Bedouin Poetry: from Sinai and the Negev : From Sinai and the Negev

by Clinton Bailey

• ISBN13: 9780863563300
• ISBN10: 0863563309
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-10-11
• Publisher: Al Saqi

Summary

This book presents 113 poems, which reflect attitudes of the bedouin, a desert-dwelling, non-literate tribe, to a variety of personal, social and political experiences. Each poem is translated into English with an introduction describing its setting and with notes that clarify the cultural, linguistic and historical background. The poems are also presented in Arabic script and in phonemic transliteration. They are arranged according to their purpose: poems of expression, communication, instruction and entertainment, and poems reflecting the bedouin response to Turkish, British, Egyptian, and Israeli rulers from 1882 to 1982.

Author Biography

Clinton Bailey has lived among the bedouin tribes in Sinai and the Negev for many years, and is a founder of the Museum of Bedouin Culture in the Negev.

Table of Contents

Poems of Expression

Poems of Communication

Poems of Instruction

Poems to Entertain

Episodes in Poetry I:

Poems from the War of Zari‘ al-Huzayyil (1875–1887)

Episodes in Poetry II:

Poems Sent from and to the Sinai Smuggler–Poet ‘Anez abu Salim during a Prison Term (1962–1970)

Poems on the margin of Historic Events (1882–1982)

Composing Bedouin Poetry: Art and Technique

Perspective on Bedouin Poetry: A Cultural Document for the Ages