# CV explained — The Luzumiyat

> Chapter companion for The Luzumiyat by Abu al-ʻAlaʼ al-Maʻarri.

## What happens

The speaker reflects on standing at the end of Adam's line, holding the curse of his father's life, and expresses a wish that his father had been barren, thus breaking the cycle of wrongdoing.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Transience

The poem contemplates the end of a lineage and the curse passed through generations.

### Suffering and Resilience

The speaker bears the life-curse of his father, enduring the legacy of wrongdoing.

## Character check-ins

### Abu al-ʻAlaʼ al-Maʻarri

The speaker, reflecting on lineage and inherited curse.

## Key lines

> Now, at this end of Adam’s line I stand Holding my father’s life-curse in my hand, Doing no one the wrong that he did me:⁠— Ah, would that he were barren as the sand!

I am the last descendant of Adam, burdened with the curse my father passed to me. I do not harm others as he harmed me, but I wish he had never had children, like the barren sand.

_The speaker laments the inherited curse and wishes for an end to the line._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/cv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_luzumiyat_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters