International Journal On New Trends In Education And Literature
Vol 1, No 3, Sep 2014
http://www.ijnteljournal.com
Nazik Al Malaika's Life and Her Poetic Common Themes
with ParvinEtesami
Ashraf Roshandel Pour1, Azam NikAbadi1, Fariba Hemati1
1
PhD Student in Persian Literature, Islamic Azad University of Arak
ABSTRACT
The present article looks at Nazik Al Malaika's life, – the first theorist of new poetry in Arab
world – her works and poetic techniques and then examines some of her poem's themes which
are in common with ParvinEtesami's. The issues like both poets being affected by their time
problems, similar family upbringing in terms of literary atmosphere governing both families,
both being contemporary in Persian literature and Arabic literature, both knowing a language
other than their mother tongues and their special education along with being influenced by
western world's poets and writers, their capacity and innovation both in terms of meaning and
format led us to compare the poetry of these two poets.
Keywords: Nazik Al Malaika, ParvinEtesami, common theme, free verse
1. Introduction
Today's Arabic poetry is where it has, to some extent, been able to free itself from the rule of
the past literary devices. Until recently, Arab poets cried over the ruins of the beloved's house
and were slaves of iron-made frameworks of the archaic poetry. However, today's Arabic
poetry is one of the most prolific and dynamic poetries of the world, being direct which is
observed in selecting a format and breaking the old walls of rhythms.
ShafieiKadkani argues that contemporary Arabic poetry is similar to ours (Persian) due to
commonalities and similar social and cultural situations both have and new Arab poets; its
young generations, have a similar situation to ours in many cases, for instance, Al Bayati,
BadrShakir al Sayyab and Adunis remind us, in some cases, of new Persian poets such as H.
A. Sayeh (HooshangEbtehaj), SiavashKasrai, AhamadShamloo, ForoughFarrokhzad etc.
(ShafieKadkani, 2001: 38-39).
Among contemporary Arab poets, Nazik Al Malaika is mostly known as the first new poetry
theorist in Arab world. She was able to break classical meters well and write free verse
poems. ParvinEtesami and Nazik Al Malaika have common concerns and intellectual
language. Although one cannot name a new poetry Persian poetcounterpart for each new
poetry Arab poet, there are always some similarities and subtleties among different countries'
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Vol 1, No 3, Sep 2014
Nazik Al Malaika's Life and Her Poetic Common Themes with
ParvinEtesami
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poets and writers, which need to be studied. For example, some compare Nazik Al Malaika
with Nima, ForoughFarrokhzad or ParvinEtesami. Nazik Al Malaika has intorduced some
innovations in free verse format and ParvinEtesami has brought some innovations in the
manner of proposal and poetic themes, expressing new meanings and themes in traditional
and classical formats in her own style.
Nazik Al Malaika's Biography
Nazik Al Malaika was born in a cultured and literary Shia family (1923) in Iraq. Her father
loved poetry and Arabic language and her mother was very fond of romantic poetry from
whom has beenleft a volume of poetry "Song of Glory". From the very first day of childhood,
Nazik loved writing poems. After finishing high school, she began studying Arabic literature
in the college of Baghdad and after graduation, she went to the USA to continue her studies
and studied English language and comparative literature in Princeton University. Her
university days in the USA acquainted her with world literature, later being an influential
factor in her poetry. After leaving the USA, she started teaching at the Higher Teachers'
Training College in Baghdad but she left Iraq to reside in Beirut for two years. Then, she
returned to Iraq again and became a teacher in the universities of Basra and Mosul and
married Abdel-HadiMahbouba, the president of the university. Nazik and her husband
migrated to Kuwait in 1970 and she began teaching there. With Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, she
went to Egypt in 1990 with her husband and stayed in Cairo till her death. Finally, she passed
away at the age of 85 in Cairo after she got Parkinson's disease (ShafieKadkani, 2001; 139140).
