Tony Magana Classical Arabic Literature 09/20/2011

Allen really sheds some insight into how far back into the past Arabic literature and its contention as an evolving amalgam of written art can be traced. In illustrating the use of Greek literature by early Arabic writers covering the spectrum of poetry to philology Roger Allen manages to epitomize the very quintessence of e this weeks topic of discussion. Diya Al Din Ibn Al Athir attempts to minimalize and contend the amount of pagan Greek influence in Arabic Literature. Of course there is some truth to Al Athirs down-play involving Greek nuances in Arabic literature. As Islamic writers assimilated the information they would out of necessity need to change the construct of Greek literary art to fit the Islamic cultural schematic. Proof of this can be found in an Arab translation of Poetics a work on the various forms written by Aristotle. Al Farabi may be the first critic of what would transcend Greek art and manifest as something wholly Islamic. He emphasized the natural endowment of the art as opposed to the construct of craft or magical art. Certain Islamic writers plainly used the works of others to lay down the foundation of proper grammer and writing. . The writer examined what they thought was true to the cultural art form and focused on those points. Al Aksari did just this and came up with a book amalgamated from other sources but with his own personal examination and critical judgment. The important iconic poet Shawqi was criticize these writers wanted to put the focus on the individual poet. These examples show not only how the myriad of Arabic literature has faced criticism ; it should also show you the way in which such close examination and scrutiny has forced the literary world in the Middle East to evolve exponentially though time.