al-Aʿshā

al-Aʿshā (born before 570, Durnā, Arabia—died c. 625, Durnā) was a pre-Islāmic poet whose qaṣīdah (“ode”) is included by the critic Abū ʿUbaydah (d. 825) in the celebrated Muʿallaqāt, a collection of seven pre-Islāmic qaṣīdahs, each of which was considered by its author to be his best; the contents of the collection vary slightly, according to the views of several compilers.

Al-Aʿshā spent his youth in travels through Mesopotamia, Syria, Arabia, and Ethiopia. He continued to travel, even after becoming blind, particularly along the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It was then that he turned to the writing of panegyrics as a means of support. His style, reliant on sound effects and full-bodied foreign words, tends to be artificial.