Routledge Revivals: The Seven Odes (1957)

These seven poems, translated by A. J. Arberry in 1957, are the most famous survivors of a vast mass of poetry produced in the Arabian Desert in the sixth century. Arberry's introduction explains to the reader what was known about the poems and how they came to be preserved and distributed over time. The epilogue particularly interrogates the authenticity of the poems and tracks how they have been transmitted over time. This work will be of interest to those studying Persian and Middle-Eastern literature and history.

A. J. Arberry

Prologue: The Golden Poems; 1. The Wandering King Mu'Allaqa of Imr Al-Qais 2. Whom the Gods Loved? Mu'Allaqa of Tarafa 3. The Moralist Mu'Allaqa of Zuhair 4. The Centenarian Mu'Allaqa of Labid 5. The Black Knight Mu'Allaqa of 'Antara 6. The Regicide Mu'Allaqa of 'Amr 7. The Leper Mu'Allaqa of Al-Harith; Epilogue: True or False?; Index