The Cultural Presence of Pre-Islamic Poetry

Abstract

Pre-Islamic poetry, as an art, has maintained its continuity, and the Arab taste has continued to enjoy listening to poetry, and to be delighted by it, and to be moved by it, whether this poetry is classical, created by Imru' al-Qais, as the oldest Arab poet, or modern, contemporary, light-paced, fast-paced, recited on the stage of halls or sung, or in any other style and method, pre-Islamic poetry has maintained the continuity of poetry, its survival and continuity, as it is the product of the soul, and the identity of a nation. Do we not hear those who say that the Arabs are a nation of poetry and those who reject that statement? In the wake of this lively dispute, pre-Islamic poetry continues as a cultural material, or an entertainment material, or a material of singing and music, or an educational material, so that it is not superfluous to talk about a set of artistic conflicts that revolved around the poetry of a poet or the poetry of a generation or the poetry of an era, and it may end in balances Comparisons, criticism, admiration and slander. It is not possible to confine the old critical theory that was based on pre-Islamic poetry, but it did not complete it completely, until the spirit of the modern era came to us, so pre-Islamic poetry came to fill the field of criticism and authenticity became its characteristic and material, and modernity became a way to absorb it and reveal its beauty, which means that it is alive and breathing in the lives of the living among us and from every generation, and is not buried in the grave of those who died from its lovers, admirers and specialists; the bodies of Imru’ al-Qais, Zuhair, al-Nabigha, al-A’sha, Antarah, al-Muhalhal, al-Muraqshis and the bodies of all the pre-Islamic poets died, but their poetry remains with us the living, and we will die and it will remain alive, as for its contents in values and morals, they are still the food and drink of the Arabs.