The Divans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets, Enn?biga, ?antara, Tharafa, Zuhair, ?alqama and Imruulqais: Chiefly According to the Mss. Of Paris, Gotha, ... a List of the Various Readings of the Text

Excerpt from The Divans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets, Ennābiga, ʾantara, Tharafa, Zuhair, ʾalqama and Imruulqais: Chiefly According to the Mss. Of Paris, Gotha, and Leyden; And the Collection of Their Fragments With a List of the Various Readings of the d104Works of poetry occupy a prominent place, both with respect to their number and value, in the extensive literature of the Ara bians; and, among them, it is just the oldest compositions whose importance is most indisputable, and which excite the liveliest interest. They are the earliest documents of the Arabic language, and from time immemorial have been considered the chief authority for the correct understanding of its vocabulary; they are. Testimonies of an historical antiquity around which Legend has woven its mysterious veils; they exhibit to us the social relations of olden times with the most vivid freshness, and fetter us by the simplicity and truth of feeling and observation, no less than by the manly and self conscious even if unamiable character which manifests itself in them, and which' expresses itself in the sinewy strength of the diction. Moreover, they are the first fruits which the soil of Arabian literature has produced, or, at any rate, has preserved for posterity: and their study is the more attractive because they from the first appear in a degree of perfection which, according to the judgment of most native scholars and critics, has never been attained by the compositions of subsequent times.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.