Mihyar of Damascus, His Songs

Born in Syria in 1930, Adonis later moved to Lebanon and became a pivotal figure in the new poetry of the late 1960s. With the publication of *Mihyar of Damascus: His Songs* in 1963-widely viewed as a watershed moment in Arabic poetry-Adonis forged a new set of possibilities for Arabic poetry, writing in traditional meters but infusing them with modernist rhythms, styles, and conceptual complexities. Translators **Adnan Haydar** (University of Arkansas in Fayetteville) and **Michael Beard** (University of North Dakota) co-edit a series of books, *Middle East Literature in Translation*, for Syracuse University Press.