Griffithes Wheeler Thatcher, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 1… (1911)
“ The poetry of Abū-l-‛Atāhiya is notable for its avoidance of the artificiality almost universal in his days. The older poetry of the desert had been constantly imitated up to this time, although it was not natural to town life. Abū-l-‛Atāhiya was one of the first to drop the old qasīda (elegy) form. He was very fluent and used many metres. He is also regarded as one of the earliest philosophic poets of the Arabs. Much of his poetry is concerned with the observation of common life and morality, and at times is pessimistic. ”
