Abu Nawas is an Abbasid poet whose life and poetry were different from those of his contemporaries. As a child, he lived a hard life, being born for an Iraqi father and Persian mother. His poetry was like his life, being a reflection and internal and psychological rebellion. He was known as "the poet of wine" because he devoted much of his poetry to drink. However, he wrote on many other poetic topics such as satire, love, elegies, and hunting. Abu Nawas rebelled against the traditional love-opening in classical poems and rejected the tribal pride. He also innovated the use of poetic image depending mainly on metaphor. He also employed new poetic techniques, unfamiliar themes and succeeded in his rebellion to be followed by numerous poets. The paper concludes that Abu Nawas was a true rebellious poet who put down new bases for poetic innovation in the first Abbasid Age.
