Medieval Arabic Praise Poetry: Ibn Al-Rumi and the Patron's Redemption

Description

This book gives an insight into panegyrics, a genre central to understanding medieval Near Eastern Society. Poets in this multi-ethnic society would address the majority of their verse to rulers, generals, officials, and the urban upper classes, its tone ranging from celebration to reprimand and even to threat. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Note on quotes and translations Note on transliteration and dating Glossary Part I: Setting the stage 1. The background: Poetry and poets in early Abbasid society The audience The patrons The poets 2. The form: The Abbasid praise qaṣīda History of research The textual approach The intertextual approach The contextual approach Constraint and variety 3. The approach: Madīḥ and pragmatics Literary speech situation (context) and genre The criteria and types of poetic dialogue Excursus into the theory of speech acts Characterization, dramaturgy, poetic argument, and ethics 4. The protagonists: Ibn al-Rūmī and his patron 'Ubaydallāh b. 'Abdallāh 5. The madīḥ exchanged between Ibn al-Rūmī and 'Ubaydallāh The practice of praise A note on the textual sources Themes of the Qaṣā᾽id The strophe The antistrophe The metastrophe The speech acts of praise Part II: Speech and characterization 6. Speech as action Speech of humans Speech figuratively attributed to inanimate objects and abstract concepts Figurative reinterpretation of verbal acts 7. The dramatis personae Fictional personae The accuser White hair Youth Minor fictional personae Historical personae The patron The poet Part III: The dramaturgy 8. The scene The dialogue scene The extended dialogue scene The unintroduced dialogue The address The evocation The monologue The implicit and impersonal speaker 9. The episode and its witnesses Witnesses speaking or addressed in the episode Witnesses quoted in the episode 10. 'The passion of him whose parting has grayed is affectation' (L191) 11. 'They aimed at my heart from the gaps of veils' (L1042) Part IV: Verbal ornament 12. Supporting figures of speech Syntactic figures Anaphora Reprise Semantic figures Sententia and analogy The recurring motif 13. Phantasmagoria Part V: Ibn al-Rūmī's ethics of patronage 14. In the mirror of madīḥ The scenes between poet and patron The historical relationship The function of the poem 15. Mutual duties and rights of benefactor and protégé Examples of scenes: A1160, F1243, and A1510 First example Second example Third example 16. Acts and words between panegyrist and model Acts and words, their order and congruity The praise matches the acts The praise cannot live up to the acts The acts themselves compose praise through causal hyperbole The acts claim ancient praise and re-attribute it to the patron Praise precedes the acts Examples of scenes: A694, F1373', A464/F1373', and A1171/A212/L215 The acts precede the praise, and the praise matches them The praise cannot live up to the acts The acts themselves compose praise through causal hyperbole The acts claim ancient praise and re-attribute it to 'Ubaydallāh Praise preceding acts and not yet redeemed Recapitulation Conclusion: Dramaturgy as a rhetoric of ethics Appendices A. Themes of the qaṣā᾽id B. Speech acts in the qaṣā᾽id C. Witnesses in the episodes D. Poetry dedicated to 'Ubaydallāh b. 'Abdallāh E. Concordance with Boustany Notes Bibliography Index of verses General index