In the Shadows of the Master offers original translations and analysis - and provides anecdotal and historical context - for five important odes written by four of the Arab world's most influential poets in the 10th and 11th centuries C.E. These odes span the broad spectrum of the Arabic-speaking Middle East, starting with al-Mutanabbi at Sayf al-Dawlah's court in Aleppo (located in northern Syria), and concluding with Ibn Darraj al-Qastalli at the courts of al-Munsur and Mundhir b. Yahya in the Iberian Peninsula (Muslim Spain). The book provides a contemporary analysis with a consistent application of theoretical framework that will make these poems relevant for scholars and students of Arabic literature, as well as for scholars and students of comparative literature. It examines how poetic discourse formulates and articulates legitimacy claims in the court ceremonial, and how poetry is used to do things in a specific historical context.
