El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-03-07
By DOROTHY 3. JOHNSTON

poets and not-poets have undertaken
I to describe the witchery Of the most
elusive muse, 1 know Of none so GOOD
as these two sentences from the pen
of the greatest living lyrist Of the
English tongue. They Identify the es-
sence of song.
! IAN our knowledge Of the poetry of
/ the Arab comes from Mohamm edah
! sources remarked Rev. Jackson Mo
! hammedan writers throw back upon
! their past much Of the light and color
Of their own day and time Here IS
picture of an ideal Arab tr1besman
Of the olden time:
Nor exults he, nor laments he,
/ Silent, bears whaIe-er befalls him;
Much desiring. much attempting
Far the venture Of his daring;
IN one desert noon beholds him.
| Evening sees him in another,
As the gray wolf lone he crosses
Ger the jagged headlong ridges
Swifter than the wind, and pauseless,
Onward yet, nor rests nor slackens,
While the bowling gusts outspeeded
Far behind him moan and falter:
Loneliness lis choice companion
And the guide mark Of his passage.
Tell me whittier guide the mazes
Of the streaky spangled heavensE
"Just what are the materials OF
early Arabic poetry as they remain
to US? We have no Arabic poetry
older Of a certainty than the Chris
tian era, perhaps. none older than the
fourth century A. D. The Hegira, or
Flight Of Mohammed from Mecca oc-
CURED in 622. This is the begin
ming of the MOhammedan era The
Golden age Of Arabic poetry embraces
a period Of but two centuries; the
century before and the century after
Mohammed's flight. The time anter-
Tor to the Hegira is called by the Arabs
The Ignorance and the poets OF
these times are called the poets of
The Ignorance Those poets contem-
porary with Mohammed are called
the poets of The Transition And
those living since his death are poets
Of Islam
Before Mohammed, Arabic verse
was spoken but not written Arabic
writing may almost be said to have
begun with him The Prophet OF Allan
is said to have left the Koran in a
very irregular and confused condition
written on such materials as leaves,
mutton shoulders and the like. But
though the lines OF the baros Of The
Ignorance like the lines Of the di-
vine poet Of Nazareth, were not in the
first instance written, once they shot
desert faster than the flight Of an
arrow. The maidenS sang them at the
wells. With them the weary camel
driver cheered his burdened beasts
along the interminable sands The
tribe that produced a poet at once
became famous. Embassies from other
tribes came with congratulations
The tribe that had a poet had a /
weapon Of warfare more potent than
the sword: for a poetic sheer cut
deeper than steel. and it left more 1
shameful scar for all the jewellers OF
the desert, present and future, to see. 4
The poet himself was the companion 1
of chieftains who richly rewarded 1
him. And, when the emoluments were
not rich enough to please the r1me- |
ster's fancy, the chief. too, came :
under the poetic whip. Once a certain
rich chief presented q poet with |
luxurious donkey saddle, which didn't
happen to be the particular thing the
soothed his disappointment by dis
playing the gift in the camp, and I
making the complaint: See here.
dedicated some Of my choicest verses
to this sheik, and he has bestowed on
me some OF his own clothing in re-
turn
"As I have already stated, before
Islam, writing was but little practiced.
Poems were written on the hearts of
the people. Their brevity made re-
was like a pearl" the Arabs said And I
the poems one knew were like, "A
string Of pearls OF course, the
string sometimes broke, and occasion
ally a pearl was lost, and not infre-
ouently one was broken For such l
Of confusion has always prevailed in
the condition of Arabic poetry. Much
Of It is shattered fragments, begin
nings, or middles, or ends Of poems,
sparklets, like the dust of
a great crushed gem
Il could not call these fragments
'Torsos' for the reason that they
never were whole figures, even at the
first. They were but dismembered
features, lips, and brows, and thumbs,
and ears, and nostrils. No Arab poet
ever got so far as to create an entire
human shape, or delineate in order the
Of a human passion All
he ever did amounted to some one
part or organ Of the human form, or
some one phase Of a passion But,
what he did portray, he executed with
a vividness and subtlety that have
never been surpassed His work is
limited, however, tc but a corner OF
the mouth, or the end of a finger, or
a segment of the oval Of a cheek
THE poet being the only voice the
people had for their self expression,
some means Of publication was
needful- The publishing medium
was class Of men called
rawis, or reciters. These rawis
roamed the country from end to end
reciting to eager crowds around the
camp fires. At evening time, as the
darkness thickened, amid the last
tinkles Of the bells Of the flocks, the
people thrilled to the poets stirring
lines OF love and of war.
The Oriental memory is marvel
Observation-Disclosures ITHHHrITHTTITnn..