The khayāl motif in early Arabic poetry

Abstract

Anybody who takes the trouble to read and to compare literary studies on classical Arabic poetry published in the course of this century, will notice a surprising conformity of judgement. Scholars tend to be unanimous concerning three points in particular: 1. all basic features of Arabic poetry are already present in pre-Islamic verse; 2. pre-Islamic tribal poetry is the most characteristic expression of the literary genius of the Arabs; 3. medieval Arabic poetry never really changed, even if at certain times, especially in the early Abbasid period, some innovations have been added. In recent studies these views have been slightly modified, but, as far as I see, never seriously challenged. Thus Jamaleddine Bencheikh in his Poetique arabe, a brilliant and perceptive study, explains in his closing chapter that the norms of Arabic classicism were determined during the 6th and 7th century, and that later poetry, despite of some truly innovative poets among the moderns (almuhdathun), completely lost contact with reality. According to him, experience is possible on the linguistic level only; reality is replaced by a poetic and linguistic inventory, un arsenal linguistique.1 If we turn to poetry, in order to verify this view, there is doubtless much to support it. No student of medieval Arabic literature can escape the feeling of a certain monotony. For ever and ever, it seems, the poet is roaming through the desert, discovering the ruins of an abandoned camp and weeping over his lost beloved. The same words, phrases, images, motifs and genres continue to be used, providing rich evidence of the medieval poet's conventional attitude and the ritualistic character of his verse. However, when considering the question from a theoretical point of view, there seems to be reason for some doubt. If it is true that poetry is rooted in society, expressing its values, ideas and problems, then we should expect that the important political and social changes which occurred from the 6th century till the later Middle Ages had left their traces in the poetry of successive historical periods. It is incon-