the ring of the dove collected a good amount of ibn hazms poetry which he wrote until the age of thirtyfive. perhaps a large part of it was omitted by the copyist of the copy that has reached us. we estimate that his poetry was abundant because he used to write spontaneously and deliberately and deal with various topics. some of his poetry was written before reaching puberty and most of what he composed while he was under the age of two was in love poetry for naam and then in elegy for her. his brothers used to impose on him what was presented to them in their ways and schools of thought and he would say what suited their situation and their intentions. that is he did not refuse to write poetry upon assignment and to talk in it about the conditions of others. one of almuzaffars noblewomen asked him to compose a song for her to compose and he did so. he did not choose a specific time to write poetry so sometimes he would write poetry while asleep and that is a rare thing and sometimes he would choose…
جمع طوق الحمامة قدرا صالحا من شعر ابن حزم مما قاله حتى سن الخامسة والثلاثين، ولعل قسما كبيرا منه سقط بفعل ناسخ النسخة التي وصلتنا، ونقدر أن شعره كان كثيرا لأنه كان يقول على البديهة والروية، ويعالج مختلف الموضوعات، وبعض شعره قاله قبل بلوغ الحلم، واكثر ما نظمه وهو دون الشرين إنما كان تغزلا في نعم ثم رثاء لها؛ وكان إخوانه يسومونه القول فيما يعرض لهم على طرائقهم ومذاهبهم فيقول ما يناسب حالهم ومقصودهم، أي أنه لم يكن يرفض أن يقول الشعر بتكليف، وأن يتحدث فيه عن أحوال غيره، وقد كلفته إحدى كرائم المظفر أن يصنع لها أغنية لتلحنها ففعل. ولم يكن يختار وقتا معينا لقول الشعر، فأحيانا يقول الشعر وهو نائم وذلك شيء نادر ويختار أحيانا