Bedouin poetry from Sinai and the Negev : mirror of a culture / Clinton Bailey ; with a foreword by Wilfred Thesiger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bailey, Clinton.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Folk poetry, Arabic--Egypt--Sinai--Translations into English.

Folk poetry, Arabic.

Folk poetry, Arabic--Israel--Negev--Translations into English.

Bedouins--Egypt--Sinai--Folklore.

Bedouins.

Bedouins--Israel--Negev--Folklore.

English poetry--Translations from Arabic.

English poetry.

Folk poetry, Arabic--Egypt--Sinai.

Folk poetry, Arabic--Israel--Negev.

Folklore.

Israel--Negev.

Egypt--Sinai.

Physical Description:

xxii, 473 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Clarendon Press, 1991.

Summary:

Like other nonliterate peoples, the Bedouin have a strong oral tradition and use poetry for all forms of communication and entertainment. Based on twenty years of studying the poetry of the Bedouin of Sinai and the Negev, this book presents 115 poems recorded between 1967 and 1985. Bailey arranges the poems according to their content, providing for each an introduction, a version of the poem in Arabic script and transliteration, and notes on the poem's cultural, linguistic, and historical background.

Contents:

1. Poems of Expression 18

2. Poems of Communication 72

3. Poems of Instruction 120

4. Poems to Entertain 164

5. Episodes in Poetry I: Poems from the War of Zari' al-Huzayyil (1875-1887) 253

6. Episodes in Poetry II: Poems Sent from and to the Sinai Smuggler-Poet 'Anez abu Salim during a Prison Term (1962-1970) 288

7. Poems on the Margin of Historic Events (1882-1982) 341

8. Composing Bedouin Poetry: Art and Technique 381

9. Perspective on Bedouin Poetry: A Cultural Document for the Ages 406.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0198265476

OCLC:

20826691