Ancient Arabic Poetry; Its Genuineness and Authenticity Author(s): William Muir Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the

Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, New Series, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Jan., 1879), pp. 72-92 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25196818 . Accessed: 05/05/2012 05:39
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72

Art.

III.?Ancient By

Arabic

Poetry; Muir,

its Genuineness K.C.S.I.,

and

Authenticity.1

Sir William

LL.D.

An

of the early poetry surrounds charm of their in the wonderful creations Dwelling as it were, a new genius with these ancient poets, you live, the trace of even fields, left life. Cities, gardens, villages, far out of sight, you get away into the free atmosphere of and conventionalities of the desert; and, the trammels over cast aside, you roam with the poet settled society artless the varied domain of Nature in all its freshness, indescribable the Arabs.
ness, and freedom.

sun of It is altogether another life, which the unpropitious our colder climate renders possible only to tho imagination. Yet Nature, in however different a garb to that which wo are used to gaze upon, will strike, when faithfully described, a chord in every heart. The dweller in the North may never have around of a nomad tribe clustering its little oasis of trees and verdure in the midst of the boundless barren plain, nor tho long of camels wending their weary way over tho trackless strings the touch of Nature when the sands; yet he will recognize over the true poet paints the picture, lingers plaintively^ a beloved one was but lately pitched, spot where the tent of witnessed the dark tents the fountain with the quickly disappearing traces of her tribe's

and mourns
encampment.

1 der alten Arabischen Gedichte. iiber die Aechtheit Bemcrkungcn an der Univcrsitat 1872. Greifswnld. Greifswald, Ahhvardt, Professor von Alfred des Orients tinier den Chalifen. Von Culfurotschichte Poesie. 1875. Kapitel VIII. Wien, Arab Poets. the Moallacdt and Early Translations from By C. vol. xlvi. B.C.S. Journal of the Asiatio Calcutta, Society of Bengal,

Von W. Krcmcr. J. Lyall, 1877.

ANCIENT ARABIC TOETRY. The needs of nomad

73

startling what small appliances, may live in happiness A few breadths would but hamper the Bedouin. spun from or tho goat, a short pole or two, tho hair of the camel with a few ropes and pegs, arc all he needs for a dwelling, which can be planted on any spot where the green pasture

sometimes

to reflect,

life are few and simple ; indeed, it is in this age of luxury, with in a southern zone, man especially A house or even hut comfort. and

trans and running spring invite; and as rapidly dismantled, A bright lifo and pitched again at will elsewhere. ported, and childlike, where carking care and the strong this, light man live too fast elsewhere, might well passions that make have human said farewell nature to the happy dweller. finds ample food for vanity thought even here Alas, and envj', hatred

and rapine! The range extent. Past are described The future

of

experiences life. illustrations drawn from pastoral with is not thought of, nor is the attempt made to

in Arabian is of limited poetry and the sentiment of the moment

it is in the present that draw lessons from the past. Childlike, But oven in such artless rhymes there the Arab poet lives. is a style and fashion. Tho poet must have a mistress, whose smile he absence he mourns, and in the memory of whose still loves to linger. of tenderness and beauty are Images drawn from the soft eye of the antelope or the graceful palm. The in fair apparel, maidens in the language of Arab poetry, is like a herd of the wild cow, white and party-coloured, The scouring over the brown expanse. of the desert; the joys and dangers terrible sand-hurricane of the chase; the nightly the lone traveller journey, when starts at the gaunt bones that bleach his way, conjuring of on band of attendant

the wayfarer who may have perished with the spot; and encounters; tribal jealousies bitter satire on the meanness of the poet's foe; the banquet or hospitable in a friendly entertainment tent; the glories of tho poet's tribe; and, above all, the peerless virtues of his horse or camel?are congenial subjects with the Arabian if not with variety, at the least with singular bard, treated, apparitions his camel

74

ANCIENT ARABIC TOETRY.

