Medieval Arabic Praise Poetry Ibn Al-Rumi and the Patron's Redemption [Paperback]

This book gives an insight into panegyrics, a genre central to understanding medieval Near Eastern Society. Poets in this multi-ethnic society would address the majority of their verse to rulers, generals, officials, and the urban upper classes, its tone ranging from celebration to reprimand and even to threat.

Part 1: Setting the Stage  1. Background  2. The Form: The Abbasid Praise Qasida  3. The Approach: Mad'ihand Pragmatics  4. The Protagonists: Ibn al-Rum'i and His Patron, Ubaydall'ah b. Abdall'ah  5. The Mah'ihExchanged between Ibn al-Rum'i and Ubaydall  Part 2: Speech and Characterization  6. Speech as Action  7. The Dramatis Personae  Part 3: The Dramaturgy  8. The Scene  9. The Episode and its Witnesses  10. 'The Passion of Him Whose Parting Has Grayed its Affection' Translation of ?191  11. 'They Aimed at My Heart From the Gaps of Veils' Translation of ?1042 x Preliminaries  Part 4: Verbal Ornament  12. Supporting Figures of Speech  13. Phantasmagoria  Part 5: Ibn al-Rum'i's Ethics of Patronage  14. On the Mirror of Mad'ih  15. Mutual Duties and Rights of Benefactor and Prot?g?  16. Acts and Words between Panegyrist and Model  Conclusion: Dramaturgy as a Rhetoric of Ethics