Arabic poetry has a rich history. Poetry was not just a form of art for the ancient Arabs, but also a way of conveying any valuable information. Nowadays, many may be known except for some Arab poets, authors of the quatrains of ruby, but Arabic literature and poetry has a much richer history and diversity.
Arabic literature
Arabic literature comes from the oral literature of tribal communities that once lived on the Arabian Peninsula. The literature of ancient poets developed among the local nomads. It spread among the semi-nomadic and sedentary population of local residential areas.
A group of singers of true "Uzrit" love appeared among the Arabian - poets of the Arab East. They composed poems not only about the world around them, but also about personal feelings and their own attitude to any person. Poems of Arab poets about love were composed of famous love couples (Majnun and Leila, Jamil and Busyna, Kays and Lubne).
The arrival of the Prophet Mohammed and the appearance of the Holy Quran not only brought about a change in social and cultural terms, but also significantly changed Arabic literature and, in particular, poetry.
From the VIII century, people from conquered nationalities began to participate in the work of Arabic literature. Gradually, an interest in the knowledge of Arabic history developed in the Arab Caliphate, its own theory of language, as well as poetic style metrics began to be created, and translations of some of the most important ancient works into Arabic began. Of great importance for the development of Arabic literature were translations of Arabic poets from the Persian language. Poetry began to be gradually updated, which was expressed in the preference of Qasid, a small poem with its own theme in the so-called “new style” (bad).
The connection of poetry, history and religion
Arabic literature is very closely associated with the history and culture of the people. A specific nomadic life, the rise of Islam, the conquest of the Arabs, the luxury of the early Abbasids, mutual cultural exchange with neighboring civilizations (in particular, Spain), the overthrow of the Caliphate, cultural stagnation, resistance, and, finally, a re-opening self-identity aimed at creating private independent states - Every aspect of Arab history is reflected in the literature, because the Arabs were eager to preserve and remember their history, without losing sight of anything.
For example, al-Nadim's work “Fikhrist” collected various data on Muslim literature and culture: the author created a kind of catalog of all the books of Arabic poets and writers known at that time on the themes of history, theology, poetry, jurisprudence, philology, etc. This work clearly demonstrates the fruitfulness of Arabic literature in the first 3 centuries since the onset of Islam. Very little has come to the present, but in its original form almost nothing has reached our days.
Starting from the “Golden Age”, influence on other cultures and Arabic literature became increasingly strong: there was a large-scale mixture of traditions, values ​​and other cultural and historical elements. After the creation of the Ottoman Empire, the literary language of the Arabs began to become obsolete, and only thanks to a small group of people who did their best to preserve the language of Arabic literature did the Arabs enter the saturated Renaissance in the 19th century.
Perhaps in no culture is there such a clear symbiosis of literature with religion as in Arabic. The most important aspect in the history of Arabic poetry is that, despite the existence of pre-Islamic poetry, the Holy Quran is considered the beginning of literature in the full sense of the word in their culture. In addition to some graffiti of the 1st century. AD, which hardly relate to the literary word, there is no other evidence of the existence of certain works in Arabic before the advent of the Prophet Muhammad. Moreover, the problem of illiteracy was widespread: those who learned to read or write, as a rule, learned this beyond the borders of Arabia. However, this did not become a problem for the nomadic Bedouins: they knew poetry by heart. Many nationalities and nomads have preserved the tradition of oral reading: there were even special readers who made a living by the ability to memorize and read poetry from memory.
Types of Arabic Poetry
Many readers also read aloud some well-known short stories. Unlike author’s poems, all prose works were folk. Prose itself was not so interesting in the context of literature.
Poetry played a dominant role in the development of Arabic literature - in its infancy it was children's lullabies, labor and hunting songs. Such genres as quickly formed:
- hija - criticism of the enemy;
- fahr - a laudatory verse;
- sar — ​​a song of vengeance;
- rice - elegy;
- mourning song;
- nasib - love lyrics;
- Wasf - Descriptive Lyrics.
In antiquity, artistic prose was also born, its types such as:
- battle stories;
- public speaking;
- tales of historical events.
V-VII century was marked by the heyday of Arabic literature. The main forms of ancient Arabic poetry were Qassida and an amorphous fragment (Kyt, Mukata).
Monorim has become a characteristic feature of Arabic poetry: each verse of an Arabic poet includes one sentence and represents an independent semantic aesthetic unit.
Poet and poetry
For Arabs, poetry has become a harmonious work with its own size, rhyme and specific purpose. A poem Arabs could not call poetry without their concrete meaning. Only a person with deep sensuality and intelligence, skill and delicate taste had the right to be called a poet.
