Thesiss

Ring composition is a literary form found throughout the ancient world. In it, a series of elements advances, one after the other, until it reaches a center point, whereupon the sequence is reversed and returns to its beginning in inverted order. Hence, the first element is pair…

This dissertation concerns the subject of organic unity in classical Arabic poetry. While this issue is not new in discussions of Arabic literature--since the nineteenth century Western and Arab critics have been attacking the classical Arabic poem for its alleged lack of cohere…