이슬람이전 아랍시인의 문학적 자유와 관습적 제약

Literary Freedom of the Arab Poets in the Pre-Islamic Era and Their Customary Restrictions

Arab poets in the Pre-Islamic era had a high social status. Therefore, it could be expected that the poets would enjoy complete freedom of expression as writers. However, contrary to this expectation, it seemed that the life of poets was restricted by various regulations. For example, from a literary perspective, they had to follow strict rhythm and rhyme, and from a social perspective, they had to take on the role of prophet and information officer for their tribe. Besides, they had to compose poems imbued with glorification of their own tribe and revenge against hostile tribe based on tribal solidarity, so called al-‛A ṣabiyya. As a result, Arab poets during the Jāhilliya period could not enjoy full freedom of expression to depict personal love and romance. Rather, their literary life was confined within subjects of praise, boasting, and revenge, and they were restricted in both form and content.