Philip F. Kennedy (1) maintains that Abu Nuwas is considered by most literary historians to be ôthe finest wine poet of the Arabic tradition.ö Nuwas, a homosexual, devotes many of his wine songs to subjects relating to love, lust, and sexuality. In so doing he ôrejected the stale bluster of the qasida,ö while incorporating the celebration of the beloved associated with the nasib (Widening 123). This essay will provide textual analysis of one of NuwasÆ wine song poems in order to demonstrate the unique style and often disreputable subject matter of the poet.
Many of Abu NuwasÆ wine poems draw on elements that pertain to the ôbacchic theme in earlier poetry,ö and in this poem we see these themes readily displayed (Kennedy 2). Persian, Nuwas writes in the tradition of ôthe old hard-drinking culture of the Sasanian Persian courtö (Widening 123). We see in this poem he is being berated for ôtaking a morning drink,ö but counters that the woman berating him is one ôNot knowing as yet that I am munificent and love those amongst my drinking companions that are like myselfö (Select 1). In many Arabic wine poems, the ôpoet rebuts the censurerö through fakhr according to Kennedy (149).
The poem by Nuwas demonstrates the conventional movement in wine songs that developed during the Abbasid period, from ôcontemplation of what his cup contained to contemplation of the boy who had brought itö (Widening 122). In this manner wine songs or wine poetry became fused with love songs or love poetry. We see this is the case in NuwasÆ poem, where the drinking companions move ôTowards the taverns of wine among vineyards,ö with a master who ôhurriedlyö moves toward his patrons who exclaim ôWine!ö (Select 1). We see the imagery in the poem then turns toward sexuality and admiration or love for the wine bearer, as the speaker informs us he spent the night among ôtwo virgins,ö water and wine (Select 1). This image of purit...