Some of Nazik AL Malaika's Works
Nazik AL Malaika's works mirror the highest level of her inner thoughts and feelings brightly,
falling into two literary and critical categories:
A. Her poetry collections:
1-Lover of the Night, 1947, Baghdad – 2- Sparks and Ashes, Baghdad, 1949 – 3- Bottom of
the Wave, 1957 – 4- Tree of the Moon, 1968 – 5- The Tragedy of Life and Ode to Man, 1970
B. Her prose and critical works:
1-Issues of Contemporary Poetry, 1962 – 2- The Hideaway and the Red Balcony, 1965 3Psychology of Poetry, 1993 4- Fragmentation in Arab Society
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International Journal On New Trends In Education And Literature
Vol 1, No 3, Sep 2014
Nazik Al Malaika's Life and Her Poetic Common Themes with
ParvinEtesami
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Nazik AL Malaika'sPoetic Langauge
Nazik's poetry like many other poets' is a wave rising from the depth of her existence and
expressing her inner thoughts and feelings.
ShafieKadkani believes that Nazik's poetry is dilute and to some degree romantic in which the
roughness and sharpness of Al Bayati and al Sayyab's poetry is not found. Her poetry is clear
and far from any semantic complexity in contrast with that of Adunis and al-Hawi in which
their mystery and legend take one's mind anywhere. All over her poetry, one can observe the
sings of social ideas. A vision of a society's problems which might have been felt by an
intellectual girl the years after the Second World War. The range of vocabulary used in her
poetry is to an extent by which new and wide horizons of the power of expression are opened
for her readers. She articulates whatever she feels, saying:
Whatever my life feels, I express/ and I design the feeling of my strange soul, when the years
into me/plunges the frightening knife, I cry/at whatever fate brings for human, I laugh.
(ShafieKadkani, 2001: 136-137)
Nazik AL Malaika and the Beginning of Free Verse
Undoubtedly, Mrs. Nazik Al Malaika, the Iraqi poet, is the first one who has experienced new
poetry by breaking meters in Arabic poetry and as a critic she has tried to evaluate this
movement and show its metrical concept. Nazik Al Malaika'spreliminary and relatively
incomplete explanations in a collection of her poems"Sparks and Ashes", a new method
called free verse by herself and the people after her, evolved into a systematic definition and
evaluation of metrical boundaries in this kind of poetry. The collection of her critical essays in
"Issues of Contemporary Poetry" was very controversial, making motions in literary criticism
which have been unprecedented recently.
In the introduction of the second collection of her poems; "Sparks and Ashes" published in
1949, she says that poetry is born out of life events and life does not have any certain rule the
events of which cannot be followed. (AL Malaika, 1949: introduction)
In this introduction, she takes two important points into account; poetic language and classical
Arab meters (ShafieKadkani, 2001: 131-134). Her analysis in this introduction is similar to
what NimaYushij talks about the freedom of poetry from meters and the equality of lines in
poetry and that the poet should be allowed to write poems free from theseshackles. However,
as Shafiekadkani notes, the first time Nazik wrote a new poem was in 1947; 8 years after
publication of "Phoenix" poem (ibid: 134).
In "issues of contemporary poetry" which is called the most important book in the field of free
verse and its meters and rules by Shakib Ansari (Shakib Ansari, 1997: 251) and regarded by
ShafieKadkani as one of the most comprehensive books written in the present era in regard
with the developments of Arabic poetry format (ShafieKadkani: 2001: 136), Nazik Al
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Malaika talks about the movement of free verse,"this movement began in 1947 in Iraq – from
Baghdad – extending to other Arab countries. The first free verse poem published was
"Cholera" (composed by me) after which I went to Beirut. It was published in Alorubba and
then I published a collection of poems"Sparks and Ashes", in which there were some free
verse poems. She added that she had written important things in regard with the vital aspects
of this poetic style in this introduction, leading to lots of arguments and before the anger of
the press was to end, she published samples of free verse in the newspapers (Al Malaika,
1962: 3-21).
Nazik Al Malaiks considers the following four as the basic features of new poetry:
1-Inclination toward reality, enabling the poet to make a relationship with life more freely. 2Inclination toward independence; any poet, in this open horizon, reflects his/her own
character as what it really is and far from the traditional forms of poetry. 3- Escaping from
pattern; unlike the old poetry, in free verse there is no prefabricated model resulting to
repetition- 4- the domination of theme over form (SahfieKadkani, 2001; 135-136).
