ABU NUWAS: ARABIC’S GREAT, CONTROVERSIAL POET Selected Poems: (Large Print & Large Format Edition)

ABU NUWAS: ARABIC’S GREAT, CONTROVERSIAL POET Selected Poems (Large Print & Large Format Edition) Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Abu Nuwas (757-814) was the most famous and infamous poet who composed in Arabic of the Abbasid era. His style was extravagant and his compositions reflected the licentious manners of the upper classes of his day. By the time he reached manhood he had settled in Baghdad and was composing poetry. Gradually he attracted the attention of Harun al-Rashid and was given quarters at court. His ability as a poet no doubt was one reason for Abu Nuwas’ success with the caliph, but after a while he became known as a reprobate and participated in less reputable pastimes with the ruler. He spent time in Egypt but soon returned to Baghdad to live out his remaining years. It is said he lived the last part of his life as a Sufi and some of his poems reflect this. He is popular today, perhaps more so than he ever was, as a kind of comic anti-hero in many Muslim countries. His poems consist of qit’as (of which he was the first master) ghazals and qasidas. All forms are here in the meaning & rhyme structure, the largest in print. Introduction: Life, Times & Poetry and forms he composed in: 2 appendixes of some of the stories about him in Arabian Nights and elsewhere. Large Print 18pt., Large Format 8” x 10” 363 pages. Paul Smith (b.1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages… including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, ‘Attar, Sana’i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Bulleh Shah, Shah Latif, Mansur Hallaj, Jigar, Seemab and many others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, children’s books, biographies and 12 screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa Read more