Note on Transliteration and Translation
In the transliteration of Arabic I have followed the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies system (with the addition of h for tÄʾ marbÅ«á¹ah). For literary and rhetorical terms and words from the poetry texts, I have transliterated more fully, including initial hamzat al-qaá¹Ê¿ and all letters as they appear in written form, not as they are elided or assimilated in pronunciation. In longer transliterated phrases I have also included the ʾiÊ¿rÄb. For poetry, final rhyme vowels are given as long, regardless of how they are written, as they are counted as long in Arabic prosody.
All translations from Arabic in this study are mine except where otherwise noted. Particularly in the case of poetry texts I have tried to honor the Arabic, while at the same time taking the liberties necessary to produce a readable and, I hope, engaging English text. A translation of a poem can never replace the original. Given the cultural, linguistic, and rhetorical complexity of al-MaÊ¿arrÄ«âs poetry, and the generations of commentarists offering sometimes competing readings and interpretations, the âtranslationâ of his poems is a daunting undertaking, one in which misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and outright mistakes are inevitable. I offer my translations here as a point of entry to al-MaÊ¿arrÄ«âs rich poetic oeuvre. My translations attempt to offer both the Arabist and the non-Arabist a close reading of al-MaÊ¿arrÄ«âs complex and polyvalent poems, with no claim to being âdefinitiveâ renderings.