Colloquial Poetry

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

The Arabic poetic tradition is, in fact, at least two: one composed in Fuṣḥā and many others in the dialects of the language. In this course, we survey a range of colloquial poetry, from the muwashshahat of al-Andalus to the zajals of modern Egypt and the Levant, and consider works in light of performance theory and poitical history.