and in words that breathe the life and vigour of beauty, the desert air. The pastoral life is pictured in the simple rural scenery. The cavalcado bear imagery of undisturbed matrons and ing the whole worldly goods of the tribe?tho maidens borne in litters on the camels9 backs?passes along the desert with its scant and scattered foliage of hardy shrubs, it may be, in a vale and, after a weary march, encamps, where the springs break forth from the an slope of adjacent hill. The clustering tents darken tho background, while the its green environs and its grove of fountain, with grateful date-trees, 6cenery to the stands around.1 go forth with their pitchers and the herds of goats return with full spring; udders from the pasture or still sweeter but scanty foliage of the stunted acacia-trees. Arab life lives, truly, a life of its own. There is no advancing to wherewith civilization the surrounding rehabilitate The nearest approach imagery. in our own language to Arabian is the book of poetry its illustrations of tho conies, and the goats, Job, with the wild ass; and even such is still tho life of the desert at tho present da)'. Cut off from tho world by wilderness and by nomad habits, his the Arab maintains unchanged affected as little by the luxury and civilization simplicity, as of surrounding The pastoral nations, by their politics. eclogues of the classics are ever bordering upon urban life; but here the freshness and freedom of the wild desert is untainted the most distant approach of tho busy world. by The din of the city, even the murmur of the rural hamlet, of their existence. The poet is unconscious Take the following from the pen of Mr. Lyall, a young the of high promise. The Molillacah of Lebld, Orientalist con ternporaiy of Mahomet, thus :? opens is unheard. 1. Effaced are her resting-places, (both) whore she stayed but a while and where sho dwelt long iuMina: desolate are her camps in Ghaul and el-Rijam,
came to Elim, where they ten palm-trees ; and they were and three twelve wells of water, there hy the waters.'?Gun.

in delightful The maidens

contrast

to the wild

bleak

1 fAnd score and xv. 27.

encamped

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY.

75

2. And hy the torrents of ol-llayyan: the traces thereof are laid bare and old and worn, as the rocks still keep their graving:
3. Tent-traces over which have passed, 6incc the time that one

dwelt there, long years with their rolling months of war and peace. 4. The showers of the Signs of Spring have fallen on them, and
there over them the have wins swept of the thundering clouds, torrents and

drizzle,

both?

5. The clouds that came by night, those of tlie morning tho sky,
and G. There the have clouds sprung of oven-tide, up over with them the their antiphons of the shoots of

that hid
thunder; and

rocket,

in the sides of the valley the deer and tho ostriches rear their young; 7. The large-eyed wild kine lie down there by their young ones
8. just born, The torrents and have their scored calves afresh roam the in herds traces of over the the tents, plain. as though

they wero
now

lines of writing
again,

in a book which

the pens make

9. Or the tracery which a woman draws afresh as she sprinkles the blue over tho rings, and the lines shine forth anew thereon. 10. And I stood there asking them for tidings?and wherefore did I ask aught of deaf stones that have no voico to answer? 11. Hare was the place where the whole tribe had rested: they
therefrom passed at and away dawn, leaving the thatch. behind them the tent-trenches

12. The

camel-litters
they

of tho tribe stirred thy longing, what

away

time

moved

and crept into the litters hung with

framework 13. ?Tho litters hung all creaked, round, over their

cotton, as the wooden

frame of wood,

with hangings, thin veils and pictured curtains of wool. 14. They began their journey in bands, wide-eyed as tho wild cows of Tudih, or deer ofWcjrah as they watch their fawns lying around.
15. They were started on their way, and the sun-mist fell off them,

as though

76 they wero 16. Nny?why

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY. its tamarisks aud its ? for she strong or

low rocky ridges of Blshoh,

boulders.

dost thou dwell on the thought of Nawar

is gone,

and severed is all that bound her to thee, whether

weak.

17. Of Murrah was she: she halted in Eoyd, then sho travelled on to those of el-llijaz. How then canst thou reach to her 18. On tho Eastward slopes of Aja and Selma, or in Mohajjar where Eardch and el-Rukham cut her off from thy coming ?
19. Or it may be she went to el-Yemen, and then her abode

should be inWihaf el-Qahr, or Tilkham, in SuwiVlq. 20. Cut short theu thy longing for one whoso converse is changed to thec: and verily the best in affection is he who knows how to cut
its bonds.

The following is the commencement iillacah of Zoheir:? 1. Are they of Oium AuftVs tents?theso
no word in the

of

the famous Mo

black lines that speak

2. Yea,

3.

? of cl-Mutathollcm and ol-l)arraj stony plain is now in ol-ltacpiiatan the place whore her camp stood of the inner wrist. the veins like the tracery afresh drawn by and the deer pass to and fro, The wild kino roam there large-eyed, and rise up to suck from their younglings the spots where and

they lie all round. 4. I stood thcro and gazed : since I saw it last twenty years had
flown,

5. 6.

7. 8.

and much I pondered thereon: hard was it to know again? Tho black stones in order laid in the placo where the pot was set, and the trench like a cistern's root with its sides unbroken still. And when I knew it at last for her resting-place, I cried? "Good greeting to thee, 0 House?fair; peace in tho morn to thee!" Look forth, 0 Friend?caust thou see aught of ladies camel-borne that journey along the upland there above Jorthum well ? Their litters are hung with precious stuffs, and thin veils thereon cast loosely, their borders rose, as though they were dyed iu blood.

