MUTRAN 79although we have to be on our guard against the possibility of reading too
much in it, since we are told by the poet that he later on modified it a little.
What is new in this narrative poem, apart from its striking structural unity,
its logical and emotional progression, already referred to, and its dramatic
and epic quality despite its shortness, is its aesthetic disinterestedness or
its impersonality. This last quality is one of Mutran's contributions, for the
narrative element in traditional Arabic poetry, in which poets described fight-
ing episodes and heroic deeds was in fact only a part of the traditional lyrical
form. It remained subjective or related to the poet's self, since the poet's
design behind the narrative was either to illustrate his own achievements or
the achievements of his tribe or of his patron. This remained the case even in
relatively recent descriptions of war as attempted by Barudi and Shauqi:
the aim of the former being on the wholefakhr (self-praise) and the latter being
the eulogy of the Ottoman Caliph. This was also the aim of Mutran himself in
certain panegyrical contexts, as in his encomium on Abbas 11 where he de-
scribes the conquest of Sudan (i,44). But in his poem'1806—1870' as well as in
many others such as 'Napoleon I and a Dying Soldier' (1,41), Mutran's nar-
rative, on the other hand, is sought for its own sake, as a form of expressing a
vision of human life, or to use the Aristotelian phrase, of imitating character
in action — although his best known narrative and dramatic poems, whether
their subjects are derived from historical events or from incidents in con-
temporary life, often contain an indirect political or moral commentary.
'The Maid from Montenegro' (i,179), for instance, narrates the story of a fair
Arab girl who, disguised as a man, fought heroically against the tyrant
Turkish rulers until she fell a prisoner to them and only escaped death when
she revealed her identity. 'The Boer Child' (i,162), which describes the feel-
ings of a Boer child whose father had to go to the war, expresses the poet's
condemnation of the war. In 'The Great Wall of China' (i,60) Mutran indirect-
ly laments the submissiveness of the Arab people, and in 'The Athenian
Elder' (i,64) their lack of resolution, their weakness of character and their
ignoble acceptance of occupation by foreigners. 'The Murder of Buzurjumuhr'
(1901), the minister of Chosroes, offers an indirect eloquent comment on and
a criticism of tyranny and an oblique passionate plea for freedom. A similar
attack on tyranny occurs in "Nero'. In all these poems, we discern a movement
away from direct political statement of the type familiar in neoclassical
poetry and towards oblique commentary.
The longest of these poems is 'Nero' (1924), which the poet himself de-
scribed as 'the most daring attempt by an Oriental [i.e. Arab] poet' (m,48).
He claimed it was the longest poem in Arabic dealing with a single theme and
observing one rhyme throughout, consisting as it does of 327 lines. The