Lebanon the Poet

"Lebanon the Poet"

A new book added to the shelves of the Arabic library. It is one of the publications of al-Hikma, running to two hundred and twenty-one pages, from the pen of a poet of Lebanon, Mr. Salah Labaki, president of the Ahl al-Qalam society, with a foreword by Mr. Fouad Kanaan, editor-in-chief of the magazine al-Hikma.

"Lebanon the Poet" is a series of lectures which Mr. Labaki delivered on his journey to Egypt, in preparation for the Conference of Arab Writers which convened at Beit Mery...

These lectures are a delightful "film" — or rather a fascinating survey — of the generations of Lebanese Arabic poetry and their development, from the age of resurgence — that is, the first half of the nineteenth century — and the age of the renaissance — its second half — down to this silver age, if the expression is sound, the age of symbolism.

And Salah Labaki speaks to you of Lebanese Arabic poetry and its poets, at home and in the Mahjar, without confusion or complication — drawing not on poetic authenticity alone, but on understanding and study of the different generations, together with the events and influences that preceded or accompanied them, treating the various poetic schools now by analysis and now by comparison. In all this he neither flatters faces nor sets one school above another; gentle in what he says, courteous in what he points out, and most often calling the words of others to his aid.

And despite the splendid introduction with which he prefaced his book, defining "the poetic spirit and beauty," we see him standing humble and reverent in the sanctuary of verse, respecting the rites of every devotee. And no wonder: for poetry with him is like worship — an art; and art is beauty; and beauty is a harmony of lights and shadows from the reflections of life upon the page of the heart.

In sum, "Lebanon the Poet" is a radiant face among the faces of beloved Lebanon, resident and emigrant, which Mr. Labaki lifts high to be a lamp for the rising generations and a spur to the new cohort...