Oral Poetry and Narratives from Central Arabia, Volume 3 Bedouin Poets of the Dawāsir Tribe

This volume presents and analyses the work of four contemporary Saudi Bedouin poets, based on taped records, with special emphasis on this poetry's reflection of the tribal society's evolving self-image at a time of rapid social, economic, and political transformation.

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This third volume in the author's series Oral Poetry & Narratives from Central Arabia presents and analyses the work of four contemporary Bedouin poets of the Dawāsir tribe in southern Najd. The introductory part discusses the poetry within the context of the Najdi oral tradition, the poets' role in tribal society, and their mirroring of this society's self-image against the background of its rapid economic, social and political transformation, and its relation with the Saudi State.
It is followed by the Arabic Text of the poems in transcription, based on taped records, with the English translation on the facing page. This is complemented by a substantial glossary, cross-referenced to the Arabic Text, other glossaries and works on the Najdi dialect and poetic idiom, as well as corresponding Classical Arabic lexical materials.