A bilingual anthology of poems from the sixth century to the present,
Arabic Poems is a one-of-a-kind showcase of a fascinating literary
tradition.
The Arabic poetic legacy is as vast as it is deep, spanning a period of
fifteen centuries in regions from Morocco to Iraq. Themes of love,
nature, religion, and politics recur in works drawn from the pre-Islamic
oral tradition through poems anticipating the recent Arab Spring.
Editor Marlé Hammond has selected more than fifty poems reflecting
desire and longing of various kinds: for the beloved, for the divine,
for the homeland, and for change and renewal. Poets include the
legendary pre-Islamic warrior 'Antara, medieval Andalusian poet Ibn
Zaydun, the mystical poet Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, and the influential
Egyptian Romantic Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi. Here too are literary giants of
the past century: Khalil Jibran, author of the best-selling The
Prophet; popular Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani; Palestinian feminist Fadwa
Tuqan; Mahmoud Darwish, bard of occupation and exile; acclaimed
iconoclast Adonis; and more. In their evocations of heroism, nostalgia,
mysticism, grief, and passion, the poems gathered here transcend the
limitations of time and place.
