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Bishr b. abi Khāzim: Collection of Fragments
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
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The high esteem in which Bishr b. abī Khāzim is held by the native theorists and critics has been the main motive that induced me to collect his verses. The widely scattered quotations of his work present still better proof of the æsthetic merits which his poems held for the Arabs than the favourable judgment which an authority such as al-Aṣma'ī passed upon him by inserting him into the ranks of the fuḥūl. Four of his qaṣīdahs have found their way into the Mufaḍḍaliyyāt (ed. Lyall, poems 96–9); six more are contained in the anthology of Hibatallāh b. al-Shajarī, known as the Dīwān mukhtārāt shu'arā' al-'Arab (lithographed Cairo, 1306, pp. 65–81). Hartigan, who has tried to establish Bishr's biography (MFO., i, 284 ff.), mentions his fragments (loc. cit., 293), claiming a knowledge of 131 verses belonging, in his opinion, to thirty different poems. He does not, however, name his sources. He obviously had the intention of making an edition himself, but this never appeared. From the standpoint of modern literary history, the work of Bishr has the special interest of permitting a deep insight into the formation of poetical schools in ancient Arabia. To provide a solid foundation for any such investigation, a complete edition of his poetical remains has proved indispensable. In spite of the somewhat unfavourable circumstances under which I was obliged to complete this collection,
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References
page 533 note 1 Cf. his Kitāb fuḥūlat al-shu'arā', ed.Torrey, , ZDMG., lxv, 497Google Scholar (translated on p. 510).
page 534 note 1 In a letter, dated 4th January, 1939, Professor Krenkow kindly pointed out that most of the quotations from the 'Iqd are wrongly ascribed to Bishr b. abī Khāzim. They are in fact by a poet who lived in the beginning of the third century a.h. and whose full name was Muḥammad b. Ḥazim (not b. abi Khāzim). He is mentioned by al-Marzubānī, Muw. 439, and Kitāb al-Aghānī, xii, 158–167. This affects the passages printed 'Iqd I, 147.242.243.317.352.389.392. Hartigan, however, evidently had included the ten fragments containing thirty-seven verses into his collection.
page 534 note 2 At present the Dīwān of Bishr b. abi Khāzim appears to be lost, yet so late an author as 'Abd al-Qādir al-Baghdadi in the Khizāna (1, 923) enumerates it among the books he has consulted. So we may yet discover it in Stanbul (K.). Cf. Brockelmann, , GAL. Suppl, 1, 58Google Scholar.
page 535 note 1 Works perused which yielded no quotation have, of course, not been included in this list. Books and manuscripts which I have not seen myself are marked with the initials of the scholar to whom I am indebted for the quotation, G., K., L. denoting Geyer, Krenkow, Levi Delia Vida respectively.
page 539 note 1 Vss. 1.2. are probably no more than a variant to Mukht. 77, 4·5.
page 543 note 1 This verse very probably belongs to the poem Mukht. 68 f.
page 545 note 1 This verse is generally ascribed to al-Nābigha al-Dhubyānī, Cf. Ahlwardt, , Siz Divans, Nabigha 10, 27Google Scholar. Ahlwardt's notes may be consulted for the various readings of the line.
page 558 note 1 Possibly belonging to the poem Mukht. 75 sqq.
page 564 note 1 Yāq. 1, 121, ascribes the verse to Kuthayyir 'Azza and it appears in Pérès' edition of Kuthayyir's poems as 118, 2.
page 565 note 1 Verse 2 is also ascribed to al-Mutalammis. Cf. Vollers' edition, 38, 3.
page 566 note 1 This verse represents the conclusion of the poem Mukht. 69 sqq.
page 566 note 2 This verse is also ascribed to Dhū'r-Rumma. Cf. Macartney's edition, 78, 46, where another reading has been adopted. (K.)