ABU DHABI - Abu Dhabi's Poetry Academy opens its doors Tuesday amid increasing public interest in Nabati poetry.
Registration will continue throughout the holy month of Ramadan and its academic courses will commence after Eid al-Fitr, continuing for three months until the end of 2009.
Sultan Al Amaimi, Director of the Academy, said there is a large number of poetry lovers seeking to enrol for courses amid more academic focus on Nabati poems.
"The high number of applicants shows the popular place that Nabati poetry enjoys today in society," said Amimi.
Registration is open to all, with no prior requirement for being established as a poet.
The Academy will teach students the different fields related to Nabati poetry, including its style, characteristics, and structure, opening the door for more research and new subject matter.
It will also be organising many specialised lectures, talks and conferences where prominent Arabic poetry critics and professors will be participating.
The Academy's highly-regarded poetry course also offer contact with prominent poets.
The curriculum has been divided into three academic standards levels, namely:
- Level I: Artistic basics of Nabati poetry, focusing on its history, rhythms and rhymes, creative writing and its applications.
- Level II: Artistic construction of Nabati poetry, focusing on the construction of poetic images and symbolism, poetic language and innovation, and practices of renewal and keeping with the traditions of the poetry.
- Level III: Methods of research in Nabati poetry, focusing on how to examine sources and references, study previous research on the poems, literary criticism of the poetry, and analyses of its theory and practice.
The Poetry Academy, a project of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADAC) is the first cultural institution of its kind in the Arab World, playing an important role in preserving Nabati poetry.
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