This lively volume collects poems by Hmedan al-Shwe'ir, who lived in
Najd in the Arabian Peninsula shortly before the hegemony of the Wahhabi
movement in the early eighteenth century.
A master of satire known for his ribald humor, self-deprecation, and
invective verse (hija'), Hmedan was acerbic in his criticisms of
society and its morals, voiced in in a poetic idiom that is widely
referred to as "Nabati," here a mix of Najdi vernacular and archaic
vocabulary and images dating back to the origins of Arabic poetry. In
Arabian Satire, Hmedan is mostly concerned with worldly matters, and
addresses these in different guises: as the patriarch at the helm of the
family boat and its unruly crew; as a picaresque anti-hero who revels in
taking potshots at the established order, its hypocrisy, and its moral
failings; as a peasant who labors over his palm trees, often to no avail
and with no guarantee of success; and as a poet recording in verse how
he thinks things ought to be.
The poems in Arabian Satire reveal a plucky, headstrong, yet intensely
socially committed figure--representative of the traditional Najdi
ethos--who infuses his verse with proverbs, maxims, and words of wisdom
expressed plainly and conversationally. Hmedan is accordingly quoted by
historians of the Gulf region and in anthologies of popular sayings.
This is the first full translation of this remarkable poet.
A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
