Caliphate of the world of Islam.
They have a great contribution to Nahdah because of hundred or more books have
been written separately or jointly. Both the poets had left a substantial output, Shauqi
composed a Diwan of about 1,000 pages entitled ‘Al-Shauqiyat’, as well as Hafiz
composed a Diwan half of that size. However, Shauqi’s poems could be considered as
an important historical document. He was also a careful and perceptive observer, who
accorded an eminent position among Arab descriptive poets of all eras.
From the evaluation of their works it may say that Ahmad Shauqi and Hafiz
Ibrahim closed the era of classical revival in Arabic poetry, Mutran scaled it and
foreshadowed political modernism. Literary historians regarded him as the third of the
trio. Though he was born in Lebanon lived most of his life in Egypt, he favoured
reform in Turkey. Apart from his great poetical output he also translated several plays
from English and French into Arabic. His importance in the Nahda is evident from his
literary output. He also composed nationalistic odes and elegies and eulogies of the
Arab leaders. Mutran’s weightier poems inspired the Arabs and made a great
impression on his contemporaries. He is noted for his shorter and lyrical poems. He
wrote lyrical ballads like Wordsworth and experimented with personified poetry. His
poetry smacks of modernism especially his later poems. His poetry reflected two
sides, on the one hand, the traditional Arab writers ready to indulge in long odes; on
the other hand there was the lyrical poet with light touch and delicate stanzas.
In the early 20th century, Iraqi poets expressed the people’s wish for
independence first from the Turks then the British. Turkish rule was removed after the
First World War. As in Egypt political, social and economic themes occupied
important place in poetry particularly emancipation of women, education, poverty and
rural problems arising from rich landlords and poor peasants. Among the poets of Iraq
Maruf al-Rusafi stands out as a unique example. As a poet in Iraq his position is like
that of Shauqi in Egypt. His themes are varied and relevant to the modern science.
Rusafi proud of himself in composing his social and political descriptive and
philosophical poetry. Like Hafiz and Shauqi, Rusafi was a thorough professional poet,
who could write poem on any subject.
Besides, Muhammad Saeed al-Habbubi was another poet of Iraq, who was a
strong nationalist and died resisting British occupation. Another important poet
namely Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi, who was one of the successful Arabic poet of ‘Nahda’(
‫)النهضة‬. He composed poetry on wide ranges and themes as, philosophizing, elegizing,
eulogizing, and translating from Persian etc.
Furthermore, in Syria and Lebanon there was some more development of
poetry which necessitates mention of a handful of names. Though, Khalil Mutran born
in Lebanon is more considered as Egyptian than Lebanese. Iskendar al-Azhar and
Elyas Fayyad were poets as well as dramatists. Ilyas Salil achieved fame despite his
short life. Prince Shakib Arsalam was another notable poet. A great name in Syria
literature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was Salim Rufail Anhuri,
who was a poet and writer of merit.
As we know that, ‘Nahda’ starts with the French invasion of Egypt and it is still
in progress.36 Many Arab authors even today feel that the ‘Nahda’ is not yet over and
hold the view that Arabic literature is still going through a preparatory phase of
awakening, which ultimately will lead to a new literary culminating point. This is
probably found in many Egyptian writers that the poetry having advanced more
considered than the prose. In fact, the Arabic poetry basically grew as well as
developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

36
Zaidan, Jurji, ‘Tarikh adab al-Lugah al-arabiyah’, pp-9
1.2.1. Transition of Poetic form and theme
During the First World War the blooming of Modern Arabic literature reached
full maturity absorbing various European modernist movements. Arabic poetry
literature developed beyond classical imitation of the mid nineteenth century and
assumed a modern character. Under Western influence new forms and themes had
appeared notably. Religious changes, social reforms and political problems had all
found expression in creative literature. Outstanding poet geniusly appeared and left
their indelible imprint in this field. And thus through their output Arabic poetry
literature has developed and possessed a good position in the modern period.
Since the beginning of the First World War we find in the young generation of
poets a preference for stanza poetry and a leaning towards metres with syllables to the
hemistich or line. Decreasing the monorhyme Qasida in numbers. In the poems of
Modernists, lines get shorter and shorter till after the Second World War, we find them
as two or three syllables at a time. Free verse became popular, especially in the
Lebanon. Instead of the definite statements and clearly defined ideal of Shauqi, Hafiz
and Mutran, we find vague and shifting stands or impression. The previous poets of
neo-classicism are replaced by malaise sometimes romantic and vague, sometimes
positive and bitter.
In Egypt, the true modernism poetry begins with Mutran’s poetry. The
renowned poet al-Aqqad says on Mutran that ‘Mutran has the imagination of the West
with a feeling of the orient’. Mutran’s generation of poet tended towards political
poetry and eulogy, but expressed personal feelings about life. They were Romantics
often unhappy on their predecessors. The poets who came to prominence as well as
developed poetry in Egypt during the First World War were: Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi,
Al-Mazini, al-Aqqad and A’bdul Rahman Shukri.
