A new book reviews the prominent Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani’s poetry, life and literature

The new book “Nizar Qabbani …the Syrian Icon of Love”, by the researcher Iyad Murshed, monitors some poetic situations in the life of the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani and the different visions on his poetry and literature, according to what was written by a number of Arab writers.

Murshid believed, according to the book, that poetry is the human ambassador across time and it monitors the lives of peoples, stressing that Nizar Qabbani was Syria’s permanent ambassador and bearer of its pain, its civilization and its beauty.

The researcher viewed that Qabbani was a poetic figure who transcended the limits set for questions and attracted critics and the media to the point that he was an inspiration to poets due to the beauty and strangeness of his style and his rich and comprehensive experience.

Murshid indicated that Qabbani is a rebellious poet who rejected reality and isolation and committed himself to the Arab reality, carrying his Damascene sword to reject all the mazes of subservience, normalization and occupation.

According to the author, Qabbani fought all that harmed society in various literary, political, and social ways. His poems instilled the conscience of the Syrian and Arab people because he represented them with all loyalty and sincerity to the point that he asked the Parliament at the time to expel him from the diplomatic corps.

Murshid added that the famous Syrian poet was loyal to his belonging to Damascus and his homeland despite the distance, referring that he was a modern poet who spoke about women and their aspirations in a systematic way, and about freedom and breaking restrictions and the defeats of the Arabs and called for struggle and liberation.

The book included a number of topics that were addressed by writers and critics, including ” Nizar Qabbani’s Contemporary Love”  by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, “Nizar Qabbani’s poetry an important social document” by Salma Al-Khadraa Al-Jayyousi and others.

The researcher depended in his 360-page book, issued by the Syrian General Organization of Books,  on comprehensiveness in selection, accuracy and methodology.

Rawaa Ghanam