Scenes from Arabian life at the turn of the twentieth century Arabian Romantic captures what it was like to live in central Arabia before the imposition of austere norms by the Wahhabi authorities in the early twentieth century: tales of robbery and hot pursuit; perilous desert crossings; scenes of exhaustion and chaos when water is raised from deep wells under harsh conditions; the distress of wounded and worn-out animals on the brink of perdition; once proud warriors who are at the mercy of their enemy on the field of battle. Such images lend poignancy to the suffering of the poet’s love-stricken heart, while also painting a vivid portrait of typical Bedouin life. Ibn Sbayyil, a town dweller from the Najd region of the Arabian Peninsula, was a key figure in the Nabaṭī poetic tradition. His poetry, which is still recited today, broke with the artifice of the preceding generation by combining inherited idiom and original touches reflecting his environment. Translated into English for the first time by Marcel Kurpershoek, Arabian Romantic will delight readers with a poetry that is direct, fluent, and expressive, and that has entertained Arabic speakers for over a century. An English-only edition.

Poems and tales of a literary forefather of the United Arab Emirates Love, Death, Fame features the poetry of al-Mayidi ibn Zahir, who has been embraced as the earliest poet in what would later become the United Arab Emirates. Although little is known about his life, he is the subject of a sizeable body of folk legend and is thought to have lived in the seventeenth century, in the area now called the Emirates. The tales included in Love, Death, Fame portray him as a witty, resourceful, scruffy poet, at times combative and at times kindhearted. His poetry primarily features verses of wisdom and romance, with scenes of clouds and rain, desert migrations, seafaring, and pearl diving. Like Arabian Romantic and Arabian Satire, this collection is a prime example of Nabati poetry, combining vernacular language of the Arabian Peninsula with archaic vocabulary and images dating to Arabic poetry's very origins. Distinguished by Ibn Zahir's unique voice, Love, Death, Fame offers a glimpse of what life was like four centuries ago in the region that is now the UAE. A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Satirical verse on society and its hypocrisies A master of satire known for his ribald humor, self-deprecation, and invective verse (hija'), the poet Hmedan al-Shwe'ir was an acerbic critic of his society and its morals. Living in the Najd region of the Arabian Peninsula, Hmedan wrote in an idiom widely referred to as "Nabati," here a mix of Najdi vernacular and archaic vocabulary and images dating 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 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 widely quoted by historians of the Gulf region and in anthologies of popular sayings. This is the first full translation of this remarkable poet. An English-only edition.

Poems and tales of a literary forefather of the United Arab Emirates Love, Death, Fame features the poetry of al-M�yidī ibn Ẓ�hir, who has been embraced as the earliest poet in what would later become the United Arab Emirates. Although little is known about his life, he is the subject of a sizeable body of folk legend and is thought to have lived in the seventeenth century, in the area now called the Emirates. The tales included in Love, Death, Fame portray him as a witty, resourceful, scruffy poet, at times combative and at times kindhearted. His poetry primarily features verses of wisdom and romance, with scenes of clouds and rain, desert migrations, seafaring, and pearl diving. Like Arabian Romantic and Arabian Satire, this collection is a prime example of Nabaṭī poetry, combining vernacular language of the Arabian Peninsula with archaic vocabulary and images dating to Arabic poetry’s very origins. Distinguished by Ibn Ẓ�hir’s unique voice, Love, Death, Fame offers a glimpse of what life was like four centuries ago in the region that is now the UAE. An English-only edition.

Love poems from late nineteenth-century Arabia Arabian Romantic captures what it was like to live in central Arabia before the imposition of austere norms by the Wahhabi authorities in the early twentieth century: tales of robbery and hot pursuit; perilous desert crossings; scenes of exhaustion and chaos when water is raised from deep wells under harsh conditions; the distress of wounded and worn-out animals on the brink of perdition; once proud warriors who are at the mercy of their enemy on the field of battle. Such images lend poignancy to the suffering of the poet's love-stricken heart, while also painting a vivid portrait of typical Bedouin life. Ibn Sbayyil (ca. 1853-1933), a town dweller from the Najd region of the Arabian Peninsula, was a key figure in the Nabati poetic tradition. His poetry, which is still recited today, broke with the artifice of the preceding generation by combining inherited idiom and original touches reflecting his environment. Translated into English for the first time by Marcel Kurpershoek, Arabian Romantic will delight readers with a poetry that is direct, fluent, and expressive, and that has entertained Arabic speakers for over a century. A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Satirical verse on society and its hypocrisies A master of satire known for his ribald humor, self-deprecation, and invective verse (hija'), the poet Hmedan al-Shwe'ir was an acerbic critic of his society and its morals. Living in the Najd region of the Arabian Peninsula, Hmedan wrote in an idiom widely referred to as "Nabati," here a mix of Najdi vernacular and archaic vocabulary and images dating 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 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 widely quoted by historians of the Gulf region and in anthologies of popular sayings. This is the first full translation of this remarkable poet. An English-only edition.

This third volume in the author's series "Oral Poetry & Narratives from Central Arabia presents and analyses the work of four contemporary Bedouin poets of the Daw?sir tribe in southern Najd. The introductory part discusses the poetry within the context of the Najdi oral tradition, the poets' role in tribal society, and their mirroring of this society's self-image against the background of its rapid economic, social and political transformation, and its relation with the Saudi State.
It is followed by the Arabic Text of the poems in transcription, based on taped records, with the English translation on the facing page. This is complemented by a substantial glossary, cross-referenced to the Arabic Text, other glossaries and works on the Najdi dialect and poetic idiom, as well as corresponding Classical Arabic lexical materials.