El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-03-07

zoo poems, all beginning Win lut
words, 'Saad is Departed which is
the Arabic for old Grimes is dead
| One wonders that so many poems
should have the same beginning. This
! is a popularity of Arabic verse AL
/ poems of a class begin in the same
way.
Just as in American rag-time, sc
in Arabic popular lit, mannerism is
an outstanding CHARACTERISTIC. Some
| poet coins an expression-he CON-
pares his beautiful belovedeSt to ar
| egg-calls her 'whiteness,' describes a
mole on her shoulder as a drop OF
amber on the surface of a pearl and
forthwith his conceit becomes fad
| ImruulQais, the most famous Of the
pre-Mohammedan poets was the first
to compare a woman to an egg.
with. what deep dignity. should
you think of yourselves as COM
/ pared with the woman kind Of the
nOmadic Arab tribes. When 1 tell
you that in the popular poetic fancy
/ Of Arabia, a woman is an egg should
your feelings be less than those OF
profound pride and high exultation as
you remember that, in the popular
poetic fancy Of our own unparalleled
America, you are endowed with the
exalted nature of a 'chicken'-if you
have not yet passed your prime? Re
joice, ladies' in that you have been
! shoWered with the feathers If not
I ized poetic genius And, inaSmuch
as chicken compared with egg.
shows development, if not a refine
ment of poetic taste, remember your
males are not without something to
crow about Imruulqais was the first
Arabian poet to characterize a wOm-
an as an egg.
''Imruulqais was a prince as well as
poet-he celebrates only the petted
women of the aristocrats. Being pro-
al 4
are white. The open air has not
Drowned them. And they are hidden
away and guarded But this irresis-
tible marauding gallant knows how
to find them They are in the nest
So he says:
e. With many an egg Of the camel
borne litter,
Whose hiding place none dared to
aim at
Have delighted myself at leisure
Il will here very briefly describe
the Arabic poem both as to form and
contents;
In form the poem agrees with our
own conventional stanza in being both
syllable in its metre and rhymed. The
Arabic meters are as rigid and reg
ular as is classic Latin verse.
The prevalent base is the lambus.
but the Amphibrach, the Ion and tbs
Choriamb, and especially, the spondee
and the AnapeSt abound Rhyme is
very peculiar. The stanza is always
OF two lines In every case the first
two lines rhyme together, and there
after every second line has the same
rhyme A poem may contain a hun
dred stanZas and require a hundred
Identical rhymes The poet was often
driven to the brink of despair to find
rhymes for long poem. Like Tenny-
son, he sometimes wandered about for
weeks or even months, in search OF
one As in a good modern newspaper
story the same word may not be twice
employed in a conspicuous place so in
an Arabic poem.
Some poems required years for
their production Such works are
known as the 'yeared' or the many
yeared' poems. Bitterly did the poet
lament when a choice phrase. over
which he had spent the labor of
weeks, was altered by some ignorant
rec1ter into one OF the same rhyme,
but commonplace as to idea
What are the contents Of Arabic
verse; A fair notion OF typical con-
tents may be had from another Of
lmruulqais- The author begins with
q call to stop and lament with him the
1orsaken camp Of his dear belovedest-
she belonged to tribe that encamped
beside his own But her tribe has
moved on to other pastures. and she
mas moved too; the poet is left for
lorn:
" Stand and let US weep at the re-
membrance
OF q loved one, and a fragrant tent
In the tract Of twisted sand between
Duchoul and Haumal,
BETWEEN Taudih and Mfqra,
Its traces still are visible
through the sandwich woven Ger
By the north wind and the south
IN vain do his companions try to
cheer him. The whiteness of his
iady's cheek, the feel of her fingers.
the odor Of her breath, ETC., etc make
MIN 0lstracted-make him run about
ana moan like camel that has lost
ner young But, after all, she is gone.
% go al LIES joys. We are but pre-
for us
81. when have cares chase them
With a shining short haired swimmer
OF the ground,
A Iretrer or wild beasts one
From whose back the saddle slips
AS the smooth stone makes rain slim
from it.
And so on. Then follows a de-
seription of q horse-this account OF
the skirmishing of a horse, from I'm
ruulqals is very celebrated:
Attacking, fleeing. advancing. re-
treating at once
Like a block Of rock swept down by
Arabic poetry lacks the power OIL
q q characterization, but it possesses
the cnarm Of realism, and that in a
mighty degree. 1t is life-life as Ifv-
ing men see it, and as they feel if.
For example; in the matter of images
Araoian verse is extremely exact and
IaltnIuL Byron at a loss to describe
q Woman's eyes-an oriental woman's
y ss-nas recourse as he thinks to an
oriental figure:
81 sv1-
Il VIII suit thy fancy we'll
But no Arab poet would connare
sne eyes OF mis- beloved to those of a
Se1ete IN the generality. He would
speclIy that the comparison referred
70 the moment when the gazeIIe { /
Eyes were the brightest-she turns on |
I'm eyes ike those of the gazelle at /
Sa ne moment OF surprise, or when she
- tooAs upon ner young In like manner
= lr. neSk would never be like that of /
a gazelle Indifferent, but like that -of |
me young gazelle, the velvet-IiDned /
Arak tree ies VI the
also, the mental photograph is AL
ways sharp and viVid-as in thfs one
20 an absent mistress:
tnought or thee when the lances
quiyered between US.
Anq the long-shafted brown spears
49, suy had tasted our blood;
speak but what is the truth
Hhether II was Illness, or an en-
ehan tment that came DER me
II twas an enchantment thou will
excuse in me that I love thee
That the thought of her sborId
come 10 him then, and that it should