The Desire for Innovation in Arabic Poetry

The aim of this study is to explore the 'Desire for Innovation' in Arabic poetry, and outline the main stages of innovation undergone by Arabic literature, taking into consideration the distance between the attempts at innovation and the degree of desire for it in each stage. Arabic heritage constituted a pressure on both classical and modern Arab poets: on the one hand, its traditions came to be a criterion of good poetry and poets were expected to follow them; on the other, successive generations of poets who imitated those traditions felt that the achievements of their predecessors discouraged them from introducing major changes to Arabic poetry. Some poets, however, challenged this situation and attempted to break the traditional restrictions.