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Arabic Poems
A bilingual anthology of poems from the sixth century to the present, Arabic Poems is a one-of-a-kind showcase of a fascinating literary tradition.
The Arabic poetic legacy is as vast as it is deep, spanning a period of fifteen centuries in regions from Morocco to Iraq. Themes of love, nature, religion, and politics recur in works drawn from the pre-Islamic oral tradition through poems anticipating the recent Arab Spring.
Editor Marlé Hammond has selected more than fifty poems reflecting desire and longing of various kinds: for the beloved, for the divine, for the homeland, and for change and renewal. Poets include the legendary pre-Islamic warrior ‘Antara, medieval Andalusian poet Ibn Zaydun, the mystical poet Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya, and the influential Egyptian Romantic Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi. Here too are literary giants of the past century: Khalil Jibran, author of the best-selling The Prophet; popular Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani; Palestinian feminist Fadwa Tuqan; Mahmoud Darwish, bard of occupation and exile; acclaimed iconoclast Adonis; and more. In their evocations of heroism, nostalgia, mysticism, grief, and passion, the poems gathered here transcend the limitations of time and place.
The Arabic poetic legacy is as vast as it is deep, spanning a period of fifteen centuries in regions from Morocco to Iraq. Themes of love, nature, religion, and politics recur in works drawn from the pre-Islamic oral tradition through poems anticipating the recent Arab Spring.
Editor Marlé Hammond has selected more than fifty poems reflecting desire and longing of various kinds: for the beloved, for the divine, for the homeland, and for change and renewal. Poets include the legendary pre-Islamic warrior ‘Antara, medieval Andalusian poet Ibn Zaydun, the mystical poet Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya, and the influential Egyptian Romantic Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi. Here too are literary giants of the past century: Khalil Jibran, author of the best-selling The Prophet; popular Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani; Palestinian feminist Fadwa Tuqan; Mahmoud Darwish, bard of occupation and exile; acclaimed iconoclast Adonis; and more. In their evocations of heroism, nostalgia, mysticism, grief, and passion, the poems gathered here transcend the limitations of time and place.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 6, 2014
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693 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
June 22, 2015
If you find yourself struggling with the early poems of Bedouin life, keep going. Those are beautiful if you keep in mind the era and place. A love poem is a love poem, whether it is camels and a wadi or a convertible and Sunset Boulevard. As you progress through the book, you will be amazed at the beauty of these translations. You will find yourself wondering if the Spanish Generation of '27 had access to some of the later texts in translation, as you will hear echoes of Lorca and Hinjosa. Or perhaps it is just some Andalusian magic. By the time you reach the moderns--in particular Nizar Qabbani, the excerpt of Adonis' "This Is My Name" and Iman Mersal's "Solitude Exercises," you will likely finding yourself Googling for more work by these poets. (In particular, I wish to read the full version of "This Is My Name.") And as an Everyman imprint pocket book, it is stury, on beautiful paper and with a book jacket you will want a plastic library jacket to preserve forever.
December 18, 2022
A significant part of what I share on my IG stories is Arabic Poetry, and I think that non Arabic speakers are curious to know what’s special about it?
You’ll find part of the answer in this book, and I dare say maybe after reading it you’ll decide on either getting back to your Arabic classes or taking your first Arabic class!
Classic Arabic that is!
ولو صَبا نحونا، من عُلوِ مطلعِه،
بدر الدُّجى لم يكن حاشاكِ يُصبينا
أبكي وفاءً، وإن لم تبذُلي صِلة،
فالطَّيف يُقنعنا، والذِّكرُ يَكفينا
ابن زيدون
You’ll find part of the answer in this book, and I dare say maybe after reading it you’ll decide on either getting back to your Arabic classes or taking your first Arabic class!
Classic Arabic that is!
ولو صَبا نحونا، من عُلوِ مطلعِه،
بدر الدُّجى لم يكن حاشاكِ يُصبينا
أبكي وفاءً، وإن لم تبذُلي صِلة،
فالطَّيف يُقنعنا، والذِّكرُ يَكفينا
ابن زيدون
November 8, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The aesthetic of this book was well thought out. I enjoyed just carrying it around. It was a small pocketbook that has beautiful artwork on the front. Every even page has the poem written in Arabic and all the even pages had the translation in English. I was so interesting to see how much could be said with so few words in Arabic. Visually, the English texted looked long and drawn out compared to the short text blocks of the Arabic side. It makes you wonder, without knowing the language, how much meaning one symbol means in Arabic.
