The Best Arabic Poetry Websites
A review of the main sites offering Arabic poetry online, compared on size, precision of classification, search quality and reading experience.
Essays on Arabic poetry
Meters, rhyme letters, themes and eras — and how to find a poem.
How to Find an Arabic Poem When You Barely Remember It
Practical routes to an Arabic poem from whatever you still have — half a line, a rhythm, a rhyme letter, a subject or an era — why Arabic search so often fails, and how to get around it.
The Seven Mu'allaqat, and Why They Are Called That
The seven great odes of pre-Islamic Arabia — their poets, opening lines, meters and rhymes — why they are called the Hanging Poems, and whether they ever hung on the Kaaba at all.
The Most Prolific Arabic Poets, and Why They Are Not the Most Famous
Arabic poets ranked by surviving output, and the gap it exposes — al-Mutanabbi sits 68th, Imru al-Qays 266th, and the most celebrated names are nowhere near the top.
The Six Eras of Arabic Poetry, and What Marks Each One
The six literary eras of Arabic poetry — pre-Islamic, Islamic, Umayyad, Abbasid, Andalusian and late — where each begins and ends, what its poetry sounds like, and who wrote it.
The Nine Themes of Arabic Poetry, and What Sets Each Apart
The classical themes of Arabic verse — praise, elegy, satire, love, reproach, asceticism, wisdom and valour — what each one is, who wrote it best, and how much surviving poetry belongs to each.
Rhyme in Arabic Poetry, and the Thirty-Four Rhyme Letters
What the qafiya and the rawi are, how a poem is named after its rhyme letter, and every rhyme letter in Arabic ranked by how often poets actually used it.
The Sixteen Meters of Arabic Poetry, and How to Identify One
The sixteen classical meters of Arabic verse, the feet that build each one, a four-step method for scanning any line, and how many surviving poems use each meter.