The View of Love Poetry's Impact and Role in Classical Arabic Literature

This paper examines the view of Abbasid scholars and poets of the eighth and ninth centuries who relate to love poetry as a literary device that captures the audience's attention and establishes an effective poet-listener interaction. The study is divided into two principal parts. The first discusses the anonymous scholar's argument, quoted by Ibn Qutayba. that the role of the nasib is to attract the listener's attention. I propose that Ibn Qutayba deliberately hid the identity of this scholar - al-Jahiz - who was his contemporary, presumably out of feelings of animosity. A close study of various works by al-Jahiz shows his use of amatory and sexual texts to stimulate his readers, and reveals his view of love poetry as a literary device that attracts the audience's attention. The second part examines classical poems that reveal various functions of the nasib. thereby illustrating the poets' different approaches to the amatory opening of the qasida and showing their new relation to the poetic tradition.