As for the actual substance of the book, it started off very difficult for me because the poems were very old. As the time period of the poems progressed, they flowed effortlessly. The writing was at times succinct, but impactful.
The only reason I did not give it 5 stars was because of the first older poems. Although many people may enjoy the older style of language, it was not something I enjoyed.
As for the actual substance of the book, it started off very difficult for me because the poems were very old. As the time period of the poems progressed, they flowed effortlessly. The writing was at times succinct, but impactful.
The only reason I did not give it 5 stars was because of the first older poems. Although many people may enjoy the older style of language, it was not something I enjoyed.
April 1, 2016
A beautiful collection with a wide array of Arabic poetry through the times. Definitely worth the read.
October 21, 2018
A fascinating and outstanding book ! A must have. I discovered amazing Arabic poems through this book.
July 13, 2016
As always the Everyman’s Pocket Library delivers. This edition is bilingual, which is always nice for deeper appreciation, further discussion and possible encouragement to learn another language. I have asked Arab friends about a few of the poems and they found some of the translations quite accurate, but of course with poetry what sounds nice to the ear of one culture is hard to transform into another. The birds often fly away. The most obvious example in this collection is “L- Poem of the Arabs”, by Al-Shanfara. This is one of the most important poems in Arabic literature and yet in this translation it has no power; it falls flat, lies dead. I found Lady Ann Blunt’s translations particularly evocative because they seemed translated word for word, which might be unnatural but the result is something that is so thick with thoughts, rich with odd rhythm and dense with images. Some of her archaic choices make it pleasantly alien and antique to our ears. This selection spans 1500 years across the Islamic world and has poets from Spain, Northern Africa, the Gulf and Levant as well as Sicily and Iraq. It is heartening that so many of these poems are written by women (the earliest here is Maysun from the 7th century AD)Even in the modern poetry the spell of the desert seems to be on their lips. Needless to say the majority of these poems are about love. Some of the most moving and magical poems, surprisingly for those of us from the ‘West’, are about rain. These are not just in wonder and gratitude, but also in torrential fear.
Some of the early poems (pre-Islamic and early Islamic) are full of bragging like modern rappers, but interestingly not just of physical prowess but also of generous largess.
All the early poems show a keen connection with animals- allegories and allusions are made as beauty and strength are given expression. Kinship is felt with wolves; horses and camels are admired. The storm force of a horse is captured in the words of Imru Al-Qays ‘the ribs of him shifts as a rain-stream smoothing stones in a river-bed.’ and in Labid’s lines ‘shaketh her reins galloping, flieth as the doves fly bound for the water-springs’. Deep in Labid’s “Mu’Allaqa” is the heart-wrenching search of a cow for her ‘wolf-raided… sweet calf loitering’ The verses that hold this story echo low to today.
One form I have never seen before that I want to use in my poetry is to have what appears to be two columns of verses side-by-side. It is clear that these are to be read horizontally, leaping from one column to the next, but it strikes me that the poet would also like readers to read them vertically as separate verses. What a brilliant game and skill- to have two poems in one! There is only one poem here like that Al-A’Ma Al-Tutili’s “Muwashshaha”.
The later poems mix weather with politics and love, and are more direct, less visceral and yet occasionally surreal. Iman Mersal’s “Solitude Exercises” seems to not only pinpoint the loss of love but also robe of mourning already worn before a loved one dies. Mahmoud Darwish best expresses when lovers no longer match,and how they should be reconciled to this and still be friends with fond memories. It is the most upbeat poem that I have read about a break-up. Ibn Hamdis and Nizar Qabbani seem infatuated seducers of the same blood, though they are eight hundred years apart in time.
I am jealous that poetry is alive and beating in the Arab world. I am sad that in English it does not command millions of avid fans. An Arabic equivalent of “American Idol”, “Million's Poet”, has 70 million viewers and offers a one million dollar prize. There are many other popular contests such as Prince of Poets and poetry competitions for kids that are watched avidly. Unlike other peoples I have met, among Arabs poetry is not an unusual hobby.
