Book/Printed Material Arabian Poetry for English Readers Arabian poetry for English readers

Title

• Arabian Poetry for English Readers

Other Title

• Arabian poetry for English readers

Summary

• William Alexander Clouston (1843--96) was a Scottish folklorist and journalist, known for his interest in Oriental folklore and fiction and for his three volumes of Variants and Analogues of some of the Tales in the Supplemental Nights, a work composed with reference to Richard Francis Burton's Supplemental Nights to The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. Arabian Poetry for English Readers is an anthology, edited and introduced by Clouston, of Arabic poetry spanning about 700 years, from the sixth century to the 13th. The anthology, mostly a reprint of earlier translations of Arabic poetry collections, begins with an overview of the source material and with historical chapters on the ancient Arabs and their literature. Notes on the different interpretations of the poems and issues of authorship are also discussed. The first collection in the anthology is the 1782 translation, by William Jones, of the Muʻallaqāt (The suspended odes). These are seven long poems, each composed by a different, pre-Islamic poet. The odes are generally seen as having set the standard for Arabic poetry. The second collection is Joseph Dacre Carlyle's Specimens of Arabian Poetry, a selection of 59 short poems that were first published in 1796. The poems in Carlyle's translation cover the period up to the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258. They were composed by different poets from around the Arabic-speaking world, including Arab Spain. The third collection comprises Antar: A Bedoueen Romance, a translation by Terrick Hamilton of parts of the biography of the pre-Islamic legendary black hero ʻAntarah ibn Shaddad. The biography, whose real author is not exactly known, is generally attributed to al-Asmaʻi (circa 740--828). In addition to the reprinted collections, the anthology also contains the first English translation, by J.W. Redhouse, of two classics known as the Burdah poems (poems of the mantle), composed respectively by Kaʻb ibn Zuhayr (died circa 645) and al-Busiri (died circa 1296). The first 11 lines of al-Busiri's poem can be seen as a lithographed reproduction in Arabic as the frontispiece. The various translations resulted in a number of different styles throughout the work. Notes are provided, giving further context and explanation for the reader. The anthology was privately printed in Glasgow in 1881.

Names

• Būṣīrī, Sharaf al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Saʻīd, 1212-1294 Contributor
• Carlyle, Joseph Dacre, 1759-1804 Translator
• Clouston, W.A. (William Alexander), 1843-1896 Editor
• Jones, William, 1746-1794 Translator
• Kaʻb ibn Zuhayr, active 7th century Contributor
• Redhouse, James W. (James William), Sir, 1811-1892 Translator

Created / Published

• Glasgow : M'Laren and Son, 1881.

Headings

• -  1881
• -  Arabic literature
• -  Arabic poetry
• -  Poetry

Genre

• Poetry

Notes

• -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
• -  Original resource extent: 472 pages : illustrations, tables ; 20 centimeters.
• -  Original resource at: Qatar National Library.
• -  Content in English.
• -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

• 1 online resource.

Digital Id

• https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.wdl/wdl.17628

Library of Congress Control Number

• 2021667051

Online Format

• compressed data
• pdf
• image

LCCN Permalink

• https://lccn.loc.gov/2021667051

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