The fine art that remains is poetry, wherein, if quantity were the standard, the production of the Islamic peoples is equal, may be superior, to that of any other group.

Arabic and Persian poets are numbered by the thousand, and the voluminous History of Ottoman Poetry, by the late Mr. Gibb, shows that the third Mohammedan language is also very rich in this department.

Yet, it is observable that the educated European ordinarily knows the names of three Persian poets only, Firdausi, Omar Khayyam, and Hafiz, but could not mention either Arabic or a Turkish bard.

The reason lies in the fact that Arabic i.e., the characteristically Islamic poetry ended where Greek i.e., characteristically European poetry began.

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The phenomena of the former confirm Aristotle’s conjecture that the earliest forms of poetry are the Encomium and the Satire, i.e., eulogy and vituperation of individuals.

But they tell us rather more of the origin of the art than was suggested by the material before Aristotle, viz., that it was magical, just indeed as the Latin Carmen signifies “spell” as well as “poem”.

Even now we speak of insults “wounding,” and the Arab thought they not only wounded but injured, if any one possessed the gift of hurling them.

That was indeed the purpose for which Balaam was summoned, but a miracle caused him to eulogize and so do good instead; and it is probable that the function of the Arab bard was in origin to curse rather than to bless.

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Even at a late period a douceur would make him shift from the one function to the other. But eulogy has also a second origin, viz., in lamentation over the dead, whence it is natural that the earliest dirges which we possess should be ascribed to women.

Both these styles survived in Europe long after higher forms of poetry had been invented; and among the least read volumes which our libraries contain are collections of odes called forth by royal births, weddings, and obsequies.

Now, whatever the object of these latter odes may have been probably, it was to give expression to disinterested loyalty that of the Arabian poets in Islamic times was to earn gratitude from their patrons.

And there was in each age a sort of hierarchy of poets, corresponding with the rank of the officials whom they eulogized; when a poet was allowed to recite in public his eulogy of the sovereign, he was at the head of his profession and was rewarded on a royal scale.

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Now, the theory of the poets is that their eulogies are immortal, whereas, the gifts which they received would speedily disappear; and just as the satires were intended to ruin those against whom they were launched, so the eulogy was intended to confer immortality on the princc who paid for it.

The difficulty lay in producing anything with a real promise of immortality in reference to persons or events that would not otherwise be remembered.

The number who earned their money by producing verses that lasted and obtained wide circulation was not great.

But even in their case it requires considerable training to appreciate their merits, and these are so largely linguistic that translation robs the verses of their charm.

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If the conservatism of the East displays itself in any matter, it is in the character of Islamic poetry. Immortality was not sought for by excogitating original forms, but by ingenious variations in such as was stereo-typed.

The satire in old times and the eulogy at all times start with some amatory verses; during the first century and a half of Islam the women to whom these refer are likely to have been real.

After this they were ideal, no more flesh and blood than Horace’s Chloes and Lydia’s indeed somewhat less, for they have no names.

The objection to mentioning women by name being so great that even when dirges were composed on princesses the poet had to substitute for the name the grammatical declension to which it belonged.

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The purpose of these erotic prologues is indicat­ed by their name, “setting alight”; the poetic flame must be kindled by something, and this was done by imagining a situation likely to set it alight.

Either, then, the poet in trance sees the wrath of his lady-love, or accompanied by two (usually unsympathetic) friends he parses in the desert the ruins of her tribe’s encampment.

In the case of the dirge this mode of producing fire is not required, the situation itself produces it.

Once it has been kindled, the difficulty is to direct it from the imaginary beloved to the very real hero or mamduh (object of eulogy) who is waiting to hear himself admired.

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Probably, the com­monest method is to say that the ill-treatment which the poet has received from the disdainful fair one force him to take refuge with some one, and so lie seeks the Protector of the entire World; at times the poet cuts the knot.

And simply drops the subject of his love- affairs and turns abruptly to the business of the ode.

Here, too, the poets show more ingenuity in varying old themes than inventing new ones; at times indeed the hero had done something, e.g., won a battle, or founded a city, etc., which can be amplified; but in the majority of cases there was little of this sort to be said.

Hence, there are a series of traditional compliments which by the exercise of ingenuity can be expressed in a new way; the hero may or per­haps must be compared to a lion, the clouds, the sea, the sun, or even the moon.