Thesiss

This study investigates the term, and the poetry of, the Rearguard Poets (saqat al-shuʿaraʾ). It demonstrates through the investigation of both literary and non-literary texts of the Abbasid era that socio-political circumstances were major factors in forming the critical thinki…

This dissertation examines modern scholarship on Bashshār ibn Burd and the ideological motivations behind the construction of his image in modern rewritings as a "Persian," or "anti-Arab" or "Shu'ubī" poet. It identifies a basic "modern" approach in dealing with the Arabic liter…