Poetry
ديوان الجواهري
Not translated into English
Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri · 1935
Synopsis
Political and social poems, written as circumstances arose, in which the poet attacks governments and the conditions he judges corrupt, and ties Iraq's present to its past. The form remains that of the classical qasida, in an ample, clear language that addresses the crowds. Other pieces, more intimate or spiritual, tell of the poet's trials and of what marked him.
Context
The first Diwan al-Jawahiri appeared in 1935, seven years after a first proper collection and twelve after a volume of imitations in which the young poet rivalled Shawqi. His social and political poems, in which a revolutionary position can be read, were collected in three volumes from 1949 to 1953. They accompany the political life of Iraq under the monarchy, which their author also fought in newspapers often closed by the authorities.
Who it is for
In Arabic, on the metres and rhymes of the qasida; no French or English translation. The poems can be read separately and presuppose an ear accustomed to classical metre.
Prizes and reception
The work of a poet who was nicknamed the greatest Arab poet, counted with al-Rusafi and al-Zahawi among the three great Iraqi neoclassicists.