A love poem is a love poem, whether it is camels and a wadi or a convertible and Sunset Boulevard. Those are beautiful if you keep in mind the era and place. Or p If you find yourself struggling with the early poems of Bedouin life, keep going. You will find yourself wondering if the Spanish Generation of '27 had access to some of the later texts in translation, as you will hear echoes of Lorca and Hinjosa. As you progress through the book, you will be amazed at the beauty of these translations. If you find yourself struggling with the early poems of Bedouin life, keep going. In their evocations of heroism, nostalgia, mysticism, grief, and passion, the poems gathered here transcend the limitations of time and place.more Here too are literary giants of the past century: Khalil Jibran, author of the best-selling The Prophet popular Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani Palestinian feminist Fadwa Tuqan Mahmoud Darwish, bard of occupation and exile acclaimed iconoclast Adonis and more. Poets include the legendary pre-Islamic warrior ‘Antara, medieval Andalusian poet Ibn Zaydun, the mystical poet Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya, and the influential Egyptian Romantic Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi. Themes of love, nature, religion, and politics recur in works drawn from the pre-Islamic oral tradition through poems anticipating the recent Arab Spring.Įditor Marlé Hammond has selected more than fifty poems reflecting desire and longing of various kinds: for the beloved, for the divine, for the homeland, and for change and renewal. The Arabic poetic legacy is as vast as it is deep, spanning a period of fifteen centuries in regions from Morocco to Iraq. Themes of love, nature, religion, and politics recur in works drawn from the pre-Islamic oral tradition A bilingual anthology of poems from the sixth century to the present, Arabic Poems is a one-of-a-kind showcase of a fascinating literary tradition. A bilingual anthology of poems from the sixth century to the present, Arabic Poems is a one-of-a-kind showcase of a fascinating literary tradition.