The poets I gained most from in this tiny tome are Labid, Abid, Qasmuna Bint Isma’il, Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Adonis and Iman Mersal. My favourite poet from this book is Ibn Hamdis. The most beautiful poem is Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab’s poem “Rain Song”.
Here are some of the many lines I loved from this collection:
‘the lightning…. Gleameth like fingers twisted, clasped in the cloud rivers’
‘While the wild beast corpses, grouped like great bulbs
up-torn cumbered the hollow places, drowned in the night-trouble’
- Imru Al-Qays
‘Clean-swept lie their hearthstones, white as new
manuscript writ with texts fresh-graven, penned by the cataracts’
-Labid
‘She, the white cow, shone there through the dark night
luminous, like a pearl of deep-seas, freed from the string’
-Labid
‘meat-dishes: flowed the streams of fatness, feeding the fatherless’
-Labid
‘threading the labyrinths’
-Antara
‘high-piled cloud-masses filled to the full, night bursting:
The heavily-burdened wombs of the fruitful waters
that spout forth rain from many a rift of blackness’
-Abid
‘when the lightning clove it and flash and
flickered, as though in the smile of rain-bringing constellations
One saw the white teeth flash forth in a sudden gladness’
-Abid
‘I have hidden the name of my love from the crowd…
How I long for an empty and desolate place
in order to call my love’s name aloud’
-Ulayya Bint Al-Mahdi
‘in a sorrow not worn away with time,
though time wears us away’
- Ibn Zaydun
‘the swarming flood of night’
‘the moon a blacksmith’s mirror’
-Ibn Hamdis
‘The blossoms break
The mirror of the lake,
And adroitly aim
Their tongues of flame’
-Ibn Hamdis
‘When they struck camp
they left a land
holding the tombs
of those who loved them’
-Ibn Al’Arabi
‘Time and trouble tumble on’
- Abu Al-Qasim Al-Shabbi
‘Rippled by the blade of an oar at break of day;
As if stars were throbbing in the depths of them’
‘Do you know how gutters weep when it pours down’
‘I can almost hear the palm trees drinking rain’
‘And in Iraq a thousand serpents drink the nectar
From a flower the Euphrates has nourished with dew’
- Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab
‘He will not learn to drink regret from my sighs’
‘squeeze my heart to give it rest’
‘my cup has many cracks yet the wine always kissed the brim’
- Salma Khadra Jayyusi
‘To invent a language for you alone
To fit the size of your body
And the size of my love’
-Nizar Qabbani
‘So I can tailor for my beloved
A garment of poetry’
-Nizar Qabbani
‘The pain of the fallen willow trees
Under the wheels of autumn’
-Nizar Qabbani
‘My body a rose upon the wound’
‘I have halos of craving’
‘This is my flame that erases’
-Adonis
‘The captive nightingale with the horizon which brushes the
bars of his cage?’
‘And sleep silently till daybreak,
Not for want of words,
But because the weary butterflies
Will be sleeping on our lips’
-Muhammad Al-Maghut
‘it wasn’t enough that we be together
to be together…’
-Mahmoud Darwish
‘take here to a balcony to see a moon drowning in milk’
-Mahmoud Darwish
‘The poet closes
his eyes
on a rose
of
dust’
‘The night barks here
thumps somewhere’
-Mohammed Bennis
‘to topple the pail filled
with the remains of our evening together’
‘I will place your fingers in an ice bowl where there are
no tremors...’
‘These touch-ups in the telling
have a magic
that cannot be understood by those
who never needed to steal
the kindness of others’
-Iman Mersal
Best wishes,
TK
Some of the early poems (pre-Islamic and early Islamic) are full of bragging like modern rappers, but interestingly not just of physical prowess but also of generous largess.
All the early poems show a keen connection with animals- allegories and allusions are made as beauty and strength are given expression. Kinship is felt with wolves; horses and camels are admired. The storm force of a horse is captured in the words of Imru Al-Qays ‘the ribs of him shifts as a rain-stream smoothing stones in a river-bed.’ and in Labid’s lines ‘shaketh her reins galloping, flieth as the doves fly bound for the water-springs’. Deep in Labid’s “Mu’Allaqa” is the heart-wrenching search of a cow for her ‘wolf-raided… sweet calf loitering’ The verses that hold this story echo low to today.
