Al-Gassaniyya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Al-Gassaniyya (c. 10th or 11th century)[1] was an Andalusian adība (woman of letters) and poet from Bayyāna, present-day Pechina, Almería, Spain.[2]
Few details remain in the historic record about this Arab poet; her surname, the last remnant of her identity, indicates she belonged to the Gassān clan and was from Bayyāna.[2][3] She lived perhaps during the height of economic and cultural splendor in Taifa of Almería, coinciding with the reigns of Jairán and Abu Yahya Muhammad al-Mutasim. This would have made her a contemporary of Zaynab al-Mariyya, another Almerian woman poet.
She is known for writing panegyrics dedicated to the kings.[1]
Only six lines written by al-Gassaniyya have survived: part of a romantic prelude to a likely much longer qasida about Jairán, the king of Almeria, that emulates the work of the famous court poet Ibn Darraj al-Qastalli:[1][2][4]
Did it sadden you to hear them say:
"The palanquins of the women have departed"?
How could you bear it, woe is you,
when they left?
There are but only deaths on their departure,
and if not, a resignation.
