Shorter Pieces of Arabian Poetry (Dodo Press)

Arabic poetry is the earliest work of Arabic literature. The pre-Islamic poetry is commonly referred to as the Jahili poetry, which translates to "The poetry of the period of ignorance." Poetry held an important position in pre-Islamic society with the poet filling the role of historian, soothsayer and propagandist. The poet represented an individual tribe's prestige and importance in the Arabian peninsula and mock battles in poetry would stand in lieu of real wars. 'Ukaz, a market town not far from Mecca, would play host to a regular poetry festival where the craft of the poets would be exhibited. The very best of these early poems were collected in the 8th century as The Mu'allaqat meaning "the hung poems" and The Mufaddaliyat meaning al-Mufaddal's examination or anthology. The former is named "the hung poems" being hung on the Kaaba. It also aimed to be the definitive source of the era's output with only a single example of the work of each of the so-called "seven renowned ones." The Mufaddaliyat on the other hand contains rather a random collection; apparently all that was remembered and perhaps some that was only produced in the 8th century and was not truly pre-Islamic.