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY. 9. Sideways

?in them

77

they sat as their beasts clomb the ridge of ol-Suban

were the and sweetness case. and grace of one nourished in wealth

10. They went on thoir way at dawn?they started before sunrise: did they make for the vale of cl-llass, as hand for straight
mouth. 11. Dainty and and laces play lair fill their mood skilled to ono who to trace should out try loveliness. its worth,

to an eye

12. And

tho tassels of scarlet wool them down

in tho spots where

they gat

13.

' red like to ishriss fresh-fallen, unbroken, seeds, bright. glowed the deep blue water And when tlie wells where reached lies, they to pitch their staves aud set them the tents for they cast down rest.

14. On their right hand rose ol-Canan and the rugged skirts thereof?
and in ol-Canan how many arc foes and friends of mine!

15. At eve they left ol-Suban: then they crossed its ridge again borne on the fair-fashioned litters, all now and builded broad. Here, from the same hand, is the chase of the wild cow:? fear
bane.

Then she heard the sound of mon, and it filled her heart with
?of She men rushed and Until, now when from blindly behind the hounds a hidden along, her: archers with place: now each lost hanging she turned and men, thinking a was place they each were she knew, the chase before of dread. let loose on her a stiff leather her

hope,

trained

ears,

with

collar

on its neck ;
beset her, They like to spears and to meet them with and her their horns length of Semhar in their sharpness

To thrust them away: for sho know well, if she drove them not off, that the fated day of her death among the fates of beasts bad come. And among them Kosab was thrust through and slain, and rolled in blood lay there, and SukMin was left in tho place where ho made his
onset.

a chief of The next piece is from Amr, son of Madikerib, like the South, who, after the death of Mahomet, rebelled, Abu most but was pardoned of the Bedouin tribes, by Bekr, and took a leading part at Cadesia and other battle fields in Irac:?

78

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY.

And well I know that on that day I should have to light both Kab and Nuhd?
Men who, wheu they are arrayed in steel,

glitter like leopards in leather and mail. Each man runs to tho battle-stead with what ho has gathered ready therefor.
"When I behold our women ileo

furrowing
And Lenilsoh's it were

the hard earth as they ran,

unveiled full face moon shone when as it though on rises high,

heaven's

And

all her loveliness,

baro to seo, aud

hidden
the

be lore,
case grew grave,

stood

I stood forth to tight their chief: and needs must I light him?no cscapo therefrom. They vowed that my blood should spill: and I vowed, if I met them, to do my best. How many have my
I wailed not,

a brother lief and dear two hands laid to rest iu the grave !
nor raised lament or cry,

for my weeping
I wrapped was bard him I born

would
on my me I

profit naught
winding-sheet? birth-day!

at all:

round

in his

I stand in tho stead of those dead men:

the Gone foemen are the count men a host and alone. I loved,

lonely abide liko sword iu sheath. such poetry as this that we gain an insight into the life of the Arab nation prior to the rise of Isl&m. "When the tribes, at the bidding of Abu Bekr and Omar, as a leopard from his lair, sprang forth from tho Peninsula, thorn their love of to conquer tho world, they carried with in tho annals Arab and many an important passage song, of the spread of Islam is illustrated by contemporary poetry. We havo verses, for example, bearing on tho career of this same Anir son of M&dikerib, and others who similarly rose It is from death ; tho elegies on Malik after the Prophet's are valuable, as throwing on the part light scene of his murder; there took in tho tragic which KMlid in rebellion ibn Koweira

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY. are

79

the field of Yerrauk and other fragments describing in the world's though turning-points great battles, which, aro but dimly reported to us through the partial history, are the of the Arabian annalist. Such medium touching verses addressed to the solitary palm-tree near the plain of shade Cadesia, which afforded a grateful though momentary to tho wounded warriors as they wero carried under it from and who sang its praises thus :? the field of Ghiinath, Hail to thco, grateful Palm-tree, planted between Cadissa and Odzeib! By thy side spring tho wild plants of camomile and hyssop; Let the dews of heaven and its showers water thy roots beyond all others! Let there never be wanting a Palm-tree in thy scorching sands!l remains

a special value: like these possess for so detailed is and rich during the life of tradition, which ceases at his death, and we are left to Mahomet, suddenly our way among uncertain and discrepant narratives. grope Such fragments fixed, at any rate, to some extent, by their for the rhythm and rhyme, are as it were stepping-stones the quicksands of oral evidence. The im historian.along of such remains will be readily portant practical bearing Poetical
recognized.

