Imru al-Qais (501-565)
The heir to the throne of the Qinda tribe based on the Arabian Peninsula, Al-Qais chose a life of travel, drinking, fighting-and poetry.
His masterpiece is the Muallaka, an ode so revered that it is written in gold on sheets of paper that are then hung on the walls of the Kaaba in Mecca, Islam’s most revered shrine (its title translates to “hanging ode”).
Other poets may have their own famous works, but many consider Al-Qais to be superior because of his amazing metaphors and beautiful verses that reflect his desire to be a worthy lover, wise man, warrior, and master. The kind of work he perfected greatly influenced the writing of those who followed.
Al-Hansa (575-645)
Tamadir bint Amr, better known as al-Hansa, is one of the famous poets of the Arab world who converted to Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad.
Her masterpiece is her eulogy to her brother Sahr, a tribal leader who was seriously wounded and later died after an attack on the rival Bani Asad tribe.
Her poems are full of beautiful metaphors about loss, life, love, and departure. However, although four of her children were killed during the Muslim battles against the Romans and Persians, al-Hansa refused to write eulogies for them, saying that Islam taught her not to mourn for the dead.
Abu Nuwas (756-814)
Abu Nuwas’s reputation in the Arab world is based on his adoration of wine and as a poet of merry love.
Born in Ahwaz, in what is now Iran, he moved to Iraq at a young age, the ruling center of the then powerful Abbasid caliphate.
About 1500 of his poems survive, including several masterpieces that reflect his experience of cosmopolitan life in Baghdad, where people gathered in taverns, libraries, bazaars, mosques, and baths.
His works are abrupt, spontaneous and full of sharp turns as he loudly glorified pleasure, lovers, wine, music and good company while despising war and the clash of swords.
Al-Mutanabbi (915-965)
Al-Mutanabbi’s life is perhaps best described as an epic journey to fame, money, and power.
Through his nearly 300 poems, he mastered Arabic verse like no other and treated poetry as a craft to be studied and taught, through a work that spoke of wisdom, pride, courage, fighting the Romans, and worshiping his ego.
Many of his poems are used today as proverbs to reflect on life’s experiences of friendship, love, departure, war, and death.
Born in Kufa, Iraq, as Ahmed bin al-Hussein al-Qindi, his nickname translates to “the one who will be a prophet.”
He never rested in one place, traveling to Baghdad, Damascus, Tiberias, Antioch, Aleppo, and Cairo, among others, receiving income from emirs for his poetic praise of them.
Abu al-Ala al-Ma’arri (973-1057)
When he was four years old, al-Ma’arri became blind due to smallpox. He remained housebound for most of his life: unlike his hero al-Mutannabi, al-Ma’arri did not leave his home for almost four decades, preferring solitude to socializing with people.
His poetry contains philosophy, contemplation, and pessimism: for many of his followers who flocked to his home, he was considered the poet of philosophers and the philosopher of poets.
Al-Ma’arri’s masterpiece is the Luzumiyat and Resalat al-Gufran (The Message of Forgiveness), which focuses on the poets’ experiences in hell and heaven more than 200 years before Dante’s Divine Comedy.
But opponents condemned al-Ma’arri for heresy because he ridiculed followers of all religions. Attacks occurred not only during his lifetime, but also long after his death: in February 2013, a thousand years after his active work, Syrian militants beheaded a statue of the poet-philosopher in his hometown of Maarrat al-Numan in Syria.
Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008)
Considered a leading light of his generation, Darwish has been translated into English more than any other contemporary Arab poet.
He was born in the Palestinian village of Al-Birwa under the British mandate, but fled when Israeli authorities took control and expelled thousands of Arabs.
In most of his work, he mixed modern poetry with Arabic rhythmic meters: themes included the Palestinian Revolution of 1965-1993 and the 1948 mass exodus known as the Catastrophe or Nakba.
Darwish has received several prestigious international awards, including the Prince Claus Foundation in 2004.
Iman Mersal (1966 – present)
Mersal is an Egyptian poet who is currently a professor of Arabic literature at the University of Alberta, Canada.
She writes free prose, a style of poetry that is not measured by Arabic rhythm: These Are Not Oranges, My Love, a selection of her work was published in 2008.