Nazik Al Malaika regards the allowable freedom of the poet in free verse in using a variety of
meters in each line (called shatar by her). She believes that poetry is the only freedom of a
poet. Therefore, she distinguishes new format from traditional couplets. However, all rules
governing the format of couplets are also true about this format. She mentions that the
freshness of free verse lies in the fact that she has incorporated the complete lines into halflines or a part of the line.
Despite all what was said, Nazik Al Malaika does not believe that one should completely opt
for free verse and disregard classical poems. Just like Nima who did not write new poetry
after proposing itbut poetry in traditional formats to show that it was not due to weakness and
inability to write classical poetry that he had put new poetry forth.
In "Issues of Contemporary Poetry", she has directly said that "in summary, free verse shall
not be against our contemporary poetry since the metrical rhythms of free verse are not
suitable for expressing all things and this is because of the bonds like metrical rhythms unity
and the lack of pauses and musical abilities. Though, I do not want this movement be stopped
but total submission to it shall be prevented." (Al Malaika, 1962: 48).
In "Contemporary Arabic Poetry Approaches", it has been said that Nazik's free verse does
not satisfy the appetite and innovation in regard with form but it gradually turned into a
method by which the contemporary human could express his/her mental and sensual attitudes
and desires (Abbasi, 2005: 83).
The Examination of Common Poetic Themes of Both Poets
Nazik Al Malaika was the first one who wrote free verses, being similar to NimaYushij in
Persian poetry. Nazik's familiarity with western literature and especially studying English
© 2014 International Journal On New Trends In Education And Literature
International Journal On New Trends In Education And Literature
Vol 1, No 3, Sep 2014
Nazik Al Malaika's Life and Her Poetic Common Themes with
ParvinEtesami
16-24
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poetry brought her success in this regard. By versifying some pieces which had been rendered
from English books into Farsi by his father, ParvinEtesami also became very interested in
poetry so as to develop her poetical abilities much more. On review of Nazik Al Malaika's life
and that of ParvinEtesami, one finds many similarities between them. 1- Both have been
familiar with a language other than their mother tongues. 2- Both were born to families who
were literary and interested in poetry. 3- Both composed poetry from their childhood. 4- Both
were advised and encouraged to compose poetry in their families. The first educator of Parvin
was her father as that of Nazik was her mother.
The single remaining work of Parvin is her Diwan which includes different forms of her
poetry; sonnet, piece, ode, masnavi etc., and the combination of Khorasani style and Iraqi
style.
After that, the common poetic themes of these poets are dealt with:
1- love
One of their most prominent common themes in their poetry is love. Their love is far from
whims. They try to prevent their love from being poisoned with whims. Love, in
Parvin'sDiwan, is the most permanent element. In fact, her love expresses her beliefs, a
valuable and high love in which self shall be sacrificed for the beloved as has been said in her
piece of "The Truth and Non-truth":
Fragrance has filled all places and beautiful faces are everywhere. There are cypresses,
flowers and jasmines everywhere.
The true love is the one which lies in heart and the utterance is what is spoken through words.
The real lover sacrifices his/her love for his/her beloved. However, all these are just words.
They should be put into practice (Etesami, 1992: 141)
Both poets, due to the conventions governing the society, are faced with some limitations and
difficulties in expressing their love. Both of them have experienced love failure. Parvin
marries a man unintentionally who does not love her and Nazik falls in love at university but
she does not express it for fear of people's reactions. Her love is secret as saying in "Joys and
Sorrows":
How our life passed? How? / Among ruins of our desires and sorrows / yours and my heart
became full of love and wishes but / we still resort to keeping it / although my eyes talk to you
about love / I punish them for failure and separation …
Parvin also says in this regard in the piece of "Wishes":
Better if love be in heart and not evident in a way that cannot even be seen by eyes, and
research, and wisdom be put and understood and reached in the depth of existence (Etesami,
1992: 92)
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"The womanly love of Nazik fluctuates between two points, one point at lowest level of love
and another point at the summit, her love being can be put into two words; we will reunite/we
will separate from each other, come/ do not come" (Abbasi, 2005: 149). After taking her
revenge on her love failure through her poetic imaginations, she thinks that she has destroyed
even her beloved in her romantic memories, however she just finds out that what she was
involved with was only a fancy and she has only destroyed no one but herself. So she
gradually tries to love no one but herself. However, Baghaie believes that Nazik sings the
song of reunion (we will reunite) when she regards her own love as the cure for her emotional
pains (Baghaie, 1995: 48).