Ilerr von Kremer has ably traced the gradual enlargement of the scope of Arab poetry as affected by the growth of the Moslem influences of social and empire, and tho manifold as kingdom to which, after kingdom was life; political to the Caliphate, swallowed it was ex up and assimilated The bard no longer lived, childlike, in the present posed. and the past, but, stretching out into the future, grew to be end philosophical. In this process lost the fresh charms of the desert, no gradually tho city and the haunts of longer shunning and, luxury; above all, it suffered from the social deterioration at the Courts of Baghdad and Damascus. reflective, poetry From all such modern poetry, the ancient song of Arabia stands out clear and distinct. Are the remains which we pos
1 Tahari, iii. 43.

and

in tho

80

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY.

sess of it aro tho works genuine and authentic P Especially, of the seven famous poets, the Moallac&t whom six were (of pre-Isl&mite) genuine P How have they been handed down to us P have we their poems as they were recited by the authors themselves P if they have been tampered with, to what extent is this the case P and is it in our power to the distinguish true and original, from tho false and counterfeit? To tho task of answering these questions Professor Ahlwardt has addressed himself with critical profound vast Ho and research. acumen, supported by learning has investigated tho subject in a thoroughly philosophical the results to a rectification of tho spirit, and has applied text of these ancient poets. The conclusions at which ho has arrived may, in a subject so recondite and full of diffi liable to question; but his course of culty, bo sometimes he has laid down, principles the reach of cavil; and I propose beyond therefore to give an outline of the learned monograph which he has published on this interesting question. was known, more or less, in Arabia Although writing from an early period, it was not tho practice till long after the rise of Islam to commit the poetry of the nation to Those precious remains were handed down solely writing. and were consequently exposed to all the by word of mouth, to oral tradition. and incident variations imperfections or more, after the laps? of a century tho habit When, arose of reducing ancient poetry to writing, not onty was the but tho often uncertain, of individual poems authorship as given of tho matter, substance and arrangement by di Heron t hands, varying and uncertain. which first led to tho study of early Arab The motive in which, after so long a course of and the mode poetiy, to writing, it was first committed will oral transmission, The first and grand light upon this uncertainty. was to obtain a standard of pure Arab speech. The object word of the Lord, and the sayings Coran and the Sunnat,?the the solo rule of for the newborn Nation, of Mahomet,?were, throw and reasoning, are as a whole the abstract

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY. civil and religious and the meaning life. These were

81

embodied in pure Arabic, thus acquired a paramount force of which The finest shades of difference in the meaning importance. of a word or idiom might affect individual right, or social in The commentaries, terests, of the deepest moment. analogies, and decisions, based upon these sacred sources, and containing to the rapidly developing their application range of civil were admissible and religious when drawn in the life, only same pure and unadulterated dialect of the tongue,?the Coreish in which the Prophet spoke. at and law wero early established Schools of theology the two great centres of Arabic and Kufa, learning. these cities were without the precincts of the Peninsula; and even the they were inhabited by a mixed population; descendants of the Arab settlers soon lost in such foreign settle ments the purity of their mother-tongue. How, then, was the of the Arabic text to be ascertained and fixed ? There meaning was no national in a recorded form; no books or literature Bussora But writings The philologist must fall back upon the and poetry and proverbial spoken usage; speech were, from the rhythm and fixed form of expression, tho two branches which alone could be quoted with To make certainty. of these, land and sea were compassed. collections The tribes were visited in their desert homes in order to catch sense of each expression, and Arabs the exact and genuine of pure tongue were brought away to the seats of learning as a of tho same. scrap of poetry, exponents living Every or even half a verse, was eagerly seized, if only it couplet to fix the value of a word or context contained sufficient idiom. Thus it was a philological that first led to necessity of tho early poetry. It was no love of the or appreciation An isolated of its merits. itself, poetry if forcibly expressed, or a well-balanced phrase, was thought, the thing sought for as possessing the highest value. A poem was not appreciated as a whole, or even its several parts in reference to their poetic beauty, but only as they contributed The author, or even treasury. jewels fit for the grammarians' the collection the occasion of the poem, was but of secondary
8E1UE8.] 6

to refer to.

import.

VOL. XI.?[NEW

82

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY.

