Abu al-Ala al-Maarri

Abu al-Ala al-Maarri (ä'bOO äl-älä' äl-mä-är-rē') [key], 973–1057, Arab freethinking poet. He was born and lived most of his life in Maarrah, S of Aleppo. He was blind from childhood. Brilliantly original, he became one of the literary reformers who discarded classicism for a modern intellectual urbanity. After 35 he lived a life of seclusion, and with his advocacy of an utterly ascetic purity, his poetry became more stereotyped.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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