Poetry and Poets

Author: Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Muslim ibn Qutaybah al-Dinawari

The book "Poetry and Poets" is one of the most important books that chronicled poets. It is considered an original source and an important reference in its field. It bears a great resemblance to Ibn Sallam al-Jumahi's "Tabaqat Fuhul al-Shu'ara" (Classes of Master Poets). In this book, Ibn Qutaybah did not strive to fully cover all poets, enumerate them, and meticulously trace their biographies; rather, he limited himself to the famous ones among them. He stated in the book's introduction: "My primary aim was to focus on the renowned poets known to most literary scholars, whose poetry can be used as evidence for rare words, grammar, in the glorious Qur'an, and in the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him." Similarly, Ibn Qutaybah did not categorize poets into classes as others did; rather, his concern was to translate and gather poets' news and select a collection of their poems, presenting them as examples or in relation to their occasions. He observed chronological order in discussing poets, and most of the poets he chronicled were ancients, though he did not exclude some modern poets such as Abu al-Atahiyah, Muslim ibn al-Walid, and al-Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf, and those in their league.