It was not till a whole century had passed away, that this a true mechanical study of the letter gave place to literary Then, indeed, the philological object became second Real love was kindled for the poetical treasures of the ary. effort was now strained to secure the fast desert. Every and poems which yet sur and imperfect fragments fading tradition of the vived, and to record tho still more evanescent of the poets themselves, and of the circumstances history taste. that gave occasion to their poems. The families and tribes, haunts of the celebrated and authors were visited; or fragment of a couplet still extant treasured every couplet but it bore fatal marks of up. The store grew exceedingly; and its descent. for since the time, says our author, for such a task! High had become silent, four or five generations had already poets no doubt, was in the hearts passed away. Much, imprinted Ballads of the people. and fragments fresh, and caught instinct with life, from the lips of the bard, had "flown over the land,,, and still survived as birds without wings among the tribes, though the life and perhaps tho veiy name of their authors had fallen into oblivion. Such fragments, to mouth, from mouth in the long course of transmission must and impaired as to have lost sense of the word, with the in any sufficient their identity, But it was to represent. which they professed originals source that the works of the not on this casual and uncertain Such was the business great poets depended for safe custody. or Reciters. of a special class called Rdwies great Every is said to have had his R&wy, who attended him as poet fell from and gathered a friend or follower, up whatever were at an early It is certain that tho Rawies his lips. and that each had his special poet, period very numerous, works he professed to recite with copious illustrations whose In of his tribe. life and the history from the author's to to attach themselves process of time the R&wies, ceasing could remains they any individual bard, gathered whatever and these they of the author; hands on, irrespective lay Tho recited with a retentive power altogether marvellous. have become so altered

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY.

83

influences of the day were not, how political and religious Mahomet ever, in favour of this class of men. himself, of the early taunt that he was but a "phrenzied mindful no special love for the grand old bards of his poet," had the feeling current among and with some exceptions nation; fell Itawics adverse. his followers was decidedly Many in the Moslem wars, and the rapidly expanding empire more practical and engrossing Still occupation. presented never in the second and when, the profession ceased; lovo for tho ancient poetry, tho new-born apart century, the zeal of the col its philological from value, quickoned still that furnished the main was welcome of the treasures. ; fragment Every portion the search became more eager; with the demand, the supply It was as if the wizard's wand had unlocked kept pace. a new and richly-furnished store. lectors, to repair the endeavour of the collectors of the poetical inheritance and regain possession past neglect, of the nation, while it saved whatever poems and fragments yet survived, opened a wide door for the admission also of what was counterfeit and spurious. Tho skilful Rawy, who lived But this earnest poet, The authority critic. accomplished ; and oral, there was no check against deception being purely even where the was honest, there existed no sufficient Rawy a match for the most The internal perversion. be changed; be omitted ; arrangement might portions might and fragments of similar rhyme and measure introduced mere as suitable to the context, inadvertence, through security against to another author, possibly the effusion though belonging were dishonest, of the Rawy And himself. if the Rawy how easy was it for him to overreach the critics! Where were minded to work on the credulity unscrupulous mongers to prevent there was absolutely collectors, nothing as the work of some off counterfeit palming pieces Even the earlier poets plagiarism among great master. was not unknown; how much more among the strolling of the their unintentional in the in the spirit, and thought no mean and was often himself language, of the ancients, than proved more it was these samo Rawies

84 bards P and In

ANCIENT ARABIC TOETRY. of any which

of genuineness, standard a fabricated piece would as the song of an ancient if accredited immediate]}' acquire bard, it cannot be denied that, while deception was possible, to practise it was very powerful. the motive The counterfeit was too often stamped as sterling, and thus in the materials "truth and lies, the false and the derived from the Rawies, considering the value and poetry was being collected influences were at their height; recorded, these deteriorating and to illustrate the force with which they operated, Pro an account of two leading Rawies, fessor Ahlwardt gives whom he names representatives of the class. a reciter with an unrivalled The first was Ilammftd, of the in the middle who flourished power of memory, second century. to our author, he was tho first, or According at least the most distinguished of those who collected ancient poetry for its own sake, and not merely for its dialectic value. To him we are indebted for nearly all we possess of lnirulcays; ex ho is also named as the compiler of the first complete and illustra emplar of tho Seven Moiillaeat, with biographical same. ho had by heart It is said that tive notices of the 3000 complete Casidas composed before the time of Ma But to say nothing of equally ancient fragments! homet, in the exercise of this marvellous he was unscrupulous gift. real, contend for victory." At the time when ancient

the absence

Never

at a loss when questioned, he ascribed tho authorship of any piece to whom he chose. Familiar with prc-lshlinito and able to compose in the very guise of its thought poetry, so skilfully his own handiwork and style, he could dovetail critic was non the antique, that the most experienced with so spoiled plussed; and according to the Savans of Bussora, "ho it impossible ever again to set it the ancient poetry as made incident he forged, the following How shamelessly right." with A poem of Zoheir commenced will show. originally
tho words,? " Leave this matter now, and turn to Harim."

