Abu Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Abu al-Fath (1058âÂÂ1138/9), called Ibn Khafajah (Ã¥èàîÃÂçìé), a native of Alzira, was a poet of al-Andalus during the reign of the Almoravids. He was born in 1058 in Alzira (Arabic: ìòÃÂñé ôÃÂñ) near Valencia where he spent most of his life. He was the maternal uncle of poet Ibn al-Zaqqaq.
He wrote sophisticated nature poetry. He remained unmarried but had many friends and lived to be over eighty.There is a style based on him afterwards followed by many known as 'khafÃÂjë'.
His poetry often uses images to a dramatic function, such as contrasting light and darkness, or humanising the night environment.
Composer Mohammed Fairouz set three poems of Ibn Khafajah to music in a cycle of vocal chamber music written for the Cygnus Ensemble.
Notes
Bibliography
- Arthur Wormhoudt (ed.), The Diwan of Abu Ishaq Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Abu Al-Fath Ibn Khafaja, Oskaloosa, Ia.: William Penn College, 1987,
- Arie Schippers "Ibn Khafaja (1058-1139) in Morocco. Analysis of a laudatory poem addressed to a member of the Almoravid clan," in: Otto Zwartjes e.a. (ed.) Poetry, Politics and Polemics: Cultural Transfer Between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996, (pp. 13âÂÂ34)
- Magda M. Al-Nowaihi, The Poetry of Ibn Khafajah A Literary Analysis, (Rev. version of the author's thesis, Harvard, 1987), Leiden: Brill, 1993
- Burgel, J. C., "Man, Nature and Cosmos as Intertwining Elements in the Poetry of Ibn KhafÃÂja," in: Journal of Arabic literature; vol. 14, 1983 (p. 31)
- Hamdane Hadjadji and André Miquel, Ibn Khafaja lâÂÂAndalou, LâÂÂamant de la nature, Paris: El-Ouns, 2002
- Abd al-Rahman Janair, Ibn Khafaja l-Andalusi, Beirut: Dar al-Afaq, 1980
External links
- The Mountain Poem English translation and Arabic recording of Ibn Khafaja's most famous poem at Poems Found in Translation.