out that poets made both secular and religious use of theAlbatheme. Frank
ChamberssuccinctlydescribestheAlba–whichheapparentlyassimilatestothe
Frenchaubade and the GermanTagelied– as follows: ‘a dawn song, ordinarily
expressingtheregretoftwoloversthatdayhascomesosoontoseparatethem.’He
furthermoresuggeststhattheAlba‘probablygrewoutofthemedievalwatchman’s
cry,announcingfromhistowerthepassingofthenighthoursandthereturnofthe
day’.Thiswatchmanwillsometimesstandguardtoprotectthelovers’privacy.^12
Indeed,ithasbeenarguedthatthewatchmanoftheAlbacanbeidentifiedwiththe
muezzinonhisminaretatdawn.However,ArthurHattorejectsthistheory,because
intheexistingexamplesofloversawakenedbyeitherthemuezzinortheBalkan
Hodzha, the lovers are non-Muslims. On these grounds, Hatto argues that any
AndalusianconnectionstotheAlbashouldbethroughMozarabicmodels,andnot
Muslimones,thoughhedoesnotfindmuchevidenceforthisinexistingMozarabic
dawnsongs.^13
Whateveritsorigins,theAlbatoposbecamewellingrainedintoEuropeanliterary
traditions,^14 withthetoposofdawnasthetimeofpartingoftwoloverssuffusing
medievalEuropeanandrenaissanceliterature.Anexcellentexampleofthesurvival
ofthecontoursoftheAlbacanbeseeninShakespeare’sRomeo and Juliet,Act3,
SceneV,setinCapulet’sorchard,withJulietstandingatthewindow,conversing
withRomeo,aboutwhetherthebirdtheyhearisthenightingale(‘nightlyshesings
onyonpomegranatetree’),orthelark,‘heraldofthemorn’.Romeopointsoutthat
evenifhedisagreeswithJuliet,heishappytosubmittohercommand,thoughthe
Duke’sorderofbanishmentmeansdeathforhimifdiscoveredstillintowninthe
daylight.Juliet’snursecomestowarnherthathermotheriscomingtohercham-
ber,inwhichshehasenjoyedhertrystwithRomeo.Beware,thedayisbroke!Exit
Romeo.
Woledge’sstudyenumeratingthecharacteristicfeaturesoftheAlbaappearedin
ArthurHatto’smarvellouslywide-rangingsurveyofdawnpoetryinworldlitera-
ture,Eos.^15 ThechaptersthereinontheArabicandPersiantraditionswerewritten
byBernardLewiswithS.M.Stern(pp.215–43),andG.M.Wickens(pp.243–7),
respectively.ConcerningArabic,LewisandSternclaimthatit‘hasnodawn-poetry
asaspecialgenre’liketheAlba,because‘thereareinArabicnoindependentpoems
ofafixedstructurehavingastheirsolethemetheseparationofloversatdawn’.
Theydo,however,recognizeitasa‘fairlyfrequent’motif,ifnotanindispensable
one,inArabiclovepoetry(specificallytheeroticpoetryoftheUmayyadperiod,
thoughtheyincludenumerousexamplesfromtheAbbasideraandfromAndalusia).
Ofcourse,thedawnalreadyfiguredinpre-Islamicpoetryasthehourofpartingof
migratingtribes(theverbibtakara,indeed,meanstopartatdawn),andalsoofthe
disappearanceoftheṭayfal-khayāl,thephantomimageofthebelovedwhichtor-
mentstheloverduringhissleeplessnight.^16 Dawnalsointerruptsthenocturnal
wassail,markingtheendofthedrinkingsoirée,whichlaststhroughoutthenight.
Butthereisasecondkindofdrinkingoccasion,themorningdraught(andalsothe
morninghunt),whichmayinsteadmakethepoetimpatientforthesignsofdawnto
Ḥāfiẓ’sRomanticImageryandLanguageofLove 253