The

Caliph Mehdi,

perplexed

with

so abrupt

an opening,

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY. demanded

85

causes were suggested an explanation. Different ; but Ilammad, when to, cut the knot at once. appealed he said; "the poem "That was not the original opening,,, and he recited three new lines so beautiful thus:" began their place and so fit that they have ever since retained as tho opening of tho poem. Yet when pressed, he afterwards confessed that they wero his own! was his Still more Khalaf al dangerous contemporary, in the art of poetry. He because still more gifted Ahmer, the ideal of the desert composed verso so closely approaching both in thought and style as to puzzle the most learned of Bussora and Kftfa; the charm of his song philologists was so great that to the fascination; they willingly yielded and (as they confessed recited "When Khalaf themselves) so enchanted his verses, men were to that they ceased who the author was." The critics of the day had inquire indeed a hard task before them; for what such between as did not scruple to deceive, inspired and skilful Rawies and those who, themselves offered their stores as deceived, were almost powerless to distinguish fact from genuine, they fiction. Such wero the men who gave the final touch and mould to the collections which we now possess. In their hands our author declares that ancient poetry altogether lost the stamp and authenticity. of genuineness It became the subject of an treatment which, in arbitrary curtailing, lengthening, at discretion, and altering internal arrangement terpolating, has succeeded in involving in doubt. Pieces of everything and even of notoriously modern authorship, were uncertain, fathered in and imagination upon ancient names, busily vented tho history of poets and tribes by way of commentary and illustration. And thus neither as regards the text, nor its illustration, have we any sure ground to stand upon. besides the Rawies, liberties were taken with the text the collectors and critics themselves. A strong religious by to the bias led them to eliminate every allusion carefully ancient of the Peninsula. of the multitude In idolatry some 15,000 in number, which have descended from verses, But

86 ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY. to conceive is impossible not manifold in the occasions?if only so common in Arab poetry?for oaths and adjurations the mention Yet every allusion of idols and heathen worship. we find, to these has been studiously removed. And, again, verses even at an not infrequently, interpolated evidently rare and obsolete tho view of explaining early period, with or of that were obscure. expressions, illustrating passages Professor Ahlwardt in the unconnected notices Finally, character of ancient poetry, a cogent cause which facilitated of materials tho commingling of heterogeneous origin. at a period reaching The poetical measures wero matured our traditional The most ancient far beyond knowledge. metre iambic verse, always ending with used on the spirited measure rhyme?a to give vent in a few short lines to the of the moment, spur in battle, excited such as defiance abuse, poet's feeling, it came, like the longer measures, eventually panegyric: to be employed for more extended In all the other pieces. measures each verse is double the length of the Rijz verse, the same the Ryz, terminal being composed of two halves, of which the terminal rhyme occurs the re From only at tho end of the second half. and the fact that each song was of the metre, quirements out of to the sentiments confined arising immediately that in the very event, our author believes earliest times the effusions of the Arab bards were very short ?not from seven to ten verses in a single piece. exceeding tho scope expanded, But gradually and poetry came to No rule and fashion. follow a conventional longer tho child of an art; and, to some of nature, it became tho development that to tho earliest poems attaches this character extent, wero regarded as proper to have reached us. Various topics There was a be gone over in the course of every poem. individual a largo discretion in tho order of beaten track, but withal to another, from ono subject treatment. The transition studied by later poets, was with these earlier bards skilfully in all the ancient poems there is sudden and abrupt. Hence a want of connexion in the component parts which vastly some was a short a period anterior that there were to Mahomet, it

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY.

87

For example, increased the facilities for error and deception. even tho same poet may in different pieces have described and the same person and event in verses of similar measure a piece, the reciter might so in repeating from and rhyme; one poem have by defect of memory introduced the corre And this in the course of sponding passage from the other. occur at every the Rawies might oral transmission through To recognize and separate such interpolated parts must : indeed it can only then a work of difficulty necessarily be such be certainly done where we meet with inconsistencies, or the notice of as the praise of more than ono mistress, in the 6ame poem. The length of a irrelevant localities, as well as of its component parts, is indeterminate; poem, round of the poet treats the conventional but ordinarily Thus the different un in from 60 to 100 verses. topics for dislocation connected parts afforded every opportunity the critics of tho second century and interpolation. Though wero not slow in judging of expression, of the gcnuinoncss step. poets, yet the important style, and idiom of the ancient rela and appropriate of the interior connexion question of the several sections of a poem was altogether tionship neglected by them. A poem might be its unity was secured invariable custom that others of two halves) composed of any number of parts, yet it was an First, by two conditions. like the the opening verse (consisting should have the terminal rhyme at the

end of each half, while the rest of the poem the throughout occurs at the end it of each whole verse. Again, rhynie only was an obligatory usage, departed from only on a few rare occasions and for sufficient cause, that a poem should ocpn with a notice of tho poet's mistress, with a lament for her absence or her faithlessness, his bygone youth and love, etc. in our Wherever either of these conditions is wanting sure we have to our author) poems, present (according indication of some flaw in their integrity. It has been held that poems are called Castdas because But the ancient poets had no they have an object (Casd). other object in the exercise of their genius than to traverse

