User:Vsmithmartin/Abu Nuwas

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Abu Nuwas’s diwan, his poetry collection, was divided by genre: panegyric poems, elegies, invective, courtly love poems on men and women, poems of penitence, hunting poems, and wine poems.

Khamiryyat

The spirit of a new age was reflected in wine poetry after the change in dynasties to the Abbasids. Abu Nuwas was a major influence on the development of wine poetry. His poems were likely written to entertain the Baghdad elite. The centerpiece of wine poetry lays the vivid description of the wine, exalted descriptions of its taste, appearance, fragrance, and effects on the body and mind. Abu Nuwas draws on many philosophical ideas and imagery in his poetry that glorify the Persians and mock Arab classicism. He used wine poetry as a medium to echo the themes of Abbasid relevance in the Islamic world. An example of this is shown through a piece he wrote in his Khamriyyat:

"Wine is passed round among us in a silver jug, adorned by a Persian craftsman with a variety of designs, Chosroes on its base, and round its side oryxes which horsemen hunt with bows. Wine's place is where tunics are buttoned; water's place is where the Persian cap {qalansuwah) is worn,

This passage has a prevalence of Persian imagery corresponding to the Persian language used in this period. Abu Nuwas was known to have both a poetic and political tone in his poetry. Along with other Abbasid poets, Nuwas atones for his openness to drinking wine and disregarding religion. He wrote satirical strikes at Islam using wine as both an excuse and liberator. A specific line of poetry in his Khamiryyat exemplifies his facetious relationship with religion; this line compares the religious prohibition of wine to God's forgiveness. Nuwas wrote his literature as if his sins were vindicated within a religious framework. Abu Nuwas's poetry also reflected his love for wine and sexuality. The poems were written to celebrate both the physical and metaphysical experience of drinking wine that did not conform to the norms of poetry in the Islamic world. A continuing theme in Abbasid wine poetry was its affiliation with pederasty due to the fact that wine shops usually employed boys as servers. These poems were often salacious and rebellious. In the erotic section of his Diwan, his poems describe young servant girls dressed up as young boys drinking wine. His affection for young boys was displayed through his poetry and social life. Nuwas explores an intriguing prejudice: that homosexuality was imported to Abbasid Iraq from the province in which the revolution originated. He states in his writing that during the Umayyad caliphate, poets only indulged in female lovers. Nuwas' seductive poems use wine as a central theme for blame and scapegoat. This is shown through an excerpt from his al-muharramah:

"Boasting myriad colors when it spreads out in glass, silencing all tongues,

Showing off her body, golden, like a peal on a tailor's strong, in the hand of a lithe young man who speaks beautifully in response to a lover's request,

With a curl on each temple and a look in his eye that spells disaster.

He is a Christian, he wears clothes from Khurasan and his tunic bares his upper chest and neck.

Were you to speak to this elegant beauty, you would fling Islam from the top of a tall mountain.

If I were not afraid of the depredation of He who leads all sinners into transgression,

I would convert to his religion, entering it knowingly with love,

For I know that the Lord would not have distinguished this youth so unless his was the true religion."

This poem accounts for various sins of Nuwas: being served by a Christian, glorifying a boys beauty, and finding testimony in Christianity. Nuwas's writing ridicules heterosexual propriety, the condemnation of homosexuality, the alcohol ban, and Islam itself. He uses his literature to testify against the religious and cultural norms during the Abbasid caliphate. Though many of his poems describe his affection for boys, relating the taste and pleasure of wine to women is a signature technique of Abu Nuwas. While he expresses his sexual preference in his poetry, he does not embody the modern sense of a "homosexual." Nuwas's preference was not uncommon among heterosexual men of his time as homoerotic lyrics and poetry were popular among Muslim mystics.

Bibliography

• Kennedy, Philip. 2012. Abu Nuwas: A Genius of Poetry.
  • This book was written by professor of Arabic Literature at New York University, so this should be a reliable source. This source provides accessible translations of the poetry and offers personal commentary.
• Harb, F. 2012. "Wine poetry (khamriyyāt)." In Abbasid Belles Lettres.
  • This is a book published by a university press, so it should be a reliable source. The specific chapter noted focuses on specific works of wine poetry and includes the English translation.
• Nuwas, Abu. 2017. Vintage Humour: The Islamic Wine Poetry of Abu Nuwas. Edited by Alex Rowell.
  • This source was published by a university press so it is reliable. This book contains approximately 120 translations of wine poetry written by Abu Nuwas, with the editors commentary included when necessary.
• Wagner, Mark. (n.d.) "The Diwan of Abu Nuwas." World Literature and Its Times: Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historic Events That Influenced Them. Encyclopedia.com
  • This online article belongs to a source that has reference entries from sources like Oxford University Press. I am not sure about the credibility of the author, but the content of the article has good information on the style of wine poetry

• Kennedy, Philip. 1997. "The Wine Song in Classical Arabic Poetry. Abu Nuwas and the Literary Tradition." Clarendon Press, Oxford.
  • This paper analyzes the poetry of Abu Nuwas using multiple different Diwans he was able to find during his research. Kennedy describes multiple sections of Nuwas's poetry and uses direct translation for best results. This paper was published by The Oxford University Press and should be a reliable source.