Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani (, ; 22 March 1923 – 30 April 1998) was a Syrian poet, diplomat, and publisher who is widely regarded as Syria’s national poet. Qabbani’s work is noted for its blend of simplicity and lyrical elegance, addressing themes of love, eroticism, feminism, religion, Arab nationalism, and resistance to both foreign imperialism and domestic authoritarianism. He remains one of the most celebrated and influential contemporary poets in the Arab world. His notable relatives include the playwright Abu Khalil Qabbani, diplomat Sabah Qabbani, writer Rana Kabbani, and translator Yasmine Seale.

Biography

Early life

thumb|left|120px|Nizar Qabbani in childhood.

Nizar Qabbani was born in Damascus, the capital of Syria, into a middle-class merchant family of Syrian-Arab origins. Nizar Qabbani's mother Fayza was of Turkish origin. He was raised in the Old City of Damascus and attended the National Scientific College School from 1930 to 1941. Qabbani later studied law at Damascus University, then known as the Syrian University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in law in 1945.

While studying at university, Qabbani published his first collection of poems, The Brunette Told Me, in 1942. The collection’s inclusion of sexual themes generated considerable controversy. Reflecting on his literary approach, he once stated: “Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set it free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense, and body with my poetry. The relationships between men and women in our society are not healthy.”

In 1981, Qabbani’s wife, Balqis al-Rawi, was killed in the 1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. Her death had a profound impact on his life and work, inspiring the elegiac poem Balqis, in which he expressed both personal grief and political anger, holding Arab regimes responsible for her death. In the poem, Qabbani described her life as “a sacrifice” and lamented that “after you, poetry will cease and womanhood is out of place,” portraying her loss as a metaphor for the suffering of the Arab people in the Levant.

The city of Damascus remained Qabbani’s most enduring muse, inspiring numerous works, most notably The Jasmine Scent of Damascus.

Personal life

thumb|right|200px|Qabbani with his family, his parents and brothers.

Family

Qabbani had two sisters, Wisal and Haifa, and three brothers, Mu'taz, Rashid, and Sabah. The latter, Sabah Qabbani, became the director of Syrian radio and TV in 1960 and served as Syria's ambassador to the United States in the 1980s.

His father Tawfiq Qabbani had a chocolate factory. He also helped support fighters resisting the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and was imprisoned many times for his views, greatly affecting the upbringing of Nizar into a revolutionary in his own right. Qabbani's grandfather, Abu Khalil Qabbani, was one of the leading innovators in Arab dramatic literature.

Marriages

Qabbani married twice in his life. His first wife was his cousin Zahra Aqbiq; together they had a daughter, Hadba, and a son, Tawfiq. Tawfiq died due to a heart attack when he was 22 years old when he was in London. Qabbani eulogized his son in the famous poem "To the Damascene Prince, Tawfiq Qabbani". Zahra Aqbiq died in 2007. His daughter Hadba, born in 1947, was married twice, and lived in London until her death in April 2009. In exile, Qabbani continued to write poems and raise controversies and arguments. Notable and controversial poems from this period in his life include When Will They Announce the Death of Arabs? and Runners.

On 30 April 1998, at the age of 75, Qabbani died in London of a heart attack.

In his will, which he wrote in his hospital bed in London, Qabbani wrote that he wished to be buried in Damascus, which he described in his will as "the womb that taught me poetry, taught me creativity and granted me the alphabet of Jasmine." He was mourned by Arabs all over the world, with international news broadcasts highlighting his illustrious literary career.

Bibliography

Poetry

Qabbani began writing poetry when he was 16 years old; at his own expense, Qabbani published his first book of poems, entitled The Brunette Told Me , while he was a law student at the University of Damascus in 1944.

Over the course of a half-century, Qabbani wrote 34 other books of poetry, including:

  • Childhood of a Breast (1948)
  • Samba (1949)
  • You Are Mine (1950)
  • Poems (1956)
  • My Beloved (1961)
  • Drawing with Words (1966)
  • Diary of an Indifferent Woman (1968)
  • Poems of Longing (1970)
  • Book of Love (1970)
  • 100 Love Letters (1970)
  • Poems Against The Law (1972)
  • I Love You, and the Rest is to Come (1978)
  • To Beirut the Feminine, With My Love (1978)
  • May You Be My Love For Another Year (1978)
  • I Testify That There Is No Woman But you (1979)
  • Secret Diaries of Baheyya the Egyptian (1979)
  • I Write the History of Woman Like So (1981)
  • The Lover's Dictionary (1981)
  • A Poem For Balqis (1982)
  • Love Does Not Stop at Red Lights (1985)
  • Insane Poems (1985)
  • Poems Inciting Anger (1986)
  • Love Shall Remain My Lord (1987)
  • The Trilogy of the Children of the Stones (1988)
  • Secret Papers of a Karmathian Lover (1988)
  • Biography of an Arab Executioner (1988)
  • I Married You, Liberty! (1988)
  • A Match in My Hand, And Your Petty Paper Nations (1989)
  • No Victor Other Than Love (1989)
  • Do You Hear the Cry of My Sadness? (1991)
  • Marginal Notes on the Book of Defeat (1991)
  • I'm One Man and You are a Tribe of Women (1992)
  • Fifty Years of Praising Women (1994)
  • Nizarian Variations of Arabic Maqam of Love (1995)
  • Alphabet of Jasmine (1998)

Other works

He also composed many works of prose, such as My Story with Poetry , What Poetry Is , and Words Know Anger , On Poetry, Sex, and Revolution , Poetry is a Green Lantern , Birds Don't Require a Visa , I Played Perfectly and Here are my Keys and The Woman in My Poetry and My Life , as well as one play named Republic of Madness Previously Lebanon and lyrics of many famous songs of celebrated Arab singers, including:

  • Mohammed Abdel Wahab (Ayazon: does he think?)
  • Abdel Halim Hafez (Qareat Alfinjan: The cup reader) (Matha Aqool Laho?: What shall I say to him?)

His verses have remained popular after his death, and have been set to songs by Arab pop-music stars such as Kazem al-Saher and Latifa.

;Hindi

Many of Qabbani's poems are translated into Hindi by Siddheshwar Singh, Arpana Manoj, Manoj Patel, Rinu Talwar and other translators.

;Russian

Evgeniy Dyakonov wrote his PhD thesis on the translation of Qabbani's poetry into Russian; Dyakonov's translations were published by Biblos Consulting, Moscow, in 2007.

See also

  • List of Arabic-language poets
  • Syrian literature – 20th-century poetry

References

  • Nizar Qabbani's books
  • English Translation for some poems of Nizar Qabbani
  • Nizar Qabbani poems in Arabic
  • English translations of Nizar Qabbani poems
  • Qabbani in English at Poems Found in Translation
  • English translations of selected Qabbani works
  • Thoughts Inspired by PBS’s Two-Sentence Report on The Death of Syrian Poet Nizar Qabbani By Salman M. Hilmy, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 1998, pages 74–76
  • English translations of Qabbani's poems I Decided, At Zero and I wrote on the wind.
  • English translation of Marginal Notes on the Book of Defeat
  • NYT article about Dec 1981 bomb attack on Iraqi Embassy in Beirut: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/16/world/bomb-wrecks-iraqi-embassy-in-beirut.html