One form I have never seen before that I want to use in my poetry is to have what appears to be two columns of verses side-by-side. It is clear that these are to be read horizontally, leaping from one column to the next, but it strikes me that the poet would also like readers to read them vertically as separate verses. What a brilliant game and skill- to have two poems in one! There is only one poem here like that Al-A’Ma Al-Tutili’s “Muwashshaha”.
The later poems mix weather with politics and love, and are more direct, less visceral and yet occasionally surreal. Iman Mersal’s “Solitude Exercises” seems to not only pinpoint the loss of love but also robe of mourning already worn before a loved one dies. Mahmoud Darwish best expresses when lovers no longer match,and how they should be reconciled to this and still be friends with fond memories. It is the most upbeat poem that I have read about a break-up. Ibn Hamdis and Nizar Qabbani seem infatuated seducers of the same blood, though they are eight hundred years apart in time.
I am jealous that poetry is alive and beating in the Arab world. I am sad that in English it does not command millions of avid fans. An Arabic equivalent of “American Idol”, “Million's Poet”, has 70 million viewers and offers a one million dollar prize. There are many other popular contests such as Prince of Poets and poetry competitions for kids that are watched avidly. Unlike other peoples I have met, among Arabs poetry is not an unusual hobby.
The poets I gained most from in this tiny tome are Labid, Abid, Qasmuna Bint Isma’il, Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Adonis and Iman Mersal. My favourite poet from this book is Ibn Hamdis. The most beautiful poem is Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab’s poem “Rain Song”.
Here are some of the many lines I loved from this collection:
‘the lightning…. Gleameth like fingers twisted, clasped in the cloud rivers’
‘While the wild beast corpses, grouped like great bulbs
up-torn cumbered the hollow places, drowned in the night-trouble’
- Imru Al-Qays
‘Clean-swept lie their hearthstones, white as new
manuscript writ with texts fresh-graven, penned by the cataracts’
-Labid
‘She, the white cow, shone there through the dark night
luminous, like a pearl of deep-seas, freed from the string’
-Labid
‘meat-dishes: flowed the streams of fatness, feeding the fatherless’
-Labid
‘threading the labyrinths’
-Antara
‘high-piled cloud-masses filled to the full, night bursting:
The heavily-burdened wombs of the fruitful waters
that spout forth rain from many a rift of blackness’
-Abid
‘when the lightning clove it and flash and
flickered, as though in the smile of rain-bringing constellations
One saw the white teeth flash forth in a sudden gladness’
-Abid
‘I have hidden the name of my love from the crowd…
How I long for an empty and desolate place
in order to call my love’s name aloud’
-Ulayya Bint Al-Mahdi
‘in a sorrow not worn away with time,
though time wears us away’
- Ibn Zaydun
‘the swarming flood of night’
‘the moon a blacksmith’s mirror’
-Ibn Hamdis
‘The blossoms break
The mirror of the lake,
And adroitly aim
Their tongues of flame’
-Ibn Hamdis
‘When they struck camp
they left a land
holding the tombs
of those who loved them’
-Ibn Al’Arabi
‘Time and trouble tumble on’
- Abu Al-Qasim Al-Shabbi
‘Rippled by the blade of an oar at break of day;
As if stars were throbbing in the depths of them’
‘Do you know how gutters weep when it pours down’
‘I can almost hear the palm trees drinking rain’
‘And in Iraq a thousand serpents drink the nectar
From a flower the Euphrates has nourished with dew’
- Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab
‘He will not learn to drink regret from my sighs’
‘squeeze my heart to give it rest’
‘my cup has many cracks yet the wine always kissed the brim’
- Salma Khadra Jayyusi
‘To invent a language for you alone
To fit the size of your body
And the size of my love’
-Nizar Qabbani
‘So I can tailor for my beloved
A garment of poetry’
-Nizar Qabbani
‘The pain of the fallen willow trees
Under the wheels of autumn’
-Nizar Qabbani
‘My body a rose upon the wound’
‘I have halos of craving’
‘This is my flame that erases’
-Adonis
‘The captive nightingale with the horizon which brushes the
bars of his cage?’
