Cairo -

On January 7, 1888, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram published a poem by an obscure student, which it presented saying, "We stood on a glue system from the pen of writer Ahmed Effendi Shawqi, one of the students of the Law School, congratulating His Highness the Khedive on entering the new year."

Years did not pass until Shawky's poems topped the pages of Al-Ahram, describing him as "the brilliant poet and literary writer", then called him the Prince of Poets because of his poem of lamenting its founder, Bishara Takla, he said at the beginning:

The solution of the two nations is a great speech

A man is dead, and men are few

Al-Ahram newspaper's interest in Shawky's poems reached the point of organizing a literary competition in January 1928 to search for new talents, to translate 10 Shawky poems into English and French.

On his 150th birthday, the most important official newspaper in Egypt described him as "the poet of love, wisdom and patriotism, who restored the elegance and splendor of the Arabic poem."

Palace poet

Ahmed bin Ali bin Ahmed Shawqi was born on Rajab 20, 1287 AH, corresponding to October 16, 1868, in the Hanafi neighborhood of Old Cairo, to a Kurdish father and a mother of Turkish-Circassian origin. He grew up with her in the palace.

At the age of four, he joined the "Kitab al-Sheikh Saleh" in the Sayeda Zainab neighborhood, where he memorized some of the Holy Qur'an and learned the principles of reading and writing. On the collections of Arab poets, the Arab poets excelled in memorization and memorization, so poetry flowed on his tongue.

He was a child when Khedive Ismail petted him with gold pounds scattered in front of his eyes when he noticed that his eyes were attached to the sky, so his eyes turned to gold.

Do I betray Ismael in his sons?

She was born in Bab Ismail

I wore his grace and the grace of his house

You dressed well and dressed beautifully

From France to Spain

At the age of 15, he joined the School of Law and Translation - the Faculty of Law later - affiliated with the Department of Translation. After graduating, he traveled in 1887 to France at the expense of the Ottoman governor of Egypt, Khedive Tawfiq. He continued to study law in Montpellier, and reviewed the masterpieces of French literature, and returned to Egypt in 1891.

After his return, Shawqi became close to Khedive Abbas Hilmi, and was appointed head of the Frankish pen in Khedive Abbas Hilmi's office, and was delegated in 1896 to represent the Egyptian government at the Orientalists Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, until the First World War and the British deposed Helmy.

Critics attribute his support for the Khedive to several reasons, including that the Khedive is the guardian of his grace who took care of him, and including the religious motive that directed poets on the grounds that the Ottoman caliphate is an Islamic caliphate that they must defend.

Shawqi attacked the British occupation of Egypt, which led to his exile to Spain in 1914. In exile, he was acquainted with Arabic literature and the manifestations of Islamic civilization in Andalusia. He composed many pearls of his poetry in tribute to it and nostalgia for his country, Egypt, to which he returned after spending 4 years in exile.

It was his second poetic birth in the years of exile, and he sang his most beautiful patriotic poems, the most famous of which is his saying in the nostalgia for Egypt and its achievement:

O inhabitants of Egypt, we are still upon

The covenant of loyalty, even if our residents are absent

Would you send us some of the water of your river?

Something noble with our fishermen's guts

All the manholes after the Nile are watery

Nothing is further from the Nile than our wishes

He also sang his famous poem in exile:

Did the heart ask about it?

Or was he wounded by the unfortunate time?

Whenever the nights passed by him

Pledge and covenant in the nights that harden

National mole if preoccupied him

You took me to him in the mole myself

Shawky returned to Egypt at the end of 1919 with the permission of King Fouad I, to witness and record the events of the 1919 revolution.

His pledge of allegiance to the prince of poets

At the Opera House in April 1927, the Arab nation’s flags gathered to celebrate the release of the second edition of his Diwan and his membership in the Senate, to pledge allegiance to Shawqi as Prince of Poets, in the presence of the great poets, including the Nile poet Hafez Ibrahim, who praised Shawqi:

Prince of rhymes, you


have pledged allegiance, and these delegations from the East have pledged allegiance with me

hair traits

Shawqi combined the poet of Arab life and Islamic civilization, including feet and faith, and the poet of Western life subject to science, as he was the poet of wisdom and the poet of the sound Arabic language, as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina website says.

Shawqi’s greatest legacy was his poems in poetic theater, which is considered the first Arab pioneer, as he presented his famous poetic plays: The Death of Cleopatra, Qambiz, Majnun Laila and Ali Bek the Great.

Opposition to the Urabi revolution

Shawki did not differ much from the

Arab poets in the

brightest Islamic Ages closer to

the kings and leaders, and

sometimes their praise, defamation sometimes Okhry..kan hate to Shawky 's

position shows the

Revolution of

Ahmed Orabi, and it

was said that the

Khedive Abbas ordered him to disparage Arabi, Shawki Votall said


junior Going back and


forth, is that all your business, my godfather?

However, Shawqi soon praised Orabi’s revolution in the second phase of his life, as he said about him in the poem Parliament in 1926: The


building of fathers who walked with their weapons and


boys who did not find weapons, so they revolted


in it from the

terraced

hill, a wall


of gallows and prisons, a wall

Friendship with Saad Zaghloul

Shawqi was associated with the friendship of senior politicians, art and culture, and he was linked by a friendship relationship with Saad Zaghloul, and Akhbar Al-Youm newspaper says that Saad knew the fate of Shawqi well, and saw in him undoubted greatness, but he was reproached by his volatility, so if King Fouad turned against him, he would throw himself in the arms of Saad, and if the king is satisfied with him, he is cut off.

From Abd al-Wahhab to Umm Kulthum

Shawqi also had a strong friendship with the musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab, despite the great age difference, and Abdel Wahab considered him his spiritual father, and Shawky presented him to the senior men of the age, and he learned a lot from him, even eating habits and maintaining health.

Umm Kulthum turned to Ahmed Ramby's poems, at a time when Shawqi was associated with Abdel Wahab, and in the forties Umm Kulthum was interested in Shawqi's poems and decided to present them after his death, so she presented him with 10 poems all composed by Riyad Al-Sunbati, most notably "Nahj Al-Burdah" and "Wold Al-Huda" in praise The Prophet Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, in addition to the cups of paint, and the blessings of my heart, the Sudan, and to God’s Arafat, the Nile, and others.

His legacy and death

Many believe that Shawqi had a fertile imagination, sincere emotion and strong feelings, and he was the owner of an outstanding poetic talent with which he completed the task initiated by the Egyptian poet Mahmoud Sami Al-Baroudi to revive Arabic poetry and return it to its high level in his brilliant eras, but the Akkad Critical School - headed by Professor Sayed Qutb She insulted Shawqi and his hair, and subjected them to painful insults.

Shawky was one of the most prolific Arab poets. He wrote more than 23,500 lines, and in 1927 all Arab poets pledged allegiance to him as “Prince of Poets” in a large ceremony held in Cairo. .

Shawqi collected his poetry in the Diwan “Al Shawqiyat” which was issued in 4 parts. Then, Dr. Muhammad Al-Sarbouni collected the poems that were not included in the Diwan in two volumes, which he called “Al Shawqiyat Al Majhouliyyah.”

Two days before his 64th birthday, Shawqi died on October 14, 1932, leaving his giant book "Al Shawqiyat" and his poetic plays, without hearing Umm Kulthum's voice singing his most famous poems.