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The present thesis focuses on desert travel as a theme of self-praise (fabr) in the work of the Umayyad poet Dhu al-Rumma (ca. 696 - ca. 735), the last great representative of the Bedouin poetic tradition. The study of his dfwan, whose major topics are love poetry and boasting about travelling, can lead to a sounder reading of the travel theme -usually described with the vague term ra~rl- in earlier poetry as well. The aim of the thesis is to study the various motifs associated with desert travelling in Dhu al-Rumma, highlighting the dimension of self-praise, and to trace their antecedents in earlier poetry. The thesis' principal argument is that in early Arabic poetry, down to the end of the umayyad times, travelling was a major theme of self-praise. Besides being a proof of physical strength and stamina, it was seen as an overall testing of a man's character and moral integrity. Requisite as it was in a variety of contexts, travelling was viewed as a means to attain noble ambitions and gain fame, to serve one's tribe and to acquire wealth and improve one's fortune, in order to be able to assist and provide for others. The first chapter gives basic information about the poet and the contents of his . drwan. The second chapter expounds the thesis' main argument, touching upon the broad spectrum of ethical issues related to travelling and the variety of contexts in which the theme occurs. The basic thematic axes ofDhu al-Rumma's boasting about his travels, studied in chapters 3, 4 and 5 respectively, are: a) the desert or, more generally, the lands traversed by the poet in his journeys; b) the poet and his companionfs; c) the poet's and the party's camels.

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This thesis considers proverbs, modified proverbs and curses in two novels of the Syrian coast: Muftaraq al-Maṭar by Yūsif al-Maḥmūd, and Anājīl al-Xarāb by Naufal Nayouf. Chapter two presents the theories of proverbs put forward by different scholars. It discusses how can proverbs be either literal or figurative. It also explains what the components of the figurative proverb are. Chapter three applies this theoretical framework to the proverbs selected from both novels. Chapter four presents different theories about the formation of modified proverbs, focusing on Partington’s classification, and applying his categories to modified proverbs in the two novels. Chapter five reviews different scholarly perspectives on curses. Curses in these two novels are then categorized and discussed in accordance with these perspectives. Proverbs are very common in both novels, with 521 proverbs in Muftaraq al-Maṭar and 127 proverbs in Anājīl al-Xarāb. A number of formal features are particularly prominent: assonance and alliteration and morphological and lexical repetition. Figuration is important in both novels, metaphor being the dominant figure of speech. The dominant cultural feature in proverbs in both novels is domestic life. Most proverbs in Muftaraq al-Maṭar are used on the Syrian coast only, giving the novel a very local orientation. In both novels the great majority of modified proverbs originate from folklore. The commonest social function of modified proverbs in Anājīl al-Xarāb is practical advice, while the commonest social function in Muftaraq al-Maṭar is human nature/life/emotion. Rephrasing and substitution are common modified proverb formation techniques in both novels. The dominant semantic relationship of modified proverbs to their original counterparts in both novels is synonymy. While there are a significant number of curses in Muftaraq al-Maṭar, there are only a few curses in Anājīl al-Xarāb. God is a very important cultural feature of curses in both Anājīl al-Xarāb and Muftaraq al-Maṭar, and wishing people harm is also fairly significant in curses in both novels.

This thesis investigates the image of the West as portrayed in Saudi poetry since the beginning of the new Saudi state in 1920 to 1990, while tackling the concept of 'the West' as it is used in Saudi poetry, and defining the special characteristics of the Saudi society. By dividing the selected period into three parts, 1920-1945, 1946-1967 and 1968-1990, and investigating more than 250 Saudi poems addressing the West, this research will uncover the image of the West in Saudi poetry as well as the transformations that this image went through, both positively and negatively, under each historical period. This research will also define a series of real factors, which played a main role in drawing this representation about the West in Saudi poetry. Islam, as it practised in Saudi Arabia, and the desert in its social and cultural concept, were examined in this research to find out their role in drawing the image of the West in Saudi poetry. This research also highlights the other historical factors, which played a main role in developing an image of the West throughout these periods of Saudi history across various topics.

The purpose of this study is to explore how Omani children's drama, in schools and theatres and T.V. can be developed and enriched to become a useful educational tool for the nation's development, while also meeting children's cognitive and emotional needs. In order to do so, the origins and development of Arab and Omani theatre and T.V. are traced, the goals of the Omani development strategy and the expected roles of theatre and T.V. are discussed, and examples of good practice from the Arab world and the West are considered. The work is qualitative in nature, depending largly on writings on drama, on the researcher's extensive experience in television and theatre production and direction, and on visits to observe children's theatre in the U.K., United States, and Arab Gulf States. In addition, a small survey was carried out among Omani teachers to explore their perceptions of the role and practice of drama in schools, and a seminar was held in which various experts came together to discuss issues in Children's Drama and Theatre and to identify obstacles. As a practical experiment a play, Titi and Toti, was directed and produced by researcher to demonstrate the feasibility and value of developing theatre for children in Oman. It is shown that drama in Oman is in the early stages of development and is dominated by television. Children's theatre as a distinct form hardly exists at all. Obstacles include lack of resources, inadequate training, and conservative social atitueds [i.e. attitudes] which associate drama with pagan superstition, time-wasting, and alien cultural values. Nevertheless, a few successful experiments suggest that useful Western models such as Theatre in Education can be reconciled with elements of Oman's rich cultural heritage, to produce works for children that are entertaining, informative, and consistent with local values. Recommendations are made for the development of Omani children's theatre and drama in line with the nation's overall cultural strategy.

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The name Mukhadrimin/Mukhadramin is given to those Arabic poets who were born before Islam but continued to live and compose during the Islamic period. A portion of the surviving poetry of these poets - specifically, the longer and most complete poems that are believed to have been composed after the advent of Islam by the most important of the poets generally designated by this name - has been taken as the basis for a~ attempt to compile a stylistic concordance. This particular body of work is of a convenient size for such an attempt, and it has the added advantage that the impact of Islam might be expected to have affected it in certain common respects that would distinguish it from pre-Islamic poetry. The "Index of descriptive words and phrases", which forms the principal part of·this thesis, lists the words and phrases used to refer to, and to describe, both directly and metaphorically, the persons, objects, and other phenomena that most commonly appear in what may be termed the more "conventional" sections of these compositions, that is to say, the very large proportion of lines in which the poets, like all early Arabic poets, compose variations on certain conventional themes. The ultimate object must be, of course, to make such a concordance, and indeed other kinds of concordances, for the whole of early Arabic poetry. It will then be possible to say to what extent different periods can be distinguished from one another. The "Index" compiled here represents an experiment carried out on a limited, and to some extent legitimately separable, portion of an enormous corpus. It is to hoped that the process will prove useful for wider application. Texts of the poems are provided for reference; many of them have been translated into English in the form in which they appear in Ibn Hisham by A. Guilla~ but since the nlwans of the individual poets - where these exist - often present fuller, and variant, versions, and since it is sometimes possible to produce a closer rendering than that of Guillaume new translations are also offered here. Basic annotations and short biographies of the poets are appended.

The short story is a comparatively modern phenomenon in Kuwait; the first appeared in 1929. There have been two distinct periods in the history of the short story in Kuwait. The first was from 1947 to 1959, the second was from 1962 to 1985. During the first period, it was more of a vehicle for didactic and predicative than for literary purposes. Characterisation was elementary, plot was negatory and structure was primitive. The second period witnessed a considerable development in the genre; the short story became, in all respects, more recognisable as such. Today, the art of short story writing is practised in Kuwait in a manner indistinguishable from that of any other Arab country.