‘And sleep silently till daybreak,
Not for want of words,
But because the weary butterflies
Will be sleeping on our lips’
-Muhammad Al-Maghut
‘it wasn’t enough that we be together
to be together…’
-Mahmoud Darwish
‘take here to a balcony to see a moon drowning in milk’
-Mahmoud Darwish
‘The poet closes
his eyes
on a rose
of
dust’
‘The night barks here
thumps somewhere’
-Mohammed Bennis
‘to topple the pail filled
with the remains of our evening together’
‘I will place your fingers in an ice bowl where there are
no tremors...’
‘These touch-ups in the telling
have a magic
that cannot be understood by those
who never needed to steal
the kindness of others’
-Iman Mersal
Best wishes,
TK
October 29, 2024
rounded up from 3,5 ⭐️
interesting choice of poets. i did miss the poetry of greats such as al-Nābigha, al-Hallāj, al-Sharīf al-Radī, ibn al-Farīd, etc.
loved seeing the mu’allaqāt of ‘Imru al-Qays and Labeed ibn-Rabī’a, despite their lengths.
would be interesting seeing the poetry of yazīd b. mu’āwiyah (gods curses be upon the dude), since his mother made the cut. besides, the guy was a good poet.
many of these (especially the pre-islamic bedouin poems) require years and years of contextual readings - w that in mind, i think it would be much more enjoyable having shorter poems (ruba’iyāt maybe?) instead of poems that go on for several pages and cover a dozen themes.
not the biggest fan of the translations, but A for effort 👏🏼
interesting choice of poets. i did miss the poetry of greats such as al-Nābigha, al-Hallāj, al-Sharīf al-Radī, ibn al-Farīd, etc.
loved seeing the mu’allaqāt of ‘Imru al-Qays and Labeed ibn-Rabī’a, despite their lengths.
would be interesting seeing the poetry of yazīd b. mu’āwiyah (gods curses be upon the dude), since his mother made the cut. besides, the guy was a good poet.
many of these (especially the pre-islamic bedouin poems) require years and years of contextual readings - w that in mind, i think it would be much more enjoyable having shorter poems (ruba’iyāt maybe?) instead of poems that go on for several pages and cover a dozen themes.
not the biggest fan of the translations, but A for effort 👏🏼
January 9, 2022
These poems were amazing. Now that I've gone through this compilation I'm excited to dive into the complete works of some of the poets I really enjoyed. Great collection to start to dip your toe into the rich tradition of arab poetry.
February 24, 2022
Grateful for this bilingual collection, which I can use to practice reading Arabic (when I finally finish learning the entirety of the alphabet). A great beauty and education in such a small book.
December 24, 2024
I have hidden the name of my love from the crowd:
for my passion my heart is the only safe space.
How I long for an empty and desolate place
in order to call my love's name out loud.
for my passion my heart is the only safe space.
How I long for an empty and desolate place
in order to call my love's name out loud.
November 28, 2017
Arabic Poems is a breath of fresh air. I was not sure what to expect getting into this, but I knew that the Arabic poetic tradition was considered to be a good one. What an understatement. Love, hate, beauty, eroticism, and pride are all explored in such beautiful and intimate ways that I cannot even begin to express how much I enjoyed this collection. As a beginner Arabic speaker, I found the original Arabic hard to read, but am still very glad it was included. While some poems shine brighter than others, overall this collection is great. Definitely worth reading.
October 12, 2019
this book traveled with me between two continents and stayed by my side when I slept alone. it's like coming up for a fresh breath of air after a while of drowning in sour time.
September 2, 2025
Favorite Poems:
"Must Separation Mean We Have No Way to Meet?"
Must separation mean we have no way to meet?
Ay! Lovers all moan about their troubles.
For me it is a winter not a trysting time,
Crouching over the hot coals of desire.
If we're apart, nothing can be otherwise.
How soon just the very thing I feared
Was what my destiny delivered. Night after night
And separation going on and on and on,
Nor does my being patient free me from
The shackles of my longing. Please God
There may be winter rains pelting copiously down
To irrigate the earth where you now dwell.
