Remembering Ahmed Shawqi at Bait al-She’r al-Araby

CAIRO – 8 October 2017: Bait al-She’r al-Araby will hold another session from Ahmed Abdel Moa'ty Hegazy Poetry Salon. The upcoming session will be about Ahmed Shawqi’s poetry and his poetic techniques.

The iconic modern and contemporary Egyptian poet Ahmed Abdel Moa'ty Hegazy will participate in the discussion.

A number of literature professors such as comparative literature professor Ahmed Darwish, criticism professor Mohamed Hassan Abdallah, the Egyptian poet and university professor Hassan Teleb and the Egyptian poet Rana al-Azzam will participate in the discussion.

The Egyptian poet Al-Samah Abdallah will head the discussion.

Ahmed Shawqi is a legendary Egyptian poet who restored the beauty of classic Arabic language. Mahmoud Samy al-Baraoudi and Ahmed Shawqi cooperated together to reshape the classic Arabic poetry forms through using contemporary and social simplified Arabic language.

Simple, respectful, and combining the beauty of poetic devices and the current events are the characteristics of Shawqi’s and Baroudi’s poetry school.

Shawqi started writing poetry after joining the school of law. His teacher, Mohamed al-Bassiony, supported his poetic talents and presented him in front of Khedive Tawfik.

He travelled two years to France to continue his education. The main topic of Shawqi’s poetry in that period was praising Khedive Tawfik on different occasions.

Also Shawqi wrote a number of national poems to satire the British occupation of Egypt.

“Nahg al-Bordah” [On the Road to Bordah] is one of his iconic religious poems in modern Arabic poetry. It followed a famous religious Arabic poem called “Al-Borda” [The Blanket]

Fables were used by Shawqi to enable him a wider space to criticize the British Empire. “Al Anadaloseya” [The Andalusian] is a long narrative poem that tells the story of the Islamic state in Andalusia. The poem was a new experience in Arabic poetry made by Shawqi.

The Egyptian people and poets honored him so much, and so they gave him the title "Amir al-Sho'araa’" [The Prince of Poets].

He composed many poetry plays such as “Masraa’ Cleopatra” [Cleopatra’s Murder], and “Antara.”

He was exiled to Spain, and in his exile wrote many remarkable national poems such as “Salo Qalby” [Ask My Heart].

He died in 1932.

The legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kalthoum sang many poems by Shawqi as “Misr Tatahadath A’n Nafseha” [Egypt Talks about Itself], “Salo Qalby” [Ask My Heart] and “Al-Atlaal” [The Ruins].