The job of the rawi was to learn the poems by heart and to recite them with explanations and probably often with embellishments. 'Ukaz, a market town not far from Mecca, would play host to a regular poetry festival where the craft of the sha'irs would be exhibited.Īlongside the sha'ir, and often as his poetic apprentice, was the rawi or reciter. The sha'ir represented an individual tribe's prestige and importance in the Arabian peninsula, and mock battles in poetry or zajal would stand in lieu of real wars. Words in praise of the tribe ( qit'ah) and lampoons denigrating other tribes ( hija') seem to have been some of the most popular forms of early poetry. Poetry held an important position in pre-Islamic society with the poet or sha'ir filling the role of historian, soothsayer and propagandist. In addition to the eloquence and artistic value, pre-Islamic poetry constitutes a major source for classical Arabic language both in grammar and vocabulary, and as a reliable historical record of the political and cultural life of the time. Although most of the poetry of that era was not preserved, what remains is well regarded as among the finest Arabic poetry to date. One of the first major poets in the pre-Islamic era is Imru' al-Qais, the last king of the kingdom of Kindah. Modern poetry, on the other hand, deviated from classical poetry in its content, style, structure, rhyme and topics. It is also known as "vertical poetry" in reference to its vertical parallel structure of its two parts. Thus, all poetry that was written in the classical style is called "classical" or "traditional poetry" since it follows the traditional style and structure. Classical poetry was written before the Arabic renaissance ( An-Nahḍah). Researchers and critics of Arabic poetry usually classify it in two categories: classical and modern poetry. He failed to produce a coherent, integrated theory which satisfies the requirements of generality, adequacy, and simplicity instead, he merely listed and categorized the primary data, thus producing a meticulously detailed but incredibly complex formulation which very few indeed are able to master and utilize. D.) was the first Arab scholar to subject the prosody of Arabic poetry to a detailed phonological study. Also, in rhymed poetry, every bayt has to end with the same rhyme ( qāfiyah) throughout the poem.Īl-Kʰalīl b. Sometimes adding or removing a consonant or a vowel can shift the bayt from one meter to another. The measuring procedure of a poem is very rigorous. The measuring unit of seas is known as " taf‘īlah," and every sea contains a certain number of taf'ilas which the poet has to observe in every verse ( bayt) of the poem. The meters of the rhythmical poetry are known in Arabic as "seas" ( buḥūr). Al-Akhfash, a student of al-Farahidi, later added one more meter to make them sixteen. The rhymed poetry falls within fifteen different meters collected and explained by al-Farahidi in The Science of ‘ Arud. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that.Īrabic poetry is categorized into two main types, rhymed or measured, and prose, with the former greatly preceding the latter. Arabic poetry ( Arabic: الشعر العربي ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu) is the earliest form of Arabic literature.