Among the modern poets mentioned earlier, Abu Shadi was greatly influenced
by English literature, because he studied it in Britain for ten years, especially on
Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Dickens, Arnold Bennet and G.B. Shaw etc. He
established a magazine called ‘Apollo’ and those poets who associated with this
movement were known as Apollo poets. Later on, he established eight magazines,
literacy and scientific. He was a scientific humanist and was one of the unusual
writers produced by the Arab world. Besides, Abu Shadi’s nature poetry is influenced
by European Romanticism. Some of its poems carry English scenes and is almost
similar to Wordsworthian writings. Like the Romantic he does not see nature as an end
itself. It is emotive and leads to reflection on the world of men.
In Lebanon and Syria, a large number of good poetry was written between the
two World Wars. The poetry was basically developed by their good hands by ignoring
the traditional old style and themes. Poets of Lebanon and Syria were influenced by
the Western writing Wadi al-Bustani, one of the notable poets, who translated Omar
Khayyam into Arabic. He also wrote a collection of verse known as war Quatrain
(Arabic) which appeared in Beirut in 1952 and he also translated the great epic
Mahabharata in 1952. Another poet Rashid al-Khuri shared the honour with Shauqi is
being selected as the most popular poets in Beirut. Bishara Al-khuri surnamed Lesser
Akhtal is a poet of stature. He wrote some rhymeless poetry, some stanza poetry and
some free verse in very short lines. He is well known as a love poet.
Since the Second World War, there has been wide ranging and various
development in Lebanese poetry of which the beginning can be seen in poets like the
lesser Akhtal. The French influence is seen to a great extend. French was the language
of the well to do and the educated class in Beirut. There were so many experts in
French language that when they speak Arabic they fill it with French words. Even,
some Lebanese poet’s have written in French in preference to Arabic. Some poet’s
have published their Arabic poems with their own translation in French verse or vice
versa. But the influence of modern English poetry has been great also. Dylan Thomas
and Keats have been important in this respect. Among them, the most important has
been T.S.Eliot. Moreover, some Lebanese poets remained faithful to old fashioned
poetic literature, though not usually monorhyme. However, the free verse poets were
dominated by doubt, disbelief the depression feeling as strangers in the real World;
they seek integration in another reality through their own imaginings. They are misfits
even dropouts. For example, Muhammad Maghut’s poem ‘The Dead Man’. On the
other hand, Nizar Qabbani is another poet of merit who is less revolutionary and
widely popular among women readers for his love poetry.
In Iraq, the poetic scene between the Two World Wars was dominated by
Rusafi. Since 1945 free verse arrived in the scene. There were many poets in Baghdad,
Najaf and other critics. The poetry in this period may be divided into three types as:
Traditional, Romantics and Realist but some poets overlap these categories. First
category includes poets like Rusafi, Zahawi and Kazimi. The leading Romantic poets
in Iraq are Baland Haidari and the poetess Nazik al-Malaika. Haidari, the famous poet
was influenced by Lebanese poetry. His earlier poems were published in Lebanese
magazines such as ‘al-Adeeb’. His poetry is his private world. A world of vague
pictures rather than precise facts. Another outstanding Iraqi poet, Nazik al-Malaika,
who was well known throughout the Arab World. Some of her poems have been
published in Beirut. Basically, her poetry represents Romantic agony. For instances,
her poem entitled ‘Five songs’ sensitive sad, her poetry is the poetry of an oriental
woman who finds life frustrating and disappointing. She has also composed patriotic
verses about Iraq and about Arabs martyred in Palestine. Badr Shakir al-Sayyab,
Kazim Jawwad and A’bdul Razik A’bdul Wahid are prominent in Iraq. Sayyab’s poem
shows various stages of development, raising from one school to another Romantic,
symbolist and Realist.
After an in-depth study, it may be said that during the end of the nineteenth
century and the beginning of the twentieth century witnessed a large number of poets,
who preceded the modernist movement in the Arabs. During this period Arabic poetry
reached to its momentum position by the fruitful endeavours of those poets of Egypt,
Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Generally, we know that modern period in Arabic begins
with the turn of the nineteenth century after the invasion of Napoleon on Egypt in
1798, which paved the way for the interactions of Arab East with the West. Since that
period various trends and movements and many school of thought emerged like, Neo-
classicism, Pre-Romanticism, Romanticism, symbolism, Nationalism, schools of
Diwan, Mahjar, Apollo and so on.
In the following chapter discussion will made in detail about the different
movements mentioning above and the development of Modern Arabic Poetry.