But Parvin's love always stands at the top of love's ladder. As Zarrinkoob says, she is the poet
of upbringing and morality which are based on mystical ideas. What she desires is the moral
upbringing which strikes a balance between belief and action and displays the life of human
as something more than sexual desires and material needs (Zarrinkoob, 1999: 370-371).
Therefore, she thinks that love's book has only one paper and nothing but the name of God is
there and all the world represents God.
Love's book is nothing but a paper in which only the name of God has been written on:
All things in the world are representations and signs of God and call "I am the truth" and
admire God (Etesami, 1992: 214-215)
2- woman
Parvin reminds the Iranian woman of her place as a wife and mother and to decorate herself
with knowledge and arts in order to reach her true stand. In the piece of "Hadith of Kindness",
she talks about the sweet duty of motherhood:
No effort is sweet like that of a mother for her child. I have not found something more blessed
than this yet (ibid, 1992: 141)
Or in the piece of "Seedling of Wish", she also encourages women to gain knowledge and
talks about the place of mother and her valuable role in the upbringing of children:
Women have become famous since they have acquired virtues and arts. Without enduring
hardship, no one reaches a high position
Why do not women get their rights and why do some try to remove their names from any
book?
The first teacher of a child is her mother. No ignorant mother can bring up a cultured child
Nazik has paid special attention to women, too, defending the rights of women and girls in
some of her short pieces like "Honor to Shame" and saying there are perhaps young girls who
become victims of men's poisonous suspicions and thoughts and be killed by them due to
what they regard womenas a shame.
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Or in "Bottom of the Wave" poetry collection published in 1957, she quits her personal world
in some way so as to look at women and their hardships and deprivations in the eastern
societies differently as in the poem "Sleeping on the Streets", she depicts an eleven year-old
girl who has no house and family and sleeps at night on the streets in cold winters while she is
hungry. It should be added here that Parvin deals with poverty, deprivations and needs of her
society in her poems as well and "Poetical Letter to Anushirvan" provides support for this
claim, in which she defends the rights of the underprivileged whose sadness will once befall
the cruel.
3- belief in fate
In her poems, Parvin has a strong sense of fatalism and surrenders herself to fate as she has
said in the piece of "Grace of the Truth (God)":
In this short period of lifetime, it is a great advantage for us to enjoy being patient with time's
cruelties
We are not afraid of different events of fate. We are ready to tolerate all difficulties and
accept them (ibid: 130)
Or she mentions that:
Fate is like a dangerous cliff, so do not get on the horse ofwhim and do not race since you
may not find enough time to control it.
God has determined our fate and we cannot change it (ibid: 155-156)
Likewise, Nazik argued that the atmosphere governing her society was compulsory and the
result of fate and there is no way but praying whereas in Arab history, many poets have
invited people to fight so that they have done their social duty well. She considers humans as
slaves who are guided toward the darkness of the unknown world by the blind fate, no one
being able to free him/herself from it.
4- death
The other theme both poets have in common is death. Parvin believes that death is awaiting
everyone and everything. In Zarrinkoob's opinion, the song Parvin has sung which has been
written on her grave shows the domination of death anxiety and the uncertainty of human life
in her soul. The notion of uncertainty and nothingness which are similar to the poems of
NaserKhosrow and Sa'adi in linguistic terms, is mostly based on the mystical notion and
saving the soul (Zarrinkoob, 1999: 371-372)
She easily accepts death and surrenders to it but she talks about this issue in a cautionary,
painful and wistful tone:
Any human who sees the truth and is insightful, can feel death and learns from it.
Whoever you are and wherever you are from, your last destination in this world is death.
