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Baghdad
About This Book
Baghdad: The City in Verse captures the essence of life lived in one of the world's great enduring metropolises. In this unusual anthology, Reuven Snir offers original translations of more than 170 Arabic poems—most of them appearing for the first time in English—which represent a cross-section of genres and styles from the time of Baghdad's founding in the eighth century to the present day. The diversity of the fabled city is reflected in the Bedouin, Muslim, Christian, Kurdish, and Jewish poets featured here, including writers of great renown and others whose work has survived but whose names are lost to history.Through the prism of these poems, readers glimpse many different Baghdads: the city built on ancient Sumerian ruins, the epicenter of Arab culture and Islam's Golden Age under the enlightened rule of Harun al-Rashid, the bombed-out capital of Saddam Hussein's fallen regime, the American occupation, and life in a new but unstable Iraq. With poets as our guides, we visit bazaars, gardens, wine parties, love scenes (worldly and mystical), brothels, prisons, and palaces. Startling contrasts emerge as the day-to-day cacophony of urban life is juxtaposed with eternal cycles of the Tigris, and hellish winds, mosquitoes, rain, floods, snow, and earthquakes are accompanied by somber reflections on invasions and other catastrophes.Documenting the city's 1, 250-year history, Baghdad: The City in Verse shows why poetry has been aptly called the public register of the Arabs.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword by Roger Allen
- Preface
- Translator’s Note
- Introduction
- Muti‘ ibn Iyas
- ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak
- Anon.
- Anon.
- Anon.
- Anon.
- Anon.
- Anon.
- Anon.
- Anon.
- al-‘Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf
- Harun al-Rashid
- Shamsa
- Anon.
- Anon.
- Mansur al-Namari
- Ashja‘ al-Sulami
- Abu Nuwas (al-Hasan ibn Hani al-Hakami)
- ‘Inan
- ‘Amr ibn ‘Abd al-Malik al-Warraq
- Tahir ibn al-Husayn al-Khuza‘i
- ‘Ali ibn Jabala al-Ansari (known as al-‘Akawwak)
- Ishaq al-Khuraymi
- Ishaq al-Mawsili
- Al-Husayn ibn al-Dahhak
- ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir
- ‘Umara ibn ‘Aqil
- ‘Ali ibn al-Jahm
- ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Bafi
- Ibn Dust
- Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Brujardi
- al-Walid ibn ‘Ubayd Allah al-Buhturi
- Ibn al-Rumi
- Adam ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Umawi
- Abu al-‘Aliya
- ‘Ali ibn Abi Hashim
- ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Mu‘tazz
- Muhammad ibn Dawud al-Isfahani
- ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir
- ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Wasiti
- al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj
- Abu ‘Abd Allah Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Niftawayhi
- Anon.
- Anon.
- Ibn al-Tammar al-Wasiti
- ‘Ali ibn Muhammad al-Tanukhi
- Mansur ibn Kayaghlagh
- Abu Ishaq al-Sabi
- Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Jurjani
- al-Sharif al-Radi
- al-Tahir ibn al-Muzaffar ibn Tahir al-Khazin
- ‘Ali ibn al-Faraj al-Shafi‘i
- Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Salami
- Ma‘dan al-Taghlibi
- Abu Sa‘d Muhmmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Khalaf al-Nayramani
- ‘Ali ibn Zurayq Abu al-Hasan al-Baghdadi
- Abu Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Maliki
- al-Sharif al-Murtada
- Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma‘arri
- Abu al-Ma‘ali
- Abu al-Fadl ibn Muhammad al-Khazin al-Katib
- Usama ibn Munqidh
- Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Shumay‘a al-Baghdadi
- Muhyi al-Din ibn al-‘Arabi
- Majd al-Din Husayn ibn al-Dawami
- al-Majd al-Nashabi
- Taqi al-Din ibn Abi al-Yusr
- Sa‘di Shirazi
- Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Kufi
- Shams al-Din Mahmud ibn Ahmad al-Hashimi al-Hanafi
- Abu al-Khayr ‘Abd al-Rahman Zayn al-Din al-Suwaydi
- ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Jamil
- Shihab al-Din Abu al-Thana’ Mahmud al-Alusi
- ‘Abd al-Ghaffar al-Akhras al-Mawsili
- Radi al-Qazwini
- ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Shawi
- Ahmad al-Shawi
- Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi
- Ahmad Shawqi
- Hafiz Ibrahim
- Ma‘ruf al-Rusafi
- Iliyya Abu Madi
- Anwar Sha’ul
- Murad Michael
- Mir Basri
- Mishil Haddad
- Nizar Qabbani
- Nazik al-Mala’ika
- Ibrahim Ovadia
- ‘Ali Sidqi ‘Abd al-Qadir
- Badr Shakir al-Sayyab
- Buland al-Haydari
- ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayyati
- Shadhil Taqa
- Adonis
- Muhammad Jamil Shalash
- Salah ‘Abd al-Sabur
- Sa‘di Yusuf
- Ahmad ‘Abd al-Mu‘ti Hijazi
- Sadiq al-Sa’igh
- Samih al-Qasim
- Fadil al-‘Azzawi
- Sami Mahdi
- May Muzaffar
- Mahmud Darwish
- Su‘ad al-Sabah
- Sharif al-Rubay‘i
- Sargon Boulus
- Abdul Kader El Janabi
- Faruq Juwayda
- ‘Ali Ja‘far al-‘Allaq
- ‘Abd al-Rahman Touhmazi
- Bushra al-Bustani
- Ronny Someck
- Wafa’ ‘Abd al-Razzaq
- Ahlam Mustaghanimi
- Ibrahim Zaydan and Qays Majid al-Mawla
- ‘Abid ‘Ali al-Rammahi
- Sinan Antoon
- Dalya Riyad
- Manal al-Shaykh
- Afterword by Abdul Kader El Janabi
- References
- Index of Poets
- Index of Titles