Tracing the movement of the blood vengeance theme within Arabic poetry: from the classical poetic tradition to the present

Abstract

ABSTRACT Blood vengeance is a popular literary theme in classical Arabic poetry, particularly in elegies which lament a fallen hero and in the poetic cycles of folkloric epics. The poetic model for blood vengeance was established at least 1500 years ago, and persists to the present day. In this article, I focus upon the role that language plays in such rituals and, specifically, how the poetic speech act shapes memory and conditions behaviour. More recently, modern jihadist movements provide a political backdrop for newer poems, from across the Arab world, which contain the old blood vengeance message. My research traces the migration of this code through examination of a cross-section of Arabic poetry. Poetry belongs to a ritual complex, whereby a hymn of incitement provides an imperative for a bloody act. Moreover, rituals are legitimized by ancient myth, which not only ennobles blood lust, but is perpetuated by their repetition or reinterpreted over time.