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Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani is a celebrated contemporary Arab poet, who mostly wrote love poems, poems about women, and eroticism ("Nizar Qabbani - Nizar Qabbani Biography - Poem Hunter"). After completing school, he started work as a diplomatic attaché and spent his life working as a Syrian diplomat in many different countries. He was born and brought up in Damascus, the capital city Syria. He attended Scientific College School. He then joined Damascus University from where he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Law. His first poetry anthology was published when he was a college student. It was a collection of overly expressive erotic poems which would have been controversial in a traditional Arab community, but the book got the green light with a forward from a minister in the government, who was his father's friend. He worked as a consul in many countries before he finally resigned to pursue publishing ("Nizar Qabbani - Nizar Qabbani Biography - Poem Hunter"). He was married twice and had four children from both marriages. Some his poems have been inspired by the deaths of family members; he celebrates and eulogizes his son, Tawfiq, and his second wife, Baqis.
My Lady
My lady is a poem by Nizar Qabbani. The poem is structured in a simple format and wording but carries loaded messages through the descriptions given by the author. The poem repetitively addresses the woman, detailing how valued she is. This poem is a lyric poem since it expresses deep emotions of love and admiration. It is, to me, a reminder of when I loved my girlfriend, Alahsa, from Saudi Arabia. She was my first love; we were young and had our whole lives ahead of us. Everything about her was as beautiful as fairy tale, just as described Nizar in this poem. The persona describes the importance of the woman in his life and declares that his love for her is timeless. Qabbani uses simple language, imagery, and vivid description to bring out the theme of love and admiration for a beautiful woman.
Simple narration
Imagery
The poem uses imagery to develop further the theme of love and appreciation by bringing out how precious the lady is and how much the persona is in love with her. The lines “the one who swims in the water of my heart like a fish/ the one who lives in the eyes like a folk of pigeons," compares the fondness he has for his lady and the hold that she has on him with the fish and the pigeon; furthering the theme of love and admiration. The persona also uses the lines “you're a woman made of the poetry nectar /and from the Dreams' Gold,” to show his admiration by expressing how precious she is.
Vivid Description
The poem also uses a vivid description of his love and his lady to develop the theme of love. The persona details what the lady means to him from the first stanza of the poem, saying, “before the leaving of this year / You're now/ the most important woman / after the birth of this year." This detailed description brings out the magnitude of love that the persona feels for the partner. It makes the reader be immersed in the emotions of the persona and understand how precious the lady is to him.
The simple structure of the poem presents the ideas in an understandable way, incorporation explanations on what the lady means to him and using comparisons to underscore her value. The poet effectively uses imagery, vivid description, and simple narration to bring out the theme of love and admiration for the person he refers to as his lady.
Works Cited
"Nizar Qabbani - Nizar Qabbani Biography - Poem Hunter". Poemhunter.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