E8 ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY. a certain circle of subjects. we should have had Otherwise the special object of a poem stated, and used as its de is nowhere the case. Our author title, which scriptive to another signification the appellation of the word, assigns "the breaking of things into two halves;" tho as each verso consists of two halves, that, meaning being the whole poem may bo said to bo broken into two halves; mid a glance at the pages of any Casida will render tho (casd) namely, As little does Professor Ahlwardt explanation intelligible. consider that the name Modtlaedt implies a poem of which or strung together; the parts are "hung" for this is tho character of all tho longer poems, not merely of tho seven so-called poems. Nor does he admit tho derivation advanced von Kremer Herr from another meaning of the word, by as "copied out from tho dictation of the R&wies." namely Rather he regards the term to be analogous with the other " " or golden, and to set with name, Modhahhabat," signify
precious ornaments," and therefore poems of pre-eminent

The current interpretations of being "hung up in the or preserved in the royal treasury, he rightly looks Kaaba," inventions arising out of the attempt to ex upon as mere as fictions tho contests name. He also puts usido plain tho value. renown at great fairs, such as that of Oe&tz, of poetical was said to be awarded. where the prize of pre-eminence From all these considerations, Professor Ahlwardt is forced to conclude taken as a whole, tho ancient that, remains, as now possessed, are of doubtful and authority. genuineness " Even the scholar who reposes absolute confidence in the neither of the ancient critics, and mistrusts their authority nor their skill, will the uncertainty learning hardly question of those critics' views, as well in respect of tho authorship of pieces, as of their length and internal arrange even the genuineness of the component verses." ment, and Somo amusing stories are given by tho Arabic writers themselves of the facility with which tho most distinguished masters were duped by modern forgeries. Thus Ish&c having recited two couplets to the famous critic Asraai, was asked where he had found them. "In an antique ho author," the various

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89

" they form a rich and princely Truly carpet 1" replied. " " I composed them over-night my rejoined Ishac, Nay," "now said Asmai, that you mention self." "Ah," it, I " in them the signs of artifice and labour! perceive "We stand," continues our author very truly,?"we stand in relation to poetical antiquity precisely in a similar position to that in which we stand to ancient history. We should not as true tho accounts of the historian,? think of accepting in each Ishac, Tabari, or Ibn Athir,?without internal trustworthiness, and accord instance testing their ance with other recitals. Tho genealogical for narratives, are in themselves of inestimable value; yet the example, gaps, confusion, and critical neglect which pervade them are Just so with the ancient poetry of Arabia. notorious. The tho labourers of tho second century which materials have to us (although they may have descended preserved through are as a whole of ancient in parts muddy channels) origin, it may be of extremely-ancient without further yet origin; and probation we cannot receive them as genuine inquiry whether Ibn even when but must
matter

transmitted in every
but also

in the least exceptionable waj% case test and try, not the subject jealously
its internal connexion and authorship."

to us

only,

In second

this work,

our author with

admits

that

the

critics

of

the

century, compared for recognizing tages and qualifications tho idiom and style of different poets, and dialectical varieties; for example, they could perceive the shades of difference be tween the language of the city and the desert, of the northern tribes and of the southern, and also the appropriateness of similes and surrounding wanted But the drapery. they critical examines of a the inner connexion faculty which work, and is quick to discover contradictions, improbabilities, Such considerations gaps, and interpolations. hardly ever the notice of tho ancient critic, while he would attracted fall into ecstasies over some aptly chosen phrase or word. In all these respects, Ahlwardt holds therefore, Professor that better the student position than of the present the critics day is in an of Irac. incomparably

ourselves,

had superior advan and distinguishing

90 The following or error which

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY.