- Wallada
"Of Love"
Now should you meet a lover lost,
Bewildered, yet avoiding guide,
Disdaining though he thirsts to drink,
In his own hunger satisfied;
Hear people say, 'This youth bewitched
'What seek he from a love so great?
'What hope has he to patiently
'Await his Kismet and his Fate?
'Why waste his bloodstained tears for one
'Who lacks all beauty and respect?'
Say of them all, they are stillborn,
Know naught of life, nor can reflect.
- Jibran Khalil Jibran
"A Lesson From Kama Sutra"
With the drinking glass studded with lapis
wait for her,
by the pool around the evening and the rose perfume
wait for her,
with the patient of the horse prepared for mountain descent
wait for her,
with the manners of the refined and marvelous prince,
wait for her,
with seven pillows stuffed with light clouds
wait for her,
with burning womanly incense filling up the place
wait for her,
with the sandalwood male scent around the backs of horses,
wait for her,
and don't hurry, so if she arrives late
wait for her,
and if she arrives early
wait for her,
and don't startle the birds in her braids
and wait for her,
so that she sits comfortably in her beauty's summit in the garden
and wait for her,
so she may breathe this strange air upon her heart
and wait for her,
so that she lifts her dress off her calf cloud by cloud
and wait for her,
take her to a balcony to see a moon drowning in milk
and wait for her,
offer her water, before wine, and don't
look at twin partridges sleeping on her chest
and wait for her,
slowly touch her hand
when she places the glass on the marble
as if you were carrying dew for her
and wait for her,
talk to her as a flute talks
to a frightened violin string
as if you two were witnesses to what tomorrow prepares for you
and wait for her
brighten her night ring by ring
and wait for her
until the night says to you:
You are the only two left in the universe
so take her, gently, to your desired death
and wait for her!
- Mahmoud Darwish
"Must Separation Mean We Have No Way to Meet?"
Must separation mean we have no way to meet?
Ay! Lovers all moan about their troubles.
For me it is a winter not a trysting time,
Crouching over the hot coals of desire.
If we're apart, nothing can be otherwise.
How soon just the very thing I feared
Was what my destiny delivered. Night after night
And separation going on and on and on,
Nor does my being patient free me from
The shackles of my longing. Please God
There may be winter rains pelting copiously down
To irrigate the earth where you now dwell.
- Wallada
"Of Love"
Now should you meet a lover lost,
Bewildered, yet avoiding guide,
Disdaining though he thirsts to drink,
In his own hunger satisfied;
Hear people say, 'This youth bewitched
'What seek he from a love so great?
'What hope has he to patiently
'Await his Kismet and his Fate?
'Why waste his bloodstained tears for one
'Who lacks all beauty and respect?'
Say of them all, they are stillborn,
Know naught of life, nor can reflect.
- Jibran Khalil Jibran
"A Lesson From Kama Sutra"
With the drinking glass studded with lapis
wait for her,
by the pool around the evening and the rose perfume
wait for her,
with the patient of the horse prepared for mountain descent
wait for her,
with the manners of the refined and marvelous prince,
wait for her,
with seven pillows stuffed with light clouds
wait for her,
with burning womanly incense filling up the place
wait for her,
with the sandalwood male scent around the backs of horses,
wait for her,
and don't hurry, so if she arrives late
wait for her,
and if she arrives early
wait for her,
and don't startle the birds in her braids
and wait for her,
so that she sits comfortably in her beauty's summit in the garden
and wait for her,
so she may breathe this strange air upon her heart
and wait for her,
so that she lifts her dress off her calf cloud by cloud
and wait for her,
take her to a balcony to see a moon drowning in milk
and wait for her,
offer her water, before wine, and don't
look at twin partridges sleeping on her chest
and wait for her,
slowly touch her hand
when she places the glass on the marble
as if you were carrying dew for her
and wait for her,
talk to her as a flute talks
to a frightened violin string
as if you two were witnesses to what tomorrow prepares for you
and wait for her
brighten her night ring by ring
and wait for her
until the night says to you:
You are the only two left in the universe
so take her, gently, to your desired death
and wait for her!
