ARABIC-L: LIT: Spanish Poetry responses

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 25 Jan 1999
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: Sufi Poetry
2) Subject: Pre-Islamic influence
3) Subject: Hebrew Poems

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1)
Date: 25 Jan 1999
From: Wail Hassan <w-hassan at wiu.edu>
Subject:

There is a substantial tradition of Sufi poetry in which there is frequent
use of wine as a motif, and where I believe the childhood metaphor in you
second question would be among a set of tropes describing the soul's
awakening to God. That poetry is mainly in Persian, and its best known
writers are Rumi (13th cen.) and Hafiz (14th cen.). My guess is that
Andalusian poets and mystics, whether Moslem or Jewish, would be familiar
with that tradition.

Waïl Hassan
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Journalism
Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL 61455

(H) 309-833-3083
(W) 309-298-1112
Fax 309-298-2974

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2)
Date: 25 Jan 1999
From: Khalid AbdulSamad Draper <mujahid at gte.net>
Subject: Pre-Islamic influence

In the pre-Islamic period, the Arabs were known for their love of poetry.
In the early days of the US, they used to have soap box preachers who would
climb atop a soap box and deliver a sermon.  Much in the same manner, poets
fi 'Asri Jahiliyyah would go to places where wealthy merchants would be, and
compose poetry about them on the spot.  Much of this poetry would reference
how great the wealthy person's parties would be, and would therefore contain
much allusions to drinking and etc.

Even in the Islamic period, you will find particularlly among the ahl
tasawwuf (Rumi for one) analogous references made between the stupor one
experiences from being engulfed in the Divine Light, and the stupor that
comes from being completely drunk - the latter being a stupor of
purification of the soul of course, as opposed to the toxins of the
intoxicant.


Khalid

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3)
Date: 25 Jan 1999
From: William Granara <granara at fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: Hebrew Poems

A good place to start is: Raymond Scheindlin, "Wine, Women and Death:
Medievel Hebrew Poems on the Good Life". Phila: The Jewish Publication
Society, 1986.
W. Granara

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End of Arabic-L: 25 Jan 1999