are some of the chief indications of defect the modern to critic is specially competent in tho same poem of more than one The mention deal with. or of the same mistress The mistress, by different names. recurrence of passages similar in thought (not infrequent) in like or even identical and imagery, and often expressed of construction with inconsistent Irregularity language. verse with the opening its example, as we have is sometimes seen) rhyme (obligatory or there may be two or more such altogether wanting; or with either verses, consecutive, intervening opening so likewise or is at times wanting, matter: the conclusion or conclusions. there may be two or even more Unnoticed, poetical double usage; for and mechanically (if noticed) disposed of arbitrarily by the such are points which the critical acumen of modern ancients, times is quick to turn to account. on the whole Our author's conclusion is, that question at our disposal, much the tests in applying of the ancient be declared genuine, much may with poetry must equal and much will remain doubtful. be condemned, certainty of his book is occupied with tho detailed The remainder these lines, in tho results of his labours, working upon of the remains of the six great pre emendation critical Islamite poets. But into this part of the subject I do not enter.1 to find that a subject of such deep literary It is mortifying scholars. interest has been so neglected by our own Oriental to leave this rich province have been content almost We in the hands of our Continental friends. And yet entirely who have a wider than ourselves? What our own in the ancient or a deeper nation interest in such questions as is so closely interested that formed so powerful an of the Moslem conquerors so? less

poetry in moulding the character element and rulers of the East? Is Why

to hope that it will not be always it too much should those whose stake in the East is so much

1 From a rcmnrk at that I gather p. 358, toI. ii. of his Oulturgeschichte, so Herr von Kremer holds tlint our author trusts too much 10 his own convictions, **an much so as to neglect the process of forming ; and, iu judgment" objective his opinion, these convictions havo not infrequently led him into error.

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY. than is a be

91

our own, of Arabic poesy ? It enjoy the monopoly field which, would yield a rich cultivated, diligently our countrymen return, and it is a field with which ought to familiar. trative

A popular and yet scholarly treatise illus would surely be well received of early Arabic poetry The young, but distinguished Orient by the English public. from whose translations I havo quoted above, Mr. alist, C. J. Lyall, himself to the task of well address might land. His position in India gives up this virgin breaking him unusual facilities qualified, for such others similarly And studies. tho subject is heartily to him, and commended.

APPENDIX.1
I am glad of the opportunity which (some months after the still offers of noticing the work paper was written) a treatise on the of the mentioned below, being Poetry above Ancient I obtained it from Arabs, by Herr Theodor Noldeke. some trouble; which shows how the Continent, not without little interest is taken in this country in the early literature of tho Arabs. The Preface of our author (xxiv. pp.) is occupied with pre as we have been considering ; and cisely the same questions to the conclusions arrived at are to a great extent similar those embodied in Herr Ahlwardt's later work. But Noldeke treats them in an easier and less abstruse style, so that it is plcasantcr reading. Tho first fifty pages contain tho translation of a monograph . by Ibn Coteiba, on the beauties of Arabic poetry, the marks of poetical genius, these are copiously illustrated etc.; by extracts in tho original. Tho second part gives a curious and interesting account of the early poetry of the Jews of the Peninsula. Then follows a long chapter on M&lik ibn Noweira, and on Malik's the elegies of his brother Motammim death at the hands of EMlid. but what Both were noted poets; renders
1

the elegies

of the brother,
der Poesie

who would
Araber,

not cease from

Noldeke.

zur Kentniss Beitriige 1864. Hanuovcr,

der Alten

von Theodor

92 mingling of Malik

ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY.

poetry with his tears, so famous, is that the death a contested is (as before noticed) episode in the took him and a company Khalid Bekr. Caliphate of Abu in his campaign of the Bani Yerbo the prisoners against The common story is that it being doubtful tribes. apostate were whether really renegades or true believers, Khfilid they and that, the cold them under guard for the night; put severe, an order to clothe them warmly was misunder being stood for an order of execution, when they were all beheaded. The other death, whom obtain the wife of Malik, in opposition time in marrying. to Abu Bekr who Omar, Khalid's in condemning the excuse, was violent accepted to and on succeeding aud never forgave him; transaction his first act was to depose Khalid the Caliphate, from the Tho supreme command in Syria and confiscate his propert}'. as bearing on the guilt or innocence chapter, consequent^, of Khalid, has an important historical Moreover, bearing. brother has many beautiful and touch the poetry of Malik's Omar was so moved by its pathos that, if he ing passages. had been himself a poet, his highest ambition have been to mourn over his brother Zeid (he said) would (who was killed story is that Khalid and that he was influenced to put them intentionally in doing so by a desire to (as all agree) he lost no

on the field of Yemama), in poetry like that of Motammini. verse will, indeed, reward perusal. The plaintive as well as men practised the art of poetry, but Ladies over the death in the simple elegiac style, mourning mainly chieftains. The most famous of of relatives or of leading who flourished in the time of is AI Khansa, these poetesses and after his death visited Omar and Ayesha. Mahomet, She devoted herself to elegies on her brothers Mu&via and and the specimens which are given fully sustain her Sakhr; fame. The concluding chapter is devoted to her poetry. is written in an attractive this volume, which Altogether of perusal; and I can only repeat my is well worthy style, regret that no one in this country should have devoted him self to a similar task in the English language.