Bishr b. abi Khāzim: Collection of Fragments

Abstract

The high esteem in which Bishr b. abī Khāzim is held by the native theorists and critics has been the main motive that induced me to collect his verses. The widely scattered quotations of his work present still better proof of the æsthetic merits which his poems held for the Arabs than the favourable judgment which an authority such as al-Aṣma'ī passed upon him by inserting him into the ranks of the fuḥūl. Four of his qaṣīdahs have found their way into the Mufaḍḍaliyyāt (ed. Lyall, poems 96–9); six more are contained in the anthology of Hibatallāh b. al-Shajarī, known as the Dīwān mukhtārāt shu'arā' al-'Arab (lithographed Cairo, 1306, pp. 65–81). Hartigan, who has tried to establish Bishr's biography (MFO., i, 284 ff.), mentions his fragments (loc. cit., 293), claiming a knowledge of 131 verses belonging, in his opinion, to thirty different poems. He does not, however, name his sources. He obviously had the intention of making an edition himself, but this never appeared. From the standpoint of modern literary history, the work of Bishr has the special interest of permitting a deep insight into the formation of poetical schools in ancient Arabia. To provide a solid foundation for any such investigation, a complete edition of his poetical remains has proved indispensable. In spite of the somewhat unfavourable circumstances under which I was obliged to complete this collection,