BARUDI 27noticeable in the poetry of eulogy in which it is exceedingly difficult to dis-
tinguish between the subjects of encomium in different poems, since they are
all made to display the same or closely similar virtues such as great courage,
martial valour, munificence and hospitality. Furthermore, the neoclassicism
of the poetry of Barudi and of his followers shares with western neoclassicism
the tacit or explicit belief that, first, there are absolute rules and standards
of judgment; secondly, although these rules and standards are valid for all
time they are to be found in the works of a glorious period of the past; and
thirdly, it is the duty of the poet to imitate creatively these works which are
regarded as exemplars of good poetry. To these authors the equivalent of the
Greek and Latin norms are the norms derived from a study of the works of
the medieval Arabic poets, especially those of the Abbasid period, and fore-
most among them is Mutanabbi. The qasida, the old Arabic ode, with its
monorhyme and monometre, or rather the Abbasid version of it, remained
the ideal poetic form, an imposing verbal edifice which relied for its effect
upon sheer rhetoric, oratory and resounding music. In place of the embroidery
of preceding poets Barudi and his followers tried to achieve on the whole
the verbal economy, the pithiness, tautness and simplicity of the medieval
Arabs and to breathe new life into much of the old vocabulary. They took
great trouble to polish their language: like the western neoclassicists they
believed in the value of, and need for, what Horace described as labor limae, to
the extent that their conscious artistry was always in danger of becoming
mere skill and cold craftsmanship, and indeed at times it was no more than
that, particularly where a poem is choked with archaisms.
However, for all the attention they paid to form the neoclassicists were on
the whole earnest moralists whose work is sometimes marred by too much
solemnity and didacticism. These poets, especially the younger generation
among them, set themselves up as teachers and reformers of their community
and attacked its social and political ills. Within the formal and stylistic limita-
tions of the qasida the neoclassical poets managed to give adequate expression
to their modem problems and preoccupations. At their hands the role of the
poet was considerably changed. The poet as the craftsman who was prepared
to sell his wares to the highest bidder, or who vied with his fellow craftsmen
in verbal acrobatics and display of stylistic ingenuities, was gradually but
unmistakably replaced by the poet as the spokesman of his community. It is
true, of course, that in the history of Arabic poetry this was by no means a new
function: but it was a function long lost, and by recovering it Arabic poetry
was once more (after centuries of intellectual frivolity) made relevant to life.
And since the problems and preoccupations of twentieth-century Arab
society were obviously not the same as those of, say, a pre-Islamic tribe, it