Oral poetry is poetry that is composed and transmitted orally through a performance. Some scholars claim it was composed by people who could not read or write and thus depended on word of mouth to pass it on. People of the world have different types of poetry that appeal to various audiences. This discussion will look at pre-Islamic poetry, its history, some of the famous people who were skilled at the art of oral poetry, analyze the poetry, oral poetry competitions used in the city of Medina, is oral poetry now a lost art and finally the comparison between the Quran and the oral poetry.
Pre-Islamic oral poetry is attributed to Arabs. The Arabs were the least literate in the middle east they had no form of writing and their literature was oral. Their oral poetry was written down hundreds of years later. They developed writing after their prophet Muhammad died. Pre-Islamic poetry origins are said to have been found at a post-Islamic date (Omran 1).
The Arabs were grouped into clans and the members of these clans were related by blood. There was the Bedouins clan that had a love for poetry which was the only legacy that had about their culture. Poets in this clan were respected and held in high regard. They had a good mastery of the spoken word and for this reason, they were very influential. They spoke on behalf of the tribe, spread propaganda, and were also historians (Rassooli, 1)
Oral poetry is performed orally by a performer. (Dwight 30) says that a good performer is known for striving to be the best in what they do with the protagonist and they have to balance between maintaining heroic dignity and real life. The poets had to ensure that their performances were good and memorable.
Poets were very important the society as they were the custodians of history. They were believed to have divine powers and a blessed intellect (Utku 1) In the Egyptian communities, poets had classes and this determined which poet was invited to perform on which occasion. They were respected and they were invited to perform on various occasions to entertain. Weddings were the best venues as the poets could address the big audience. Here they are exposed to the public and thus their image as performers are improved (Dwight 60).
The audience would pay the poets especially in Sahra (a type of poetry). Sahra has two genres that incorporate the audience. The members of the audience are incorporated through “greetings and salutations (tahiyat wa-salamat) bits of country stuff (hitat baladi)” (Dwight 166). In greetings and salutations, the members of the public make some payments (nuqut) so that they could have their names or friends and family mentioned in traditional greetings in the poem by the poet. In the second genre of hitat baladi the poet was expected in other words the poet had to possess the knowledge of the social life of his audience in detail.
The poetry seems to have existed in oral form before it was written down. Scholars say the people must have had a good memory to transmit poetry from one generation to another without altering the words (Zwettler 1). The poets might have been performing as someone else recorded. The composer became so used to dictation and in this way, work was recorded. This is called textualization where words of songs were written down. The singer was the author as they were the ones who dictated. The singer singing was a recording of tradition in song. Those who could read and write thought this was not tradition.
Poetry was grouped into various categories for instance we had epic oral poetry. The al-Bakatush poets had the Hilali epic that was put into thirty episodes each called a qissa i.e. a tale (Dwight 16). The epic would require a night to be performed.
Making poetry had a formula that was used. Some phrases had metrical value and the poets who used them knew them. On the other hand, the poets did not merely memorize words they had to ensure that they kept their audience held and this means they had to choose which words to use to suit the moment. Thus it can be said that the “true art of the oral poet lies in his ability to create and not simply recall” (Zwettler 26).
In oral poetry performance, we cannot talk of variation between one performance and another. Even when a poet hears a song and decides to perform it will not vary so much from the former performance. It would be difficult to find the original version as there is no original version. However, the songs may be related to some varying degree.
In pre-Islamic oral poetry, memory was used as there was no form of writing, and where there was it was rarely used. The reciters knew as Rawis by the Arabs knew by heart most of their songs and poems.
Some of the famous poets were people like Bishop Gabriel Al-Qla3i Al-Hafadi (1440-1516) who among the earliest poets, Souleiman Al- Ashlouhi (1270-1335). Most of the poets were clergymen.
Competitions were organized to determine the best poets in the Arab world. In the competitions, we had zajal (poetic dueling where two poets challenge one another). It is a complicated art that utilizes rhyme, pun, and classical allusion. The first challenger sets a rhyme pattern that the second challenger has to maintain. This type of competition is now very common in the Arab world today (Emery 1).
