One couplet in particular - "O Sultan, my master, if my clothes are ripped and torn it is because your dogs with claws are allowed to tear me" - is sometimes quoted by Arabs as a kind of wry shorthand for their frustration with life under dictatorship. Qabbani's later poems included a strong strain of anti-authoritarianism. His writing also often fused themes of romantic and political despair. Qabbani was a committed Arab nationalist and in recent years his poetry and other writings, including essays and journalism, had become more political. He had lived in London since 1967 but the Syrian capital remained a powerful presence in his poems, most notably in "The Jasmine Scent of Damascus."Īfter the Arab defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, he founded the Nizar Qabbani publishing house in London, and his became a powerful and eloquent voice of lament for Arab causes. dun père notable - mort le 30 avril 1998, à Londres, Grande-Bretagne) était un poète syrien, dont la poésie casse l’image traditionnelle de la femme arabe et invente un langage nouveau, proche de la langue parlée et riche de nombreuses images empruntées au monde de l’enfance. Thereafter, he expressed resentment of male chauvinism and often wrote from a woman's viewpoint and advocated social freedoms for women. Nizar Kahbani est né à Damas (Syrie) le 21 mars 1923. The suicide of his sister, who was unwilling to marry a man she did not love, had a profound effect on Qabbani. He earned a reputation for daring with the publication in 1954 of his first volume of verse, "Childhood of a Breast," whose erotic and romantic themes broke from the conservative traditions of Arab literature. Through a lifetime of writing, Qabbani made women his main theme and inspiration. His work was featured not only in his two dozen volumes of poetry and in regular contributions to the Arabic-language newspaper Al Hayat, but in lyrics sung by Lebanese and Syrian vocalists who helped popularize his work.
Qabbani was revered by generations of Arabs for his sensual and romantic verse.