Knowra Abu Tammam Abu Tammam Abu Tammam was a ninth-century Arab poet and anthologist of the Abbasid period, known for the anthology Hamasa and an ornate style rich in metaphor and verbal ingenuity.
Abbasid literature : Literature produced under the Abbasid Caliphate, spanning Arabic poetry, prose, translation, and scholarship. Its courtly culture and flourishing literary networks formed Abu Tammam’s milieu.
Badi poetry : A style of Arabic poetry that foregrounds rhetorical figures, novel meanings, and verbal artifice. Abu Tammam became its most celebrated early practitioner.
Al-Mu'tasim : An Abbasid caliph who ruled from 833 to 842 and patronized poets and scholars at his court. Abu Tammam’s celebrated praise poetry addressed this caliph and his military victories.
Al-Hamasa of Abu Tammam : The organized anthology of early Arabic verse compiled by Abu Tammam, especially renowned for its heroic poems. Its selection of earlier poetry became his most enduring contribution beyond his own verse.
Classical Arabic poetry : Poetry composed in Arabic within the inherited meters, forms, and conventions of the classical Arabic tradition. Abu Tammam reshaped this tradition while drawing on its established forms.
Arabic metaphor : The use of figurative language in Arabic to transfer meaning between different entities or ideas. His compressed, unexpected metaphors are central to his poetic reputation.
Al-Buhturi : A ninth-century Arab poet known for a fluent, vivid style and a major collection of panegyrics. His more accessible verse became a lasting point of comparison with Abu Tammam’s ornate poetry.
Abu Tammam's Diwan : The collected poems attributed to Abu Tammam, including panegyrics, elegies, and other poetic genres. The Diwan preserves the poems through which his own poetic voice is assessed.
Arabic prosody : The system of poetic meters and rhythmic patterns used to scan classical Arabic verse. His formally metered poems rely on the prosodic rules of Arabic verse.
Arabic rhetoric : The classical study of persuasive and artistic expression in Arabic language and literature. His verse deploys rhetorical devices with unusual density and ingenuity.
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