Poetry was created for various purposes. With poems it was possible to describe something, with a poem it was possible to ridicule and humiliate someone or, conversely, to praise. With the help of the verse one could declare love, express sadness and joy. In general, all these functions and many others are characteristic not only for poetry, but also for prose works, and this is also true for art as a whole.
But not all poets sought to create ordinary works. It was important for some of them to stir up the minds of readers, tell an amazing story, demonstrate the skill of a poetic syllable, or even just make a joke, but so that the audience appreciated the joke.
Training
Poetry was also used for educational purposes. Since most of the population was illiterate, the knowledge that needed to be remembered was presented in the format of a poem. Only a few ancient educational texts have survived to the present, for example, The ABC of bin Malik and the Al-Shatbi System, which was an early study of the Koran.
The best Arab poets were able not only to convey their feelings, but also to put valuable knowledge into poetry for transmission to subsequent generations. Educational poems cannot be called poetry in full, since these works do not convey the personal feelings and considerations of the author. But since such manuals were meticulously organized and put together in rhyme, which helped to memorize a variety of knowledge, these works can easily be distinguished into a special class of Arabic poetry.
Cryptography and Cryptography
Poetic language was often used to encrypt valuable information - such poems were called "blind." The poets of the Arab East were able to transform an ordinary text into a secret message, clear only to one specific addressee, or to someone who has a “key” - a hint for deciding a cipher. The early authors so skillfully encrypted invitations to date or words of love in their poems that only a specific woman could unravel what was being discussed - to an outsider, the text would seem complete nonsense and confusion. Poems of Arab poets about love were very specific due to the complexity of the cipher and the unusual content. However, this feature also had its own meaning, which clearly reflects the essence of the people, their temperament and character. Arab poets about love spoke quietly, secretly. For them, feelings are something intimate and personal that should not be accessible to the ears of others.
One of the famous legends tells of a poet who described his will in poetic form, in which he ordered that the bandits who had attacked him once avenged him. The poet’s relatives published this poem and kept it until revenge was completed, and they did not deal with the attackers.
Pre-Islamic poetry
The most common form of the poem was Qassida - a special kind of poem that uses rhyme to convey through vivid images the accumulated experience and even some skills. Similar Qassids were composed in the VIII and IX centuries. Ancient scholars recognized the importance of preserving the ancient traditions of poetry as a source of inspiration for a new poetic tradition. In addition, Arabic is an invaluable tool for explaining the Holy Quran.
The list of Arab poets of the pre-Islamic period is not too long, but Arabs value their preserved heritage:
- Tarafa.
- Zuhair ibn Abi Sulma.
- Imru al-Qais is a great Arab poet, a possible author of the classic form of Qassid.
- Haris ibn Hilliza al-Yashkuri.
- Antara ibn Shaddad al-Absi et al.
In the earliest examples of Arabic poetry, the authenticity of which has been reliably established, particular sophistication and simplicity are noted: the verses of Arabic poets describe only what is observed. Often you can find the reception of personification and direct association. The choice of the type and theme of the verse is rooted in a long-formed tradition.
The technical complexity of some early poems is so high that it is easy to conclude that poets began to create poems long before that. Such a well-developed poetic style and form could not have arisen unexpectedly, most likely being the result of long work on the syllable. So Arabic poetry is even more ancient than we assume.
The best literary works of this time period are found in anthologies collected after the rise of Islam. Of particular note are:
- Mufaddaliyat, compiled by al-Mufaddal;
- Hamas by Abu Tammam;
- “China al-Agani” Abu-l-Faraj al-Isfahani;
- Muallakat.
The latter includes 7 slender poems by different authorship of Arab writers and poets: Imru al-Qais, Haris, Taraf, Antara, Amber ibn Kulsum, Zuhair, Labid. These poems add up to the true voice of Jahiliya - Days of Ignorance - this is what pre-Islamic life is called. These works are the most important legacy of pre-Islamic Arabia.
Poetry of the 6th century still talking to readers in Arabic, which was then spoken throughout Arabia.
Arabic poetry of the Middle Ages
From the beginning of our era to the XVIII century, Arab poets did not leave the limits of a clearly established circle of genres - Qasid, Kyt and gazelle. All this time, the verses of Arab authors were similar to each other in poetic devices, form and style - the same motive sounds in the work, the plot lines are monotonous, and the landscape is universal. However, this poetry is original, immediate and alive: it is filled with genuine sincerity, realism.
At the beginning of the 7th – 8th centuries, Arabic poetry fell into Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Central Asia, moved to the countries of the Maghreb and, passing the Strait of Gibraltar, seeped into Spain. Over time, the work of Arabic-speaking authors began to depart from the original sources: with the advent of a new religion and lifestyle, culture also changed. Soon, the criterion of literary value became compliance with the "classical" Bedouin poetry. Any deviation from it was perceived as a distortion of the norms of beauty. These signs are harbingers of canonization.
