A critical examination of five poems by Imruʼ al-Qays

Abstract

This dissertation is a critical examination of five poems taken from the diwan of Imru' al-Qays. I have availed myself of the numbering of the poems as given in the Cairo Edition though the text I have used is that of the Dar Sadir Beirut Edition. There are five sections to my dissertation. 1. The Text and Translation. 2. Variant Readings. 3. Structural Analyses of the Poems. 4. A Thematic Thesaurus to the five poems from the diwan of Imru' al-Qays. 5. Appendix: Arabic Text of the Poems. My aim throughout has been to present a critical examination of the poems in a manner which would be readily accessible to anyone interested. I have always thought that a glossary of the themes of pre-Islamic poetry would be of great benefit to our study of this period and Section Four is intended as a preliminary canter of sorts, as an experiment in the feasibility of preparing such a lexicon.