MANNERISM IN ARABIC LITERATURE” A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED POETRY 3rd CENTURY AH/9th CENTURY AD - 5th CENTURY AH/11 th CENTURY AD STEFAN SPERL PhD SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES ProQuest Number: 10752678 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10752678 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT The thesis contains six chapters: introduction, Tour chapters on selected works by Tour poets, and conclusion. The Arabic texts discussed are added as an appendix and numbered from I to XIX. Chapter One discusses the form and function of the panegyric gasIda in the early Abbasid period. The organic unity of the individual poem is postulated in a structural model which serves as a working hypothesis for subsequent analyses. Chapters Two and Three contrast panegyrics by Bu^tur (d. about 284 AH/897 AD) and Mihyar al-Daylamr (d. 428 AH/ 1036 AD). Three poems by Bu^turl are analysed with particular attention to the structural function of the initial section. A work by Mihyar, shown to follow similar principles of con­ struction, is explored with respect to imagery. A comparison of two selected passages highlights stylistic differences between the two poets. Chapters Four and Five are devoted to ascetic poetry, contrasting the zuhdiyyat of Abu 'l-'Atahiya (d. 213 AH/828 AD) and the Luzumiyyat of Abu * 1-'Ala' al-Ma'arrx (d, 449 AH/1058 AD). Chapter Four begins with a study of the origins of the zuhdiyya canon in the poetic tradition and its relation to the panegyric. Chapter Five focuses on the reinterpretation of the poetic tradition in Ma'arrifs work. Both chapters conclude with the analysis of a selected text. Departing from the postulated unity of the individual poem, the analyses reveal the unity of the poetic corpus. The former is substantiated by recurring techniques of construction, the latter suggested by recurring motifs in contrasting contexts. It follows that the gasIda, on the basis of one structural model, provides scope for combinations of motifs drawn from the entire poetic corpus. The analyses of chapters Two to Five provide the basis for a hypothesis on the nature of mannerism and classicism which the final chapter develops in reference to the debate on mannerism in Arabic literature. The hypothesis is tested by a return to the selected texts. ******* In the course of writing this thesis, I have received much generous assistance and advice for which I wish to express my gratitude here. The School of Oriental and African Studies has made this research possible with the award of a Postgraduate Exhibition. Dr. M.T. Darwlsh and Dr. S. Khulu^I have kindly offered their help on textual matters, and the manuscript has been typed with care by Mr. V, Daykin. Many an insight is due to the critical sense of Mr. M.B. al~Qummus, and I am indebted to Mr. A.D. Chappa for his encouragement and unfailing help. Particular thanks are due to my father, as well as to my supervisor Dr. J. Wansbrough. d Jj' (w w t-j I 1 J iXwww ddrf c,,’ .*■< 1^* cJ (Abu Tammam) PREFACE A o The discussion of mannerist and classical styles in the last chapter of this thesis is based on the structural analysis of four texts in particular: poems of Buhturl, Mihyar, Abu ■l-*Ata- hiya and Ma^arrl (texts II, IV, XII, and XIV). In the course of this study, a stylistic opposition is established between the earlier and the later of these poems (II, XII and IV, XIV), this being intended as a contribution to the study of the stylistic range of Arabic poetry. While historical analysis is not a primary concern in this undertaking, the chronological distinction between earlier and later texts requires that the notion of mannerism here developed be related, to the current debate on the history of style in Arabic literature. The following is a brief discussion of the views of Shawqi Dayf as set out in his "al-Fann \va MadhShibuhu *7- 1 fI al-Shicr al-*ArabT” as well as those of W. Heinrichs as they appear in the article ’’Literary Theory - The Problem of its Efficiency” - 3 Reference is also made to Adunis' “Muqaddima lil-Shicr al-tArabi”. I As the title suggests Dayf’s work traces in the history of Arabic poetry certain stylistic methods or schools (madhahib). ^Cairo, 1969. 2 See Arabic Poetry - Theory and Development, ed. G.E. von Gruenebaum, Wiesbaden, 1973, pp. 19-69. Heinrich's article ,n Manierismus’ in der arabischen Literatur” (Xslatmvissenschaftliche Abhandlungen ed. R. Gramlich, Wiesbaden, 1974) is discussed below pp. 271 ff. 3 Beirut, 1971. iv There are three: 1) San*a, defined as "jahd fanni", the creative endeavour underlying all art.