1 Overview of the Three Volumes
The three volumes comprise the following:
Volume 1: Aleppo in Classical Poetry (7thâEarly 20th Century)
500 poets / 937 poems / 844 pages / 12 chapters
Volume 2: Aleppo in Contemporary Poetry (Early 20thâEarly 21st Century)
369 poets / 530 poems / 888 pages / 10 chapters
Volume 3: Aleppo in Contemporary Elegiac Poetry (2011â2020)
707 poets / 812 poems / 956 pages / 7 chapters
2 Structure of the Volumes
Each volume contains an introduction which explains the methodology and editorial practices of the book, in addition to the historical and literary timeline they cover. The first chapter of each book addresses the topics of the poems with an analytical study that includes hundreds of examples, while the opening of each chapter aims to provide readers with a general sense of Aleppo across each generation, which in turn is reflected in the written texts. It also lists the most significant historic events witnessed by Aleppo over time, influencing a number of factors in Aleppo and its people. It also discusses the intellectual, cultural, and literary scene of each era, as well as poetic traits, topics, and aesthetic qualities.
Running through the poems begins in the second chapter of each volume, closing with the final chapter. The poems are classified and organized according to different eras in Aleppo, poetic style, and the original languages of the poems. In each chapter, poems are organized chronologically as much as possible, particularly in longer eras, while keeping in mind that there were prominent poets who lived through more than one era. The order also places poems by the same poet one after another, with no interruptions from poems by other poets, in order to ensure the exploration of each poetâs relationship with Aleppo. Seeing as time plays a significant role in the poems of both volumes, Aleppo in Contemporary Poetry and Aleppo in Contemporary Elegiac Poetry, it was only natural to include poems by the same poets in both volumes.
The final poetry chapter of each volume focuses on poems not written in Arabic. Some of these poems were published in their original language alongside Arabic translations. The author translated other poems from English (some of the poems were originally written in English, and others were translated into English). The chapters of the back matter comprise the following: Poet Biographies, References, and Index of Rhymes.
3 Contents of the Index Volume
Chapter 1: Statistics and General Data
Chapter 2: List of Poets (Names, Eras, Volumes, Number of Poems)
Chapter 3: Indexes of People: Poets, Persons (both in Arabic and Latin script)
Chapter 4: Indexes of Places: Countries, Cities, and Natural Landscapes (both in Arabic and Latin script) and locations within Aleppo
Chapter 5: Indexes of Rhymes: Classical poetry rhymes (in Alphabetic order)
Chapter 6: Index of Topics of the three volumes, that include: Chapter Classifications and Titles, Titles of Poems and Poets, and Contents of Introductions and Back matter.
Total number of persons: 4127, including 1273 poets, 1702 persons (Arabic) and 1152 persons (Latin).
Total number of places: 1478, including 934 countries, cities, natural landscapes (in Arabic), 259 countries, cities, natural landscapes (in Latin) and 285 locations within Aleppo.
Total number of mentioning Persons and Places (with all repetitions): 22900.
4 Number of Poets by Nationality
219 Poets from Syria (poets from Aleppo), 196 poets from Syria (poets from other cities), 75 poets from Palestine, 73 poets from the United States of America, 67 poets from Egypt, 49 poets from Iraq, 36 poets from England, 31 poets from Saudi Arabia, 30 poets from Yemen, 27 poets from Jordan, 25 poets from Lebanon, 22 poets from Morocco, 12 poets from Algeria, 11 poets from India, 10 poets from Tunisia, Ireland and Australia, 8 poets from the Netherlands and France, 7 poets from Italy and Poland, 5 poets from Sudan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Portugal, Philippines and Canada, 4 poets from Germany, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran, 3 poets from the United Arab Emirates, Spain and Denmark, 2 poets from Argentine, South Africa, Nepal, Indonesia, Scotland, Armenia, Russia; one poet from Qatar, Bahrain, Libya, Somalia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Jamaica, Costa Rica, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Sierra Leone, São Tomé, Chad, New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Malta, Kosovo, Ukraine, and Czech Republic. In addition to that are 51 poets whose nationality is unknown to me.