This is the first systematic literary study of one of the masterpieces of classical Arabic literature, the fourth/tenth century Kitab al-aghani (The Book of Songs) by Abu I-Faraj al-Isbahani. Until now the twenty-four volume Book of Songs has been regarded as a rather chaotic but priceless mine of information about classical Arabic music, literature and culture. This book approaches it as a work of literature in its own right, with its own internal logic and coherence. The study also consistently integrates the musical component into the analysis and proposes a reading of the work in which individual anecdotes and poems are related to the wider context, enhancing their meaning.