notice the authors of the seven famous
Mua'llakat, or suspended, or strung-together poems of the temple of
Mecca, already alluded to above. As these poems were written in
letters of gold, they were also called Muzahhibat, or "gilded."
According to Arab notions, the subjects of a poet are four or five. He
praises, loves, is angry, mourns, or describes either female beauty,
animals, or objects of nature. Poems comprising one of these subjects
only are short, but those treating of several are longer, and contain
eulogies of chiefs, rulers, distinguished men and women, etc. The poet
touches on the valour, liberality and eloquence of the hero, on the
beauty and virtues of the woman, and describes the nearest
surroundings, which are of the greatest interest, such as the horse,
the camel, the antelope, the ostrich, the wild cow, the cloud, the
lightning, wine, the vestiges of the tent of the beloved, and the
hospitable camp-fire.

The Kasidas of the Mua'llakat are a series of smaller poems, composed
on various occasions, and then strung together in one piece. Among
them the two Kasidas of Amra-al-Kais (Amriolkais), and of Antara, are
the most brilliant and romantic, on account of the sentiments of love
they breathe towards the three beauties--Oneiza, Fatima, and Abla. The
Kasida of Labid is famous for his description of both the camel and
the horse; that of Tarafa for the delineation of the camel; that of
Amru for the picture of a battle; while Harath chanted the praises of
arms, and of the King of Hirah, and Zoheir produced a poem full of
wise maxims. The whole seven contain a great deal about the personal
feelings, the personal courage, the heroic deeds, and the wonderful
adventures of the authors themselves--to which may be added
descriptions of various animals, of hunting scenes, and of battle, the
conventional lament for the absence or departure of a mistress, the
delight of meeting her, and other bright sketches of Arab life in camp
and on the march, with its joys, its sorrows, and its constant
changes.

Sir William Jones first brought these poems to the notice of the West,
and published a translation of them in A.D. 1782. 'They exhibit,' he
says, 'an exact picture of the virtues and the vices, the wisdom and
the folly, of the early Arabs. The poems show what may constantly be
expected from men of open hearts and boiling passions, with no law to
control, and little religion to restrain them.'

The above translations,