Abstract:
This study is a translation of the book (Infatuation with poet Eliot is a threat to Arabic literature) which was written by Professor Abdullah Al-Tayeb.
This book is an effort made by prof. Abdullah Al-Tayeb in order to enlighten the Arab youth who are fascinated by Eliot and his poetry, about his plagiarism of the Arabic poetry and literature, providing us with many evidence and examples.
In this book Abdullah Al-Tayeb introduced the poet Eliot, his life and some of his works which resemble polished wood of skilled carpenter however crude and with no passion. Abdullah Al-Tayeb focused here on Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land”. Eliot copied from some of his contemporary English poets such as Wordsworth, Walter de la Mare even Shakespeare without recognition. Then he copied the form of the Arabic poetry in Al-Muallaqat and focused on the expressions and comparisons of Labayd Ibn Rabiea and Imru Al-Qauis that were used in their Muallaqats and some of Abu Tamamm works, he even copied from Quran with no reference. Eliot benefited also from the translations of Sir William Jones and Sir Charls Layall of Al- Muallaqat, also some orientalists help in translating many of the Arabic poetry and literature which was to Eliot benefit.
From the start I wanted to translate a book from Arabic into English language considering it’s more difficult, for I like to challenge myself to be better and to achieve more. I found this book among others in our library at home and after careful reading I settled for this book.
The translation of this book wasn’t easy to begin with; Abdullah Al-Tayeb was an amazing professor - Sudan scholar in Arabic and its sciences – was known as the great Imam of Arabic, for a start this small book has many chapters and many different topics concerning Eliot plagiarism, another difficulty that I found was in translating the Arabic poem verses that he mentioned. Al`annbari’s book helped me understand the Arabic verses which make it easier to translate them especially the verses of The Suspended Odes.
