This website provides visitors with some of the best Arabic poems with English translations and audio, written by famous Arabic poets.
introduce
Arabic poetry is one of the earliest forms of Arabic art (especially in the ancient Arabian Peninsula).It is deeply rooted and divided into two important schools: the classical (before 1850) and the modern (after 1850). This website provides visitors with some of the best Arabic poems with English translations and audio, written by famous Arabic poets such as Abdul Azim Naji, Fakhry Abu Al-Saud, Hussein Ali Saab, and Abdel Moneim Al-Alam.
1. The Most Important Arabic Poetry Schools
The classical school
This school represents the linguistic eloquence, praise, and elegy.
Poets who represent this school: Al-Mutanabbi, Abu Tammam, and Imru' al-Qais.
The Neo-Classical (Revival) School (Al-Ihyaa’)
This school follows the Abbasid school of poetry. It aims to elevate poetic expression after a period of decline. It is characterized by eloquence and traditionalism.
Poets who represent this school from the early generation:
Mahmoud Sami Al-Baroudi, Ahmed Shawky, Hafez Ibrahim, Aziz Abaza.
The Romance school
This school cares about the Philosophical and contemplative issues, the essence rather than appearances.
Poets who represent this school from the early generation:
Abbas Mahmoud Al-Akkad, Ibrahim Abdel Qader Al-Mazini, and Abdul Rahman Shukri.
The third school: Apollo group
It came from the conflict between the two schools: The Neo-Classical (Revival) School (Al-Ihyaa’) and The Romance school. It‘s characterized by its tendency to innovation.
Poets who represent this school from the early generation:
Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi, Khalil Mutran.
The school of Prose poem
This school expresses the modern Arabic issues without rhyme.
Poets who represent this school from the early generation:
Mahmoud Darwish and Amal Dunqul.
2.Why Arabic poetry is important
Arabic poetry is a beautiful expression of Arabic life, joys and sorrows, achievement and failure, hope and depression, also the past and the future. We can see our shared human experience through those verses.
3.About the project
I believe that the Arabic language has its own magic, this site helps foreigners to experience this beautiful side of it. I hope this project will be like an eye-opener to see another story of life.
4.Examples of the Arabic poetic images
أعشق الأشياء عشق البذرة العذراء للكف التي تزرعها
I love things the way the pure seed loves the palm that plants it.
***
ويغار من ضوئي وهو من يهتدي
And he is jealous of my light. And he is the one who is guided by it.
***
فقد بكت الزهرة الذابلة بدمع الندى
because the withered flower cries with the tears of the dew
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فالعمر شمعة الهوى تخفق ثم تنطفئ
because the age is the candle of love that beats then disappears.
***
5.The most famous Arabic poets
Al-Mutanabbi: classical poet, seen as the best Arabic poet ever, best known for his praise poems to the governor (Sayf al-Dawla) سيف الدولة .
Ahmed Shawky: the most famous Egyptian poet in the modern era, wrote many unique poems, and poetic plays. His poems were in the early 20th century but his style was like the very old poets.
Mahmoud Darwish: he wrote the Prose poem perfectly.
Ahmed Fouad Negm: poet but also famous for his left political views. He expressed this sense of justice with easiest ways and accessible words.
Salah Jaheen: cinematic poet, very famous in Egypt and Arab lands, wrote the poetry with childlike wonder.
6.How to Read and Feel Arabic Poetry?
Poetry is an emotional experience. Emotions play a very important role in Arabic culture. You don’t need to think about each sentence very logically, just go with the flow with your heart and intuition.
7.How Arabic Poetry Influences Modern Music and Songs?
Most modern singers sing light content such as Amr Diab and Tamer Hosny, and there is nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, there are some singers who choose to sing classical Arabic poems such as Fayrouz, Umm Kulthum, Wadih Al-Safi, and Abdel Halim Hafez. Those singers gain artistic value because of that. Now, Arabs look at them as legends. Umm Kulthum, the most appreciated Arabic singer ever, had a phenomenal funeral on the day of her death. All Arabic societies have deep sense of conservatism. But you might question this idea when you see how people there like their idols in the artistic fields.
8.Women in Arabic poetry
Poets like Nizar Qabbani, Jamil ibn Ma‘mar (known as Jamil Buthaina), and Antarah ibn Shaddad express their love experiences through praise for the beloved. Jamil ibn Ma‘mar said about the woman he loved:
“I like you as a sun that lights my path, and a moon that brightens my night”.
Nizar Qabbani wrote some of the most famous poems in the Arab world about women. He challenged the norms of conservatism and Arab traditions with his words. Kazem Al Saher (a famous Arabic singer and composer) composed some of them and gained his fame. If you listen to them, one cannot claim that Arab society devalues women.
9.The effect of the global literature on the Arabic poems
In general, Persian literature influenced Arabic poetry in the field of the rulings, sermons and commandments as - highlighted by Thamer Suleiman Al-Hamed in his critical work. Indian literature introduced animal stories to the Arabs who recreated it through famous Arabic books like Kalila and Dimna or poetic plays such as "The Lion and the Fox", written by Ahmed Shawqi. The Arabic poets in Andalusia (Spain) were affected by the environment, skillfully using its natural elements. They wrote one of the most beautiful forms of Arabic poetry known as Andalusian Muwashahat.
10.The future of Arabic poetry in the digital age
In the age of social media, I think we should be quite pessimistic about the future of poetry. People these days search for something more practical than poems. They look for news, cars, celebrities, games, etc. On the other hand, poetry will still be a magical way to get through the tension and ugliness that are created as a side effect of modern civilization. We are living in the era of the novel, and this kind of literature replaces other literary genres. However, poetry will always find a place in our hearts.
11.Key Historical Shifts that affected Arabic poetry
There were several turning points that affected Arabic poetry significantly:
The collapse of the Abbasid state: when poetry suffered greatly after the fall of the most powerful and civilized Arab states.
The colonial era under Britain and France: when poetry discussed issues of national freedom and resistance. Here the language became a way of resistance in itself. In Algeria, Arabic poets insisted on preserving the most classical poetic style rather than accepting the use of French.
The era of independence: when the Arab poets abandoned the classical poetic style, using lighter forms such as the prose poem which is a mixture of poetry and prose.
12.Arabic Poetry in Modern Arab Films and TV
Adel Imam, the comedian and the most famous Arab actor, satirized prose poetry in his film Morgan Ahmed Morgan. He wanted to show us how the educated class became disconnected from reality by immersing themselves in ambiguous and inflated words. On the other hand, there are some of the best Arabic movies that have this poetic style in their script such as The Mummy by director Shadi Abdel Salam, and The Earth by director Youssef Chahine. Poetry is used in both serious and funny ways in the Egyptian cinema, which represents Arab cinema as a whole (often referred to as the 'Hollywood of the Arabs').
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