1875 - 1945
Most prominent poet in Iraq between the world wars.
Maʿruf al-Rasafi was born in Baghdad into a family of Kurdish origin, and studied at the Rashidiyya school there. His knowledge of classical Arabic sources enabled him to teach Arabic language and literature in higher institutes of learning in Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Constantinople (now Istanbul). He represented Baghdad in the Chamber of Deputies in Constantinople, and after the establishment of the kingdom of Iraq, he was elected to parliament.
Although his poetry was composed in a classical language, Rasafi was regarded as a voice of the people who fearlessly attacked Iraq's social and political maladies.
A first edition of Rasafi's Diwan was published in Beirut in 1910. Subsequent editions in his lifetime appeared in 1925 in Cairo and in 1931 in Beirut. A five-volume annotated edition was published in Baghdad in 1986.
Rasafi published works on Arabic language and literature, including an important study on the modern dialect of Baghdad (serialized in al-Karmali's Lughat al-Arab in 1926 - 1928).
Bibliography
Badawi, M. M. A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Badawi, M. M., ed. Modern Arabic Literature. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Jayyusi, Salma Khadra. Trends and Movements in Modern ArabicPoetry. Leiden: Brill, 1977.
— SASSON SOMEKH
