Occasional verse, all or most of it. Verse that shows the inner struggle between the poetic gift of Chafic Maalouf and the occasions on which he was obliged to recite poetry. It reminds you, to some extent, of the positions al-Mutanabbi used to take when he composed occasional verse: he would outwit the occasion and keep away from mentioning it until the close of the poem, and there he would sink into utter flatness, while his openings would be splendid. His verse is elegant — until he comes to mention the occasion.
The verse in this collection is marked by this trait to a far degree. The beautiful openings and what follows them are marked by a delicacy we have not known in any other — delicacy of allusion, and delicacy of deep feeling.
In his poem "The Call of the Oars" he recalls those who sail for the lands of emigration, and recalls their farewell:
By God, I know not whether at their farewell it is the masts that moan or the harbors They looked out, sullen-faced, from the portholes of the ships, as though they were tears wept by the shores
And in his poem "The Return" he recalls his days in the village, and reminds the reader:
of her whose hands would pluck the stars and cast them beneath my pillow of a girl — as though the blackbird's wings had lined her eyes with kohl Say, O hand of the breeze: does the lute-player's plectrum pass over her black lashes?
Her lashes are the remnants of my strings, strung to the remnants of my heart
And in "The Mute Poem":
I built myself a temple; and for a wisdom the priests exalted, I tore my temple down
But our poet, for all the depth and loftiness of his soul, for all his mastery of Arabic, and for all the delicacy and sincerity of feeling and allusion in what we have quoted of his, relapses into flatness when he takes up expressions others have used before him.
He repeats "livers" many times over in a number of the poems; and in his poem to the poet Shawqi he again sinks very low, when he alludes to servitude in poetry, and to verse refusing to obey him when the Prince of Poets is in his presence.. etc., etc..
This is among what most offends in his verse; but the primary craftsmanship of his poetry is not touched by these lapses. His love for his country and his homeland, his pride in the Arab heritage, and this feeling of love and of memories — all this makes his verse among the best that the presses have lately brought out.
"The Call of the Oars" by Chafic Maalouf has been issued by "Dar al-Ahad" of Beirut, in an elegant printing on glossy paper.
Men of Arabic letters know the engaging studies on a variety of subjects by Dr. Anis Frayha, professor of Semitic languages at the American University of Beirut. He has lately favored us with two precious treatises, each on its own: the first, "The Names of the Arabic Months and Their Meanings," a philological and historical study of a hundred pages; the second, "The Simplification of Arabic Grammar" and its arrangement on a new logical basis, addressed to all who concern themselves with Arabic and its teaching, its pages likewise approaching a hundred.
Both treatises treat their subjects exhaustively, in that "Frayhian" style well known to readers of our genial professor in all his other studies.
We thank him for his two ample treatises in the name of all who value such studies.
The composer of this diwan is a Beiruti poet who lived 26 years, 1869–1895, and whom Arabic literature lost fifty-eight years ago. His diwan was collected by Mr. Jirji Niqula Baz and published by the poet's sister's son, Mr. Boulos Halim Fayyad, the former minister; it comprises a thousand verses of love poetry, panegyric, wedding and festival pieces, and elegy, to which are added the poets' elegies for the composer, who left among the works of his pen [...]
also three plays for the stage,
Cussons Talcum Powder — Mimosa
Ask for Cussons talcum powder, for it is refreshing
Mimosa — Coronation — Floral
The baby powder with the white cross
Cussons Mimosa powder