In the introduction, Horne explains that oral storytelling, teaching and poetry was a celebrated piece of ancient Arabic tradition. He describes this orality as “an art of polished and sarcastic oratory or of passionately chanted verse.” This was the primary vehicle of knowledge dissemination and the emergence of written work did not become prominent until the 6th century with the celebration of the acclaimed tribal poets. Their admirers wanted to pay tribute to the poets so they decided to hang their work in the Ka’ba—hence the name “hanged poems.” Horne cites this as the catalyst for written Arabic literature. I would definitely like to learn more about this and the beginning of written literature.

I often find poetry a little hard to parse out the meaning. At first, Imru-ul-Quais grapples with his broken heart, describing his great feelings of loss and despair. His language is very dramatic as he describes how he yearns for “his beloved,” writing about his sorrowful remembrance, gushing tears and his deep pain. He says he felt like his heart had been shot with arrows. He then moves to how he has pined after many women and recounts his experience pining after Unaizah. This part I was a little confused at as he describes his repeated advances towards her with Unaizah shutting him down calling describing his behavior as wild nature. But, it seems like he describes himself as winning her over. He repeatedly describes her body, comparing her to a deer and various animals (wild) and a tree (graceful). This part especially with the footnote at the bottom definitely made me pause as he seems pretty creepy and not exactly aligning with the image he is trying to present.

His transitions definitely intrigued me and his flowery language. His poem is sprinkled in metaphors, vivid images often evoking images of wild life/animals. We can also see his position as a wanderer throughout the play.