The other type of competition in the ancient Arab took place through correspondence. One poet would write a letter that had a philosophical theme or amatory theme. The put would incorporate rhyme structure into the poem and the addressed poet had to give a feedback
The Quran and oral poetry have some similarities. The Quran developed in 610 AD when Muhammad received revelations from Allah. The verses were memorized and written down on palm leaves and collected when he died. In 653 AD the Quran was standardized and in the seventh and eighth centuries, punctuation and dotting happened.
Muhammad had revelations which he recited and he believed they had come from angel Gabriel. He took them as a message from God and so it was his responsibility to inscribe them. As he could not write he memorized the Quran and recited it to his fellow men who memorized it too. The Quran was taught to others from memory. This was aided by the fact that people had no problem memorizing as they were doing this with poetry. They had to memorize poetry for competitions and thus their memorization skills were remarkable (Omran 1).
The Quran was written in Arabic and this helped to put Arabic on an international platform. Before Islam began Arabic was spoken and used in oral poetry as writing had not developed. Thus Quran utilized memorization which was the means of transmitting information in the pre-Islamic era and this lead to a relationship between the Quran and oral poetry. The Arabs had a love for the spoken word where they had great eloquence thus the Quran was passed on using memorization a skill used in oral poetry (Omran, 1). Hence Arabic plays a very important role in Islamic as one cannot ignore it.
However, some challenge the authenticity of the Quran they claim it was a reproduction of the pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. It is said that the Arabs had great poetry and they’re boosted over this and when Quran was revealed they could not believe that any other book would challenge their poetry. Many studies have been done to prove that the Quran is authentic though the claims keep recurring from those dissatisfied with the findings (Iqbal & Saifullah 1).
Oral poetry is still loved in the Arab world. This love has been kept alive by people who will not let this great tradition die. For example Reem Kilani a Palestinian has exposed Arabic music to the world, Ghada Shbeir from Lebanon when he won a competition on BBC radio and helped the world to discover Muwashshah an Arabic music version that was known only to a few previously ( Emery, 1).
Scholars like professor Sbait are working hard to preserve this culture that is slowly disappearing. The culture is being kept alive also by Yaqub an author, who wants to show how durable oral poetry is by remaking it as the foundation of” literary and musical culture” (Emery, 1), in Palestine and the Arab world.
Festivals are being organized and renowned poets like Mousa Zgheyb perform. Their performances are recorded and distributed to people. The internet has also been utilized where the poetic contest is broadcast. There is Zajal a very famous contest that may attract up to twenty thousand people (Emery, 1). It is performed in wedding ceremonies in Palestine and is a central component of weddings. It involves dueling where poets are invited to praise the families of the couple in improvised poetry. The audience at the weddings is an integral part of the duel as they get involved by “clapping rhythmically and chorusing the refrains” (Emery, 1). It can be said that oral poetry is not a lost art as it is very much alive today and gaining popularity.
Pre-Islamic oral poetry has influenced one of the major religions in the world Islam. Perhaps it would have been difficult to document the verses in Quran without the important skill used by pre-Islamic Arabs of memorization. Thus the impact of this literature is still felt after many centuries. Oral poetry should be preserved and more studies concerning it done. This would remove the doubt on whether the oral poetry was written done down as it was being performed or it was memorized and written down later. This would also help to learn about the culture of the pre-Islamic world and contribute immensely to the literature today.
Bibliography
Dwight F. Reynolds (. Heroic Poets, Poetic Heroes: The Ethnography of Performance in an Arabic Oral Epic Tradition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1995.
Emery Ed Poetry as performance art Le Monde diplomatique. 2009. Web.
Elsayed M.H Omran, Elsayed, ‘Since the advent of Islam and the revelation of the Qur’an, Arabic Literature,Al- Serat Spring 1988 Vol XIV No 1. Web.
Monroe James “Oral Composition in Pre-Islamic Poetry: The Problem of Authenticity.” Journal of Arabic Literature,1972 3:1-53.
Origin and development of the Qur’an. 2009.
Qasim Iqbal & M S M Saifullah On Pre-Islamic Poetry & The Qur’an, 2003. Rassooli IQ AI 2009 (The history of Arabs: Pre-Islamic Arabia (Part 2 of 3). Web.
Utku, Nihal Sahin PhD Arabian Society in the Pre-Islamic Period Social Structure. Web.
Zwettler , Michael The Oral Tradition Of Classical Arabic Poetry: Its Character & Implications, Ibid., p. 14.