- Mahmoud Darwish
May 14, 2023
as someone who loves how poetic the Arabic language can be, I felt obligated to read this book and it was more than worth it because some of my favorite poems are in this!
I think a lot of the time when non-middle-eastern people hear Arabic they think of it as a harsh and ugly language when in reality it is full of metaphors and poesy.
Most of the poems are about love and longing which are all written in such a beautiful manner that some of them even brought me to tears - I reread them whenever I need inspiration or feel some sort of nostalgia.
I think a lot of the time when non-middle-eastern people hear Arabic they think of it as a harsh and ugly language when in reality it is full of metaphors and poesy.
Most of the poems are about love and longing which are all written in such a beautiful manner that some of them even brought me to tears - I reread them whenever I need inspiration or feel some sort of nostalgia.
July 15, 2017
The originals are right next to the translation, so you can see the shape of the poem. Mostly translates into long, sweeping lines, and story-like poems, though there are shorter exceptions. Many are about love, and there's a lot of mentions of camels.
October 2, 2018
Link in bio for reviews
Read
September 10, 2020I’m not going to rate this because classic poetry is not my thing and I literally understood 1/3 of the poems. My comprehension skills are nonexistent when it comes to classical poetry. I tried.
October 3, 2020
A lovely collection of arabic poetry through the ages.
November 21, 2021
6th-now
Bilingual
Bilingual
Want to read
December 4, 2021
January 14, 2022
Really good, read it all in one sitting.
“The Letter” really stood out.
“The Letter” really stood out.
July 18, 2023
TW: mentions of death and suicide
December 26, 2024
Found this in the "too good to miss" section at the library, and librarians are always right.
July 12, 2025
Nice book. It reminds me of this site: https://www.arabic-poems.com
November 21, 2025
A good introduction to Arabic poems. My favorite: نونية ابن زيدون.
December 19, 2025
Poems are interesting; the anthology's editing, format, & poet biographies are subpar compared to other Everyman's anthologies
September 23, 2025
Now who wouldn’t like a collection of Arabic poetry eh…
But this is seriously an amazing collection of poetry. I find it so fascinating and admirable that poetry from centuries ago has been preserved and recorded for us all over the world, non Arab speakers and Arab speakers alike to read. There’s themes of famine, displacement, yearning, all of which still exist today. The human experience over centuries…
As the collection goes there is a focus on romantic poetry, but it is objectively beautiful. I can only read the English translation, but I can only imagine how much more beautiful they are In their original language, and I can only but imagine the depth of feeling and love within these poets when they’d put their pen to paper.
I also loved how the compiler of the collection included the Arabic transcript alongside the English translation, it truly is a masterpiece.
I’d recommend this, beautiful poetry, and no matter your culture, you’re sure to appreciate the beauty of the lines written by these poets, and also relate to the feelings they have tried to convey. I suppose the fact that these poems have been preserved and recorded for so long is a testament to how man can relate to the feelings these poems bring out in you, no matter which century, or state your society is in. Love is love, and sorrow is sorrow, no matter where you are.
Give it a read!
But this is seriously an amazing collection of poetry. I find it so fascinating and admirable that poetry from centuries ago has been preserved and recorded for us all over the world, non Arab speakers and Arab speakers alike to read. There’s themes of famine, displacement, yearning, all of which still exist today. The human experience over centuries…
As the collection goes there is a focus on romantic poetry, but it is objectively beautiful. I can only read the English translation, but I can only imagine how much more beautiful they are In their original language, and I can only but imagine the depth of feeling and love within these poets when they’d put their pen to paper.
I also loved how the compiler of the collection included the Arabic transcript alongside the English translation, it truly is a masterpiece.
I’d recommend this, beautiful poetry, and no matter your culture, you’re sure to appreciate the beauty of the lines written by these poets, and also relate to the feelings they have tried to convey. I suppose the fact that these poems have been preserved and recorded for so long is a testament to how man can relate to the feelings these poems bring out in you, no matter which century, or state your society is in. Love is love, and sorrow is sorrow, no matter where you are.
Give it a read!
September 18, 2025
Reading Arabic Poems was a journey through the beauty of Arabic poetry and how it’s translated into another language. It gave me both joy and reflections on the depth of meaning, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to experience Arabic poetry in a simple and beautiful translation.
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