Swahili Prosody (MS 53505a)
Permanent Link:

Material Information

Title:
Swahili Prosody (MS 53505a)
Series Title:
Hichens Collection :
Creator:
Hichens, William, -1951 ( Author, Primary )
Al-Hinawy, Mbarak, Sheikh-Sir, 1896-1959 ( contributor )
Mazrui, Al-Amin Bin Ali ( contributor )
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Materials:
Paper ( medium )
Technique:
Typescript manuscript : Bound in a green volume; in black type with corrections in red and black ink and in pencil. At the end are handwritten notes on ‘Present-day Verse.’

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Poetry ( LCSH )
Literary forms and genres
Swahili poetry ( LCSH )
Kiswahili mashairi
Ushairi
Literary form ( LCSH )
Genre:
Essays ( LCGFT )
Translation
Spatial Coverage:
Africa -- Kenya -- Mombasa County -- Eastern Africa -- Mombasa
Coordinates:
-4.05466 x 39.66359

Notes

Abstract:
The essay on Swahili prosody contained in this manuscript includes a discussion of verse forms, an attempt to outline metres in terms of stressed and unstressed syllables, and many translations of Swahili poems into English verse. It resembles the article published in the journal Swahili (1962/ 63). As the prefatory note to that article indicates, scholars have suspected that William Hichens cannot rightly be named as the sole author of this work; and in the introduction to the present manuscript Hichens himself indicates a debt to Sheikh Mbarak Ali Hinawy and Kadhi Sheikh Al-Amin bin Ali Al-Mazrui of Mombasa. The information obtained from them must have been considerable. See also the manuscript on prosody by Sheikh Al-Amin (MS 380746). ( en )
General Note:
Biographical information: Sir Mbarak Ali Hinawy was born in Mombasa c.1896AD (1314AH). He became Liwali of Mombasa and, after the death of Sir Ali b. Salim, Liwali of the Coast. Shaikh Mbarak, as he was also known, was probably the first non-European to collect manuscripts relating to Swahili literature, and his papers were given by his family, after his death in 1959AD (1379AH), to the university of Dar-es-Salaam archives. His publications together with his surviving papers reveal the depth of his scholarship. (Frankl & Omar, 1993)
General Note:
Date of Composition: circa 1943 AD (circa 1362 A.H.)
General Note:
Languages: English (Roman script)
General Note:
Extent: 1 vol.
General Note:
Incipit: ‘O black and unknown bards of long ago,/ How came your lips to touch the sacred fire?
General Note:
Purchased from Kegan Paul, 6 October 1948
General Note:
See also SOAS University of London manuscript MS 53504a is a similar typescript, with some differences in corrections and with the first few pages out of sequence; it lacks the introductory quotation of this manuscript and the final notes on ‘Present-day Verse.’
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : Hichens, William, -1951 : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/250560982
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : Al-Hinawy, Mbarak, Sheikh-Sir, 1896-1959 : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/305366593
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : Mazrui, Al-Amin Bin Ali : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/39558103
General Note:
Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Kenya -- Mombasa County -- Mombasa
General Note:
Publication information: Hichens, William (and Mbarak Ali Hinawy). 1962/ 63. Swahili prosody. Swahili 33 (1): 107-137

Record Information

Source Institution:
SOAS University of London
Holding Location:
Archives and Special Collections
Rights Management:
This item is likely protected by copyright. Its status has yet to be assessed.
Resource Identifier:
MS 53505 ( SOAS manuscript number )
MS 53505a ( SOAS manuscript number )