Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems.
Edited and translated by Lewis, a well-known scholar of Arabic  culture, this collection of 132 "classical" Middle Eastern poems  dating from the seventh to the 18th centuries reveals the  extensive heritage of Islamic poetry. The poems are divided into  Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew "rich and ancient" cultures  that "reflect a wide variety of approaches and activities, from  the pagan desert to the Muslim city." Showing how Islamic  culture from antiquity has been composed of interrelated,  "multiracial" groups, Lewis's erudite introduction discusses the  emergence of Arabic languages and the status of poets and pays  tribute to "the love of poetry and respect for poetry  characteristic of Arab culture." Of various ethnicities, 54  predominantly male poets (Omar Khayyam and Rumi are the most  familiar) living in diverse countries (e.g., Azerbaijan,  Ethiopia, and Spain) express international cultural awareness  centuries before the modern era. Sometimes humorous or mystical,  the poems focus on family, love, and religion. Including  biographies, illustrations, and an appendix of scripts of each  source language, this collection is a fine historical document  and anthology of eloquent poetry. For all academic and larger  public libraries. Frank Allen, Northampton Community Coll.,  Tannersville, PACopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.