المعلقات السبع (The Seven Suspended Odes — Arabic text with English)

of his own tribe before the same king 'Amru-bin-Hind, a very powerful and despotic monarch of Arabia, and influencing him in favour of his own tribe. Hence, the contrast in the character of the two rival poets, and in their language and their diction is equally striking and interesting. Contrary to the other frank and open-hearted warrior and straightforward eloquent poet, we here evidently see a crafty old courtier. Wily and astute, he seeks to gain his object more by tact than by force. Being thoroughly conscious of the efficacy of persuasion and exhortation, he avoids intimidating the king by the prowess of his tribe, but wins his good graces by eulogising him with his efficient ruling and with his wise and prudent policy of government, which endears him to the people; by reminding him of the good services rendered by the tribe of Bakr and of the ties of relationship; and by tendering promises of loyal fealty in very conciliatory terms. Throughout the poem a striking contrast is maintained by the poet between the cowardly and perfidious conduct of Taghlib and the heroic and loyal deeds of Bakr.

The language is throughout very sublime, grand, courtly, polished and argumentative; and the diction is mostly indirect rather than direct. To emphasize his arguments, the poet makes frequent use of Interrogation of Appeal; and gently touching on the several historical occurrences in a very concise and pithy language, he leaves it to his rival to make a careful investigation into the respective conduct of the rival tribes and to draw the issues for himself. His similes, though very few, are well selected to illustrate the descriptions and are never far-fetched but always very apt and natural.

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