Poetry

Born in Lebanon and brought to the United States by his father as a teenager, Ameen Rihani was a pioneer in the literary movement of Mahjar (Arab diaspora) literature. During his lifetime, he published two volumes of original English-language poetry, titled Myrtle and Myrrh (1905) and A Chant of Mystics and Other Poems (1921). Major themes explored in Rihani’s poetry include Orientalism, mysticism, and cultural encounters between East and West. This edition presents both of Rihani’s poetry collections in one volume.