*- The term is closely linked to Dayf’s discussion of poetry as a craft (sina€a) with rules, constraints and conventions to which 2 the poet must adhere in his effort at artistic creation (sanca) "* 2) Tasnlc, defined as the badl* school, a style which adds to the basic properties of the craft a methodical emphasis on zakhraf — 3 (ornatus), ta1annuq (elegance) and tanmlq (ornate composition). The ornatus of tasnlc is not restricted to-the traditional figures of badi1 as defined by rhetoric but includes a number of other 4 features which the author sets out to explain, Tasannu*, defined as "excessive constraint (takalluf) and what is contained therein of affectation (tacammul) and complexity 5 (ta cqid)". This school is occasioned by cultural decline and characterised by loss of creative and expressive power.^ Linguistically, these Arabic terms are coined as derivatives of one root since this indicates a certain feature of the poetic schools they describe: while motifs, themes, metre and rhyme remain relatively stable throughout, the schools are distinguished from - 7 one another by differences of "texture and style" (siyagha wa uslub). * Shawqi Dayf, op. cit., pp. 22, 41. ^ Ibid., pp. 13 ff. ^ I b i d pp. 9, 176. 4 Ibid.,pp. 176, 239 ff. 5 Ibid.,p.9. 6 Ibid.,pp. 277 ff. 7 Ibid.,p.9. See also below p. 35. V The bulk of payf’s work is a discussion of the historical growth and interpenetration of these stylistic methods. Apart from numerous citations of poetry, the author illustrates his points with material drawn from works of rhetoric and historiography in order to coordinate stylistic development with environmental factors and general cultural history. The result is an interpretation of the course of Arab culture from pre-Islamic down to modern times. The work is divided into three books. The first, comprising more than half the work, deals with san ca and tasnic, the second with tasannu1, the third focuses on the development of poetry in Spain and Egypt. 1) Sanfa and Tasni c. The period of sanca covers pre-Islamic, Umayyad and early *Abbasid poetry. Dayf distinguishes two strands of verse: shifr - 1- 1 taqlidi and shi cr ghina’i. ’’Traditional” , or ”formal”, poetry which includes madlh, WHMMVmriritha and Ihija' !!■ I— iff IT I reaches a high point of craftsmanship in the work of Zuhayr. He counters his predecessors’ simple accumulation of images and themes with a new concern for cohesion and detailed development. With him, the old qasida reaches its final form: a tripartite unit consisting of introduction, 2 subject matter and finale* Zuhayr thus exerted a decisive influence; on the later development of shifr taqlidi by Hutay’a and Kuthayyir in whose works his heritage is treated with increasing concern for complexity and detail. ^ J[bid. , pp. 37 ff. ^ JCbid • i PP* 26 f., 32. ^ Ibid., p. 35 f. v:L ••Lyric1’ (ghina’ i) poetry differ/s from its ”formal” counterpart by consisting of brief, monothematic pieces of songlike character composed in a less elevated idiom with a preference for shorter metres. Found throughout pre-Islamic Arabia, it saw a particular flowering in the wine and love songs of the early Islamic period, its main protagonists being lUraar b. Abi Rabija and al-Walld b. Yazid.^ tyayf’s discussion of cAbbS.sid poetry is preceded by a survey of the external influences which left their mark on the literature of the time, in particular the interaction of Arab and 2 non-Arab culture. lAbbasid s a n is characterised by the absorption of these influences, by new developments of traditional themes as well as by the interpenetration of ’’lyric” and ’’formal” poetry. The latter is evident in the spread of ’’lyric” metres and sound g structures into the realm of the panegyric. The style of the muwalladun poets, halfway between the traditional idiom (manifest in rajaz poetry) and the popular idiom of the day, is ’’pure, transparent, less concerned with linguistic profusion for its own 4 sake than with profusion of ideas and the stirring of emotion.” It is illustrated in the works of Bashshar, Abu Nuwas and Abu ,l-<Atahiya which latter so simplified the poetic medium ”in choice of words and expressions that it approached the level of popular speech.”'* ^ _Ibid., pp. 41 ff. - 2 I^id* » PP* 91 ff* ^ Ibi^., pp.