Transcript Flash Cards

Flash Cards
Literature Group
Ian MacDonald
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Background/ Poetry
Source 7
S
• There are many different types of islamic literature;
there is the qasida which consists of an elaborately
structured ode of from 20 to 100 verses and maintains
a single end rhyme through the entire piece. There is
also the ghazel which is a 5 to 12 line love poem. The
qitah is a literary form used for the less serious matters
of everyday life. Its main function was for satire, jokes,
word games, and codes. The masnavi originated in
Persia, and is a ryming couplet. The roba`i is a quatrain.
The maqamah is the most typical expression of the
Arabic spirit in rhymed prose. It was used to tell
basically simple and entertaining stories in an
extremely complicated style.
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Poetry
Source 1
Q
Page 108
• “Islamic literature began with the Bedouin
poets who developed the Arabic Languages
into a supple and expressive literary
instrument”
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Poetry
Source 1
Q
Page 108
• “In Style, content of Islamic poetry was
subordinate to form; the poet was supposed
to be a brilliant technician, preoccupied with
the beauty of his verse”
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Poetry
Source 1
Q
Page 108
• Two poets recognized as technically
outstanding during the Abbasid reign were
Abu Nuwas, who lived in the ninth century
and the Mutanabbi, who lived in the tenth
century”
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Poetry
Source 1
S
Page 108
• Odes were very important and praised the
poet, his tribe or make fun of opponents. It
also was about moral and ethnic themes or
description of nature.
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Poetry
Source 1
Q
Page 109
• “Among Islam’s most brilliant poets was
Ma’arri one of the few of medieval times to
speak without reference to religious dogma.
Jailed, as he said, in the triple prison of
blindness, ‘confinement to my house, and this
vile body for my spirit’s dwelling,’ he
expressed a profound pessimism”
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Poetry
Source 1
Q
Page 109-110
• Whereas poetry had begun with the preIslamic Arabs, prose had its beginning with the
Koran. Through this greatest-and inimitablework, the Arabic language developed into a
powerful and effective mode of expression.
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Poetry
Source 1
s
Page 110
• The wide spread of Islam and the word of God
spreading with the Koran, Arabic was the
official language of the Arab empire and was
found in religion, government and literature.
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Poetry
Source 1
Q
Page
• In the field of pure literature, there appeared
a new form in the late Tenth Century- the
Maqamat, a collection of anecdotes usually
centered on the person of a witty vagabond
who wandered from place to place, earning
his living by performing for appreciative
people.
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Works of Literature
Source 7
Q
• Another collection that was begun at the
same time consists of the sayings of `Ali,
Muhammad's son-in-law and the fourth
caliph, whose followers later established a
major division in Islam, Shi`ah. Finally
compiled in the 10th century, the collection is
called `The Road of Eloquence'. It is a
masterpiece of Arabic prose that has inspired
numerous commentaries and imitations in
other languages.
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Famous Writers
Source 7
Q
• A remarkable poet from Mecca, `Umar ibn Abi
Rabi`ah, contributed to the development of
the ghazel as a love poem.
• Using the same literary form, one of the last
Umayyads, al-Walid ibn Yazid, gained a greater
reputation as a poet than as a warrior. His
poetry excelled in frivolous love verses and in
odes praising the virtues of wine.
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House of Wisdom
Source 9
Q
• The House of Wisdom eventually acquired a
reputation as a center of learning, although
universities as we know them did not yet exist at
this time — transmission of knowledge was done
directly from teacher to student, without any
institutional surrounding. Schoolsbegan to
develop in the city from the 9th century, and in
the 11th century the Islamic University of AlNizamiyya was founded.Along with all other
libraries in Baghdad, the House of Wisdom was
destroyed during the Mongol invasion of
Baghdad in 1258.
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House of Wisdom
Source 9
Q
• Under the sponsorship of caliph al-Mamun
(813 – 833), it seems that the House of
Wisdom took on new functions related to
mathematics and astrology. The focus also
shifted from Persian to Greek texts as the
caliph was deeply influenced by Aristotelian
thought and Greek rationalism.
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Poetry
Source 10
Q
• During the reign of the Umayyad caliphate the
pre-Islamic tradition of Arabic poetry
remained largely unchanged in terms of form although, as one might expect, the Islamic
faith became prominent. Humour was one
notable innovation, with it becoming almost a
whole new category of poem. The themes also
moved from desert-life to city-life, reflecting
the changed style of living common at the
time.
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Poetry
Source 10
Q
• The Abbasid revolution saw the centre of the Muslim
empire move from Mecca to Baghdad. Poetry in the time
directly after the revolution was no longer favoured at
court, and by the time it re-entered, it had undergone
some profound shifts. Many of the people living in the area
were not Arabian, and even fewer had any knowledge of
the Bedouin life out of which the traditional poetry had
emerged. Also, by that time a translation movement was in
full sway which gradually translated the vast majority of the
famous Greek philosophical works into Arabic. In
consequence, whilst the traditional forms and modes were
retained, the poetry shifted in tone and had a noticeably
intellectual tendency.
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Sources
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Source 1Stewart, Desmond. Great Ages of Man A History of the World’s Cultures. New York: Time Incorporated, 1967.
Print.
•
Source 7Library of Cornell. Cornell University. 2 November 2012.
http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/islamlit.htm
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Source 9Institute of Muhammad Ali. Institute of Muhammad Ali. Web. 2 November 2012. http://www.mohamedali.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105&Itemid=141
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Source 10Untold Islam. Masalah. Web. 11/2/12. http://www.maslaha.org/untold-islam/depth/islamicpoetry#Poetry%20of%20the%20Umayyad%20period
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