Ibn Kuzman

Ibn Kuzman 

(ibn Kozman). Born about 1080; died 1160, in Cordoba. Hispano-Arab poet. Ibn Kuzman lived the life of a wandering singer. He created a new form of strophic poetry, the zajal (melody). The verses collected in his divan were written in a colloquial dialect full of Romance elements. Ibn Kuzman occupies an eminent place in Arabic literature. He influenced early Provencal lyricism and the poetry of the vagantes, and through them European poetry.

REFERENCES

Krachkovskii, I. lu. Izbr. soch. vol. 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1956.
Brockelmann, C. Geschichte der arabischen Literatur, vol. 1. Weimar, 1898. Pages 272–73.
Pérès, H. La poésie andalouse en arabe classique au XI siècle, 2nd ed. Paris, 1953.