POETRY
White Skin
I have never seen nor heard of such a thing her modesty turns pearl into carnelian. Her face is so clear that when you gaze on its perfections you see your own face reflected. ~ Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi (died 940) (Córdoba) Translated into English My Beloved Comes
You came to me just before the Christians rang their bells. The half-moon was rising looking like an old man's eyebrow or a delicate instep. And although it was stilll night, when you came, a rainbow gleamed on the horizon, showing as many colors as a peacock's tail. ~ Ibn Hazm (died 1063) (Córdoba) Translated into English The Garden
The garden of green hillocks dresses up for visitors in the most beautiful colors as if a young woman's dowry were spread out glittering with gold necklaces or as if someone had poured out censers of mush powder mixed with the purest aromatic oils. Birds trill on the branches like singing girls bending over their lutes and water falls continuously like neckchains of silver and pearls. These are splendors of such perfection they call to mind the beauty of absolute certainty the radiance of faith. ~ 'Abd Alla`h ibn al-Simak (died 1145) (Granada) Translated into English |
Poetry flourished in Al-Andalus. W. Montgomery Watt introduces us to the idea of Islamic poetry. He says, “Their poets were no fumbling beginners…, but had a treasury of resonant odes. Each of these followed a fixed form; they usually started with an erotic prelude…, a succession of conventional themes—description of camels or horses, of hunting scenes and battles—to culminate in the praise of some noble chieftain or variant tribe.”(24) This was a basis for poetry within al-Andalus. It was common during this time period for people to be express their emotions outwardly through their flesh, and to discuss feelings, thoughts on love, politics, and life through poetic expression. Watt goes on to say that these themes grew and were developed into independent love-song and wine-song, which truly had many Christian Europeans taken by the Arabic use of language.(25) Poetry was no longer only for the nobility or the elect, but for all, regardless of status. All were intrigued by the eroticism of Arab love poetry, not only in the sense of love for another, or the desire for another, but for the love of a place, a kingdom, or thing. Arabic poetry was highly influential in opening pathways, sometime directly, but more often then not indirectly for European writers by aiding in the creation of the romance languages.
Examples from the great Muslim poets are on this page. |
http://www.islamicspain.tv/Arts-and-Science/andalusi_poetry.htm
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24 Watt, A History of Islamic Spain, 58.
25 Ibid., 59. |