Nazik al-Malaʾika

1923 -

Iraqi poet and critic.

Nazik al-Malaʾika was born in 1923 in Baghdad, and is one of the greatest Arab poets of the twentieth century. One of the earliest creators and advocates of what is known in the Arab world as modern free poetry, this Iraqi woman influenced the course of contemporary Arabic poetry. Al-Malaʾika's mother was a poet, and her father wrote a twenty-volume encyclopedia on Arabic grammar and literature. In her youth, al-Malaʾika was influenced by the modern poetry of Mahmud Hasan Ismaʿil, Badawi al-Jabal, Amjad al-Tarabulsi, Umar Abu Risha, and Bishara al-Kuli, and also by the contemporary music of Umm Kulthum and Mohammed Abdul Wahab. In 1947 she broke free from the constraints of traditional Arabic poetry and composed the poem "Cholera" in lines of unequal length. Only in this new nonclassical form, she would write, could her emotions be expressed.

Al-Malaʾika has been primarily a poet of blank verse, although she has not strayed entirely from traditional poetic forms. In 1949, her second collection of poems, Sparks of Ashes, was published, including a controversial introduction explaining her new poetic theories. Her work was widely read and criticized across the Arab world, altering the debate on Arabic poetry. She became a regular contributor to leading poetry and critical journals in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, and soon numerous poems using the same form were in print, many dedicated to al-Malaʾika herself. In 1954 she wrote one of many essays dealing with the repression of women in Arab patriarchal society. Her essay, "Women between the Extremes of Passivity and Ethical Choice," is considered a feminist classic.

A significant event in al-Malaʾika's life was the 1958 Iraqi revolution, which she commemorated with joyous poetry comparing Iraq to an orphan now in a "paternal embrace." The revolution, however, did not yield what it promised, and al-Malaʾika fled to Beirut. When she later returned to Iraq, she and her husband founded a university in Basra where she taught and wrote. She continued to publish for decades, living in Iraq, Kuwait, and Egypt. Her poetry continued to evolve, securing her a place in the canon of Arabic literature.

Bibliography

Handel, Nathalie. The Poetry of Arab Women: A ContemporaryAnthology. New York: Interlink, 2001.

Malaʾika, Nazik al-. Yugaer Alwanhu Al-Bahr. Cairo, Egypt: 1998.

— ELISE SALEM