The Literature of Arabia

The Literature of Arabia

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Oriental Literature, by Anonymous
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Title: Oriental Literature The Literature of Arabia
Author: Anonymous
Release Date: November 18, 2003 [EBook #10121]
Language: English
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ORIENTAL LITERATURE
THE LITERATURE OF ARABIA
With Critical and Biographical Sketches by

Epiphanius Wilson, A.M.
1900

CONTENTS
THE ROMANCE OF ANTAR
Introduction The Early Fortunes of Antar Khaled and Djaida The
Absians and Fazareans
ARABIAN POETRY
Introduction SELECTIONS.-- An Elegy The Tomb of Mano Tomb of
Sayid On the Death of His Mistress On Avarice The Battle of Sabla
Verses to My Enemies On His Friends On Temper The Song of
Maisuna To My Father On Fatalism To the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid
Lines to Harun and Yahia The Ruin of Barmecides To Taher Ben
Hosien The Adieu To My Mistress To a Female Cup-bearer Mashdud
on the Monks of Khabbet Rakeek to His Female Companions Dialogue
by Rais To a Lady Weeping On a Valetudinarian On a Miser To
Cassim Obio Allah A Friend's Birthday To a Cat An Epigram upon Ebn
Naphta-Wah Fire To a Lady Blushing On the Vicissitudes of Life To a
Dove On a Thunder Storm To My Favorite Mistress Crucifixion of Ebn
Bakiah Caprices of Fortune On Life Extempore Verses On the Death of
a Son To Leila On Moderation in our Pleasures The Vale of Bozâa To
Adversity On the Incompatibility of Pride and True Glory The Death of
Nedham Almolk Lines to a Lover Verses to My Daughters Serenade to
My Sleeping Mistress The Inconsistent The Capture of Jerusalem To a
Lady An Epigram On a Little Man with a Very Large Beard Lamiat
Alajem To Youth On Love A Remonstrance with a Drunkard Verses
On Procrastination The Early Death of Abou Alhassan Aly The
Interview
ARABIAN NIGHTS
THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINDBAD First Voyage Second Voyage

Third Voyage Fourth Voyage Fifth Voyage Sixth Voyage Seventh and
Last Voyage ALADDIN'S WONDERFUL LAMP

THE ROMANCE OF ANTAR
[Translation by Étienne Delécluse and Epiphanius Wilson]
INTRODUCTION
The romantic figure of Antar, or Antarah, takes the same place in
Arabian literature as that of Achilles among the Greeks. The Cid in
Spain, Orlando in Italy, and Arthur in England, are similar examples of
national ideals put forth by poets and romance writers as embodiments
of a certain half-mythic age of chivalry, when personal valor, prudence,
generosity, and high feeling gave the warrior an admitted preeminence
among his fellows. The literature of Arabia is indeed rich in novels and
tales. The "Thousand and One Nights" is of world-wide reputation, but
the "Romance of Antar" is much less artificial, more expressive of high
moral principles, and certainly superior in literary style to the fantastic
recitals of the coffee house and bazaar, in which Sinbad and Morgiana
figure. A true picture of Bedouin society, in the centuries before
Mohammed had conquered the Arabian peninsula, is given us in the
charming episodes of Antar. We see the encampments of the tribe, the
camels yielding milk and flesh for food, the women friends and
councillors of their husbands, the boys inured to arms from early days,
the careful breeding of horses, the songs of poet and minstrel stirring
all hearts, the mail-clad lines of warriors with lance and sword, the
supreme power of the King--often dealing out justice with stern,
sudden, and inflexible ferocity. Among these surroundings Antar
appears, a dazzling and irresistible warrior and a poet of wonderful
power. The Arab classics, in years long before Mohammed had taken
the Kaaba and made it the talisman of his creed, were hung in the little
shrine where the black volcanic stone was kept. They were known as
Maallakat, or Suspended Books, which had the same meaning among
Arabian literati as the term classic bore among the Italian scholars of
the Renaissance. Numbered with these books of the Kaaba were the

poems of Antar, who was thus the Taliessin of Arabian chivalry.
It is indeed necessary to recollect that in reading the episodes of Antar
we have been taken back to the heroic age in the Arabian peninsula.
War is considered the noblest occupation of a man, and Khaled
despises the love of a noble maiden "from pride in his passion for war."
Antar has his famous horse as the Cid had his Babicca, and his
irresistible sword as Arthur his Excalibur. The wealth of chiefs and
kings consists in horses and