Warfare and poetry in the Middle East / edited by Hugh Kennedy. [print]

'O city set up thy lament' : poetic responses to the trauma of war Stefan Sperl The poem of Erra and Ishum : a Babylonian poet's view of war A.R. George Poetry and war among the Hittites Mark Weeden Warfare in ancient Egyptian poetry Robert Anderson Poetry and the early Islamic historical tradition : poetry and narratives of the Battle of Siffin Peter Webb Pity and defiance in the poetry of the siege of Baghdad (197/813) / Hugh Kennedy Silenced cultural encounters in poetry of war Wen-chin Ouyang Courage and eloquence : 'Antar, the warrior-poet of the siyar Peter Philips ; 'If only al-Barraq could see ... ' : violence and voyeurism in an early modern reformulation of the pre-Islamic call to arms Marle Hammond ; 'I am a civil war' : the poetry of Haim Gouri Tamar S. Drukker Humanism, nationalism and violence in Mahmoud Atef Alshaer.

The Middle East has a poetic record stretching back five millennia. In this unique book, leading scholars draw upon this legacy to explore the ways in which poets, from the third millennium BC to the present day, have responded to the effects of war. They deal with material in a wide variety of languages including Sumerian, Hittite, Akkadian, biblical and modern Hebrew, and classical and contemporary Arabic and range from the destruction of Ur in 1940 BC to the poetry of Hamas and Hezbollah. Some poems are heroic in tone, celebrating victory and the prowess of warriors, others reflect keenly on the suffering that war causes. The result is a work that offers fresh insights into the poetry of the Middle East and provides a unique reflection of the ways in which this most violent and pervasive of human activities has been reflected in different cultures.

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