Poetry
أغاني الحياة
Not translated into English
Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi · 1955
Synopsis
The poet's only collection, which he had begun to gather himself for publication. His poems sing of life and nature, art and love, the homeland and revolt against oppression, and their romanticism calls for change. Among these poems is “The Will to Live”: whoever wants to live, says the poem, obtains an answer from fate. Among the other pieces are “Prayers in the Temple of Love” and “Under the Branches”.
Context
The collection, assembled by its author during his lifetime, appeared only in 1955, in Egypt, through the efforts of his brother Mohamed Lamine Chebbi; it was reissued in Beirut in 1972, then included in the complete works of 1994. The poem on the will of the people appears in it, and its formula became a slogan of the 2011 protesters in Tunisia and the Arab world; the poet is also the author of the last two lines of the Tunisian national anthem.
Who it is for
Poems in classical Arabic, of romantic inspiration; in French only excerpts can be read, in anthologies and newspapers.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the national poet of Tunisia; his verses served as a slogan for protesters in 2011 in several Arab countries.
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