Arabic poetry quickly crossed into the caliphate, incorporating the cultural values ​​of the local population. This greatly diversified and enriched Arabic poetry, introducing completely new ideas, multiplying and diversifying the means of literary expression. Since the Abbasid era, poetry could no longer be called Arabic, since under the influence of the course of history it has changed a lot, mixed with third-party cultures and traditions - now it could be called Arabic-speaking. Over the next several centuries, the centers of poetry flourishing shifted from East to West and vice versa, from one gifted poet to another. New examples of poetic literature are being compiled, but the canons of ancient Bedouin poetry still remain in the foundation.
From the advent of poetry to the 8th – 10th centuries, professional readers, also called rabbis, were its custodians. Each of them brought a piece of himself to the works of folklore, whether it be an extra word, emotional coloring or personal comment. Thus, already recorded poetry may differ from its oral source.
The subsequent development of Arabic poetry is predetermined by the new religion and the creation of the Qur'an. Poetry undergoes a certain crisis in connection with this, after which it “rises” during the Umayyad dynasty in Iraq and Syria colonized by the Arabs. During this period, court readers such as al-Akhtal, al-Farazdak, and Jarir lived and worked. They glorified their patrons, singing their courage, wisdom and favor, defiling and denigrating the opponents of the dynasty. Now, beyond the legalized scheme and canons, the outlines of reality turned out to be blurred. All the innovations in poetry came from the aristocratic environment of large cities of the Arab caliphate, where the genre of love lyrics flourished. Among the typical creators of this period are Umar ibn Abu Rabia, as well as al-Ahvasi Caliph Walid II.
Love lyrics meanwhile did not disappear: the tradition of Nasib was supported by poets at the Abbasid court, among which the master Abu Navas stood out. The subsequent defeat of the Arab Caliphate led to a change in literature - it began to gradually spread in Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Lebanon. The most significant representative of the time was Abu at-Tayyb al-Mutanabbi: his comedic and laudatory kasids are decorated with stylistic decorations, deep metaphors, powerful hyperbolas and non-trivial associations. His work was continued by the Syrian poet Aboul-Ala al-Maarri, who managed to improve the method of versification by inventing complex double rhymes.
As for prose, the famous representatives of workers in this sphere were at-Tanuhi and Abu Hainyan at-Tauhidi. Abu Bar al-Khwarizmi wrote his famous “Messages” (“Rasail”), and Badi al-Zaman al-Hamadani invented a new genre called makamu.
By the eleventh century, despite the increase in the number of Arab poets and writers, Arabic literature is undergoing a qualitative decline. In poetry mysticism began to penetrate, while in prose - didactics. But among the adherents of mystical poetry were genuine diamonds, for example, Ibn al-Farid and Ibn Arabi. Ibn Yaafar left his contribution to literature, inventing the genre of historical short story. Around the same time, Osama ibn Munkız created a one-of-a-kind autobiography among medieval Arabic literature called The Book of Edification.
Then - in the IX-X century. a new form of poem appeared - ruby. This form of lyrics is a quatrain with philosophical reasoning. Among the most famous Arab poets, the authors of the quatrains of the rubai:
- Omar Khayyam.
- Heyran Khanum.
- Zahiriddin Babur.
- Mehseti Ganjavi.
- Abu Abdallah Rudaki.
- Amjad Hyderabadi and many others.
Due to the specificity of the language of Arabic poets, transferring the rhythm of the original verses to other languages ​​is almost impossible: most often, translators resort to five-foot iamba, although this is also not entirely accurate.
In XIII, in Syria and Egypt, genres of zajal and muvashshah were widely in demand. The Sufis tried to compose in a folk language that is close to ordinary people. Already in the XIII-XV centuries, syrah (biographies) began to gain distribution - a series of novels on love and heroic themes related to certain historical or fictitious events and personalities - they are classified, including as chivalric novels. One of the most important sirahs is the world-famous collection One Thousand and One Nights, which, along with various materials and folklore, included an important sirah about Omar ibn al-Numan.
. . . XIX—XX , , , , . , « ». , (. ), (. ) .
. , – .
. , , . , , . – .
, , . , – . . , .
. . :
, .
, « » : , , , , , , , . , , , , . – , - -, -, -, , – , , , . . , .
, , . « » - , 19 .
Arabic literature and, in particular, poetry originated many hundreds of years ago. She underwent various periods of her development - both falls and take-offs. But thanks to the sensitive attitude of Arab poets to culture and cultural heritage, the great Arab works that still excite the soul have survived to our times. Poetry does not stand in place: now more and more poets are appearing, continuing the traditions of canonical oriental poetry and bringing something new to art. Poetry grows and develops along with humanity, in our hands its future: you cannot let it wither, you must preserve the existing monuments of great culture and create new inspirational and powerful works.