Nature and Zul Rumma's poetry
Regional, Literature, 4/8/1998

Throughout its deeply-rooted history, the subjects that Arabic poetry dealt with have been diverse, panoramic and comprehensive. This poetry that dates from the pre-Islamic era until the end of the Abbasid era won a special place in Arab culture.

Detailed description was a hallmark of Arabic poetry throughout the period of traditional Arabic poetry. The descriptions of nature, wars, wine, love and other topics was not an easy task as one may think.

Zul Rumma, a renowned Umayyad poet, was a master of the art of description in poetry.

He attracted the attention of all poetry lovers when his description of the beloved went to cover his surrounding and milieu in an easy and attractive way. This genuine Umayyad poet was born in the sixth century AD, in the Arabian Peninsula and died when he was less than forty years old.

Nature in the poetry of Zul Rumma has more than one aspect. Animals and inanimate objects are part and parcel of his poetry on nature. The grains of sand in the desert call into his mind the hips of his beloved which are oval, like moving dunes, but covered with mirage. He says the "breeze falls dead with the folds of sand-hills." He compares the tempests of the desert with a treacherous man who used to direct heavy blows to his people.

Wild beasts roam through a considerable part of his poetry on nature. Their struggle for survival is a beautiful painting drawn by Zul Rumma's words.

Night with this poet is also no less attractive, carried by his figures of speech.

Zul Rumma, the son of his nature, is the son of the desert in which he was brought up. His description of nature conveys a true and vivid picture which can be a historical document of people's activities in the desert, the behavior of plants and animals and man's inner feelings towards the difficult situation he has to face in the desert.

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