Description
Book SynopsisThis exhaustive and yet enthralling study considers the life and work of al-Mutanabbi (915-965), often regarded as the greatest of the classical Arab poets. A revolutionary at heart and often imprisoned or forced into exile throughout his tumultuous life, al-Mutanabbi wrote both controversial satires and when employed by one of his many patrons, laudatory panegyrics. Employing an ornate style and use of the ode, al-Mutanabbi was one of the first to successfully move away from the traditionally rigid form of Arabic verse, the ‘qasida’.
Table of ContentsPreface
1 OUT OF ARABIA
Arabian origins
Poetic forms – the ode
Invective and elegy
Poets on the fringe
Islam’s effect on poetry
Centralization under the Umayyads
Diversity under the ‘Abbasids
Conservatism in poetic taste
Late ‘Abbasid disintegration
2 GROWING PAINS
Origins and early formation
Al-Mutanabbi goes to Baghdad
Early career in Syria
Rebellion and its aftermath
After the fall
At Kharshani’s court
Death of the poet’s grandmother
The Ikhshidid connection
Eye on the Hamdanid prize
3 GLORY DAYS IN ALEPPO
The Hamdanids of Aleppo
Al-Mutanabbi’s first ode to Sayf al-Dawlah
Occasional poems for the would-be patron
Death of Sayf al-Dawlah’s mother
Elegy on Abu’l-Hayja’
The poet–patron relationship
Demands on the poet
Epic occasions
Trouble in paradise
Al-Mutanabbi bites back
All good things ...
4 PARADISE LOST
From Aleppo to Egypt
Reluctant praise
Al-Mutanabbi demands his due
Saving face at Aleppo
Kafur’s final refusal
Angry satire
Out of Egypt
Home again
Sayf al-Dawlah in the wings
The poet in Persia
The Gap of Bavvan
To the hunt
Final call
5 CONTEMPORARY CRITICS
After the fall
Linguistic correctness
Diction and lexical choice
Construction of the poem
Philosophizing in poetry
The limits of imagination
Borrowing versus plagiarism
Summing up
6 THE HIGHEST FORM OF PRAISE
Andalusian admirer
Kindred spirits
The classical as innovation
Neoclassical voice
Modern echoes
Conclusion
Suggestions for further reading
Index