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International Journal On New Trends In Education And Literature
Vol 1, No 3, Sep 2014
Nazik Al Malaika's Life and Her Poetic Common Themes with
ParvinEtesami
16-24
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No matter how rich one is, when reaching death, he/she is helpless and poor. (ibid: 293)
One of the miseries of life is death, however, she easily accepts that. ZabihullahSafa considers
Parvin as a poet who seeks the truth and is realistic, understanding the miseries of life better
than everyone and showing them to the reader skillfully. And this kind of perception is largely
influenced by her religious belief and mystical idea (Safa, 1995: 808).
But Nazik regards death as the biggest problem of human's life as Nazik's book author
AlmalaekehAlnaghed says Nazik's poems and ideas reveal that death is considered as
nothingness and problematic, always thinking about it from youth (Ali, 1995: 39).
The theme of her first poem; "The Tragedy of Life", is concerned with life and death along
with its meta-secrets. The poet, in this poem, expresses pessimism and disappointment over a
life being full of pains in which death is the peak of human's miseries. While she complains
about the terror as a result of Second World War along with its destructions and miseries and
invites everyone to peace and reconciliation, she does not find happiness in the world. By
having a glance at the poetry of Nazik Al Malaika, one perceives that her world is based on
pain, suffering, despair and loneliness in a foreign country. Some consider her known poem
"Cholera" as the first free-verse poem in Arabic literature, a poem in which she has tried to
depict the certainty of death with which one will be faced. Below follows one part of Nazik
Al Malaika's ode:
Hey my tears and sorrows, as long as I live in this beautiful world, I will love you.
So you be here, too as long as I live in the world and be with me till my death.
But you; my life on the earth, pass as time asks.
Hey life, set sail and sing as songs asks.
Conclusion
Nazik Al Malaika brought many poetic innovations and made a lot of efforts in criticism in
order to call for free verse, interpret and pay attention to it. And she is regarded as the pioneer
of free verse in Arabic poetry. She, who is mostly recognized as the first free verse theorist in
Arab world, has concerns and intellectual language in common with ParvinEtesami. In
summary, the power of both poets' expression in restating inner thoughts and emotions, their
skill in composing poetry in different formats, their innovation in expressing things whether
in classical format (ParvinEtesami) or in free verse (Nazik Al Malaika) are noteworthy and
both poets have examined themes like love, the place of women, fatalism, death, pain and
suffering, using them in their poems.
© 2014 International Journal On New Trends In Education And Literature
International Journal On New Trends In Education And Literature
Vol 1, No 3, Sep 2014
Nazik Al Malaika's Life and Her Poetic Common Themes with
ParvinEtesami
16-24
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References
[1] Abbas, Ehsan (2005). Contemporary Arabic Poetry Approaches, translated by
HabibullahAbbasi, 1st Edi, Tehran: Sokhan.
[2] Al Malaika, Nazik (1949). Sparks and Ashes, Baghdad: al-Maaref Press.
[3] Al Malaika, Nazik (1962). Issues of Contemporary Poetry, Beirut: Dar Al Adab.
[4] Al Malaika, Nazik (1970). The Tragedy of Life and Ode to Man, Beirut.
[5] Ali, Abdolreza (1995). Nazik Al Malaika, the Critic, 1st Edi, Beirut: Arab Institute for
Studies and Publication.
[6] Baghaie, ImanYusef (1995). Nazik Al Malaika and Temporal Varaiations, 1st Edi,
Beirut: Dar al Kotob al Ilmiyah.
[7] Etesami, Parvin (1992). Diwan, complied by Mohammad Beheshti and Ali Jahed. 1st
Edi, Tehran: Hosseini press.
[8] Safa, Zabihullah (1995). The Treasure of Word, 10th Edi, Tehran: Ghoghnoos.
[9] ShafieKadkani, Mohammadreza (1999). With a Caravan of Fine Robes, 11th Edi,
Tehran: Elmi publications.
[10] ShafieKadkani, Mohammadreza (2001). Contemporary Arabic Poetry, 2nd Edi, Tenran:
Sokhan.
[11] Shakib Ansari, Mahmmod (1997). The Evolution of Contemporary Arabic Literature,
1st Edi, Ahwaz: ShahidChamran University.
© 2014 International Journal On New Trends In Education And Literature