So wrote Richard Burton in the 1850s from the Somali coast of Zeylaʿ in an attempt to share with his countrymen what he thought to be a ‘strange’ phenomenon, namely, that an unwritten language ‘should so abound in poetry and eloquence’. Burton's expression of surprise at finding the unlettered Somalis in possession of developed literature reflects a widespread, if complacent, assumption, especially in the West, that equates literature and literary perfection with writing. Yet contemporary students of literature would tell us that the ‘connection’ between writing and literature is ‘actually accidental’, and belongs ‘only to a secondary phase in the history of literature’.

Burton, however, correctly noted the prominent place occupied by poetry among the pastoral Somalis and his observation has been steadily echoed by many students of Somali culture and language. The Somalis think of their verse as more than just an artistic enterprise whose sole aim is to enlarge the imagination and to inspire men towards the lyrical and the beautiful.