As if anticipating Mauss’ reading of reciprocity, the poet’s mind is drawn to
the very act of exchange as the norm of those times. Set within a context of
affluence, this activity is perpetuated in poetry, while signifying what Emile
Benveniste describes as the “principle of an exchange” that “stimulates the
circulation of wealth throughout the entire society.”^8
Nevertheless, to accept exchange only within the dynamics of circulation
limits our reading of poetic offerings. Even when driven by utter sincerity,
the poet harbors some latent, perhaps repressed, desire to outwit the reci-
pient. In the Baghdad of the ‘Abbmsids, AbnHaffmn, cAbdullmh Ibn A.mad
al-Mahzaml(d. 195 H), wrote once to a patron, explaining that he had already
been at the market, searching for a gift, but nothing there could equal “gifts
of gratitude.” The poem reads as follows:
I attended the market to buy
And to choose what is worth giving,
But I preferred nothing for prestation
Except gifts of gratitude.
For to praise you
Is to satisfy the sanctity of glory.
To spread praise for people of your like
Is more pleasant than the incense of aloes wood.
(Kitmb al-Tu.af wa-al-Hadmym155)Juxtaposing the market and its goods against poems, specifically panegyrics,
and appealing to expectations of glory and popularity, the poet claims to sup-
ply gifts of better value. Within the intricate make-up of the panegyric, there
lies the belief that the poem surpasses the patron’s offers. Another unnamed
poet is even more specific in drawing distinctions between property and poetry:
If I offer [on this occasion]all my property
Its best is at your service.
But I offer praise in verse
For you deserve this from me,
Because a property gift perishes
Whereas a poetic one lasts.
(Kitmb al-Tu.af wa-al-Hadmym156)Immortalizing poetry, the poet lays claim to the endurance of his gift in
comparison with property exchange. Thus, Marwmn Ibn Abl>afxah (d. 327 H)
writes to his patron:
I embroidered my present for you
And the best embroidery is what is verbally woven.
(Kitmb al-Tu.af wa-al-Hadmym210)DEDICATIONS AS POETIC INTERSECTIONS