This book consists of a critical introduction and six chapters on two famous medieval poems by Ibn al-Anbari and Abu Tammam, and three unique and remarkable C20th poems by the Lebanese poet Khalil Hawi (1919-1982), the Syrian poet and diplomat Nizar Qabbani (1923-1928), and the influential Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (1926-1964).