- Minimalism - Homogeneity - Functionality - Associated with bedouin (semi-nomadic) lifestyle Arbc210: 2/20/2014 Chief Characteristics of Jahiliyya-era Qasida:

How is it a ‘Minimalist’ Literature? Networks of Association Atlál: Náqa: memory, abandonment, unfulfilled (?) love, youth, desolation, nature = eternity, humanity = ephemera, two riding companions, antisocial patience, endurance, self-denial, self-sacrifice, the poet, desert journey, independence, sustenance

Homogeneity: A Formulaic Structure Nasíb: Ríhla: “Boast”: Amatory prelude, elegaic (intersection of love and grief motivated by departure, not death), existential wistfulness, atlál, departing womenfolk, “halting at the traces”, “effaced abodes”, room for sexuality, passivity Journey, agency, activity, solitude, wilderness, the desert, heat, cold, rain, wild animals, hunger, vigor, náqa, the hunt Society, self-assertion, interdependence, commensal feast, wine, companionship, the tribe, gentle rain, promise of pasturage

Ibn Rashiq (d AD) : The poet was a defence to the honour of them all [the tribe], a weapon to ward off insult from their good name, and a means of perpetuating their glorious deeds and of establishing their fame for ever. And they used not to wish one another joy but for three things – the birth of a boy, the coming to light of a poet, and the foaling of a noble mare. Ibn Sallam al-Jumahi (d. 846 AD): In the Jahiliyya, verse was to the Arabs the register of all they knew, and the utmost compass of their wisdom; with it they began their affairs, and with it they ended them. Functionality of Qasída

The Qasida: A Poetic Genre of the Nomads “Some basic facts stand out: That [pre-Islamic poetry] is essentially tribal poetry; that the tribes were nomadic and dependent on their camels and, to a lesser extent, on their horses, sheep and goats; that they lived in the desert and semi-desert areas and in the surrounding mountains; that the tribes frequently fought each other; that life was at all times perceived as hard and dangerous; that intra-tribal and inter-tribal relationships had led to a complex code of social conduct both for men and women; that there was an ethical code based on the notion of [chivalry]; but that in contrast, with few exceptions, religious ideas were little developed, the vagaries of a rarely benevolent fortune and the ever-present menace of death, and, particularly, untimely death, consuming the tribesman’s thoughts.” (Roger Allen 1992, 2-3)

“Suspended” Ode? mu’allaq = hungor< ‘ilq, ‘a’láq = necklace?

“Tuck-bellied brindle leg” (Arabian oryx)