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On Entering the Sea: The Erotic and Other Poetry of Nizar Qabbani
A unique collection by the Arab world's most renowned poet.
In a political age, in which the struggle against external and internal oppression has become central in Arabic poetry, Nizar Qabbani has succeeded in re-establishing the vitality and perennial force of the erotic in human life.
Picking up a tradition of Arabic love poetry sixteen centuries old, he has enriched it with the experience of a modern man deeply aware of the changing status of women in contemporary times, and given the most eloquent poetic expression to the imperative of woman's freedom and her right to assume control over her body and emotions.
An accomplished master of the erotic, standing among the best love poets of the world, Qabbani has asserted life and joy in the face of chaos and tragedy, paying fervent homage, sustained over five decades, to woman's grace and loveliness.
As such he has been able to bring equilibrium and decorum to poetry in crisis, reviving faith in the possibility of happiness and emotional fulfillment. Yet he is also moved to anger by the forces of evil around him, and the opposing poles of exaltation and rage, of agony and ecstasy, describe his unique experiment. A man of his times and of all times, he is by far the most popular poet in the Arab world.
In a political age, in which the struggle against external and internal oppression has become central in Arabic poetry, Nizar Qabbani has succeeded in re-establishing the vitality and perennial force of the erotic in human life.
Picking up a tradition of Arabic love poetry sixteen centuries old, he has enriched it with the experience of a modern man deeply aware of the changing status of women in contemporary times, and given the most eloquent poetic expression to the imperative of woman's freedom and her right to assume control over her body and emotions.
An accomplished master of the erotic, standing among the best love poets of the world, Qabbani has asserted life and joy in the face of chaos and tragedy, paying fervent homage, sustained over five decades, to woman's grace and loveliness.
As such he has been able to bring equilibrium and decorum to poetry in crisis, reviving faith in the possibility of happiness and emotional fulfillment. Yet he is also moved to anger by the forces of evil around him, and the opposing poles of exaltation and rage, of agony and ecstasy, describe his unique experiment. A man of his times and of all times, he is by far the most popular poet in the Arab world.
184 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1998
10 people are currently reading
1111 people want to read
About the author
نزار قباني
250 books7,538 followers* Arabic bio below السيرة الذاتية العربية أدناه
Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani was a Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher. His poetic style combines simplicity and elegance in exploring themes of love, eroticism, feminism, religion, and Arab nationalism. Qabbani is one of the most revered contemporary poets in the Arab world, and is considered to be Syria's National Poet.
When Qabbani was 15, his sister, who was 25 at the time, committed suicide because she refused to marry a man she did not love. During her funeral he decided to fight the social conditions he saw as causing her death. When asked whether he was a revolutionary, the poet answered: “Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set (it) free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense and body with my poetry. The relationships between men and women in our society are not healthy.” He is known as one of the most feminist and progressive intellectuals of his time.
While a student in college he wrote his first collection of poems entitled The Brunette Told Me. It was a collection of romantic verses that made several startling references to a woman's body, sending shock waves throughout the conservative society in Damascus. To make it more acceptable, Qabbani showed it to Munir al-Ajlani, the minister of education who was also a friend of his father and a leading nationalist leader in Syria. Ajlani liked the poems and endorsed them by writing the preface for Nizar's first book.
The city of Damascus remained a powerful muse in his poetry, most notably in the Jasmine Scent of Damascus. The 1967 Six-Day War also influenced his poetry and his lament for the Arab cause. The defeat marked a qualitative shift in Qabbani's work – from erotic love poems to poems with overt political themes of rejectionism and resistance. For instance, his poem Marginal Notes on the Book of Defeat, a stinging self-criticism of Arab inferiority, drew anger from both the right and left sides of the Arab political dialogue.
ولد نزار قباني في مدينة دمشق لأسرة من أصل تركي، واسم عائلته الأصلي آقبيق (عائلة مشهورة في دمشق، آق تعني الأبض وبيق يعني الشارب) حيث قدم جده من مدينة قونية التركية ليستقر في دمشق، عمل أبوه في صناعة الحلويات وكان يساعد المقاومين في نضالهم ضد الفرنسيين – في عهد الانتداب الفرنسي لسوريا - عمه أبو خليل القباني رائد المسرح العربي, ومن أوائل المبدعين في فن المسرح العربي.
اشتهر شعره بتميز واضح وابداع متأثرا بكل ما حوله فكتب عن المرأة الكثير، كان لانتحار أخته بسبب رفضها الزواج من رجل لا تحبه، أثر عميق في نفسه وشعره، فعرض قضية المرأة و العالم العربي في العديد من قصائده، رافضا شوفينية الرجال. نقلت هزيمة 1967 شعر نزار قباني نقلة نوعية : من شعر الحب إلى شعر السياسة والرفض والمقاومة فكانت قصيدته " هوامش على دفتر النكسة " 1967 التي كانت نقدا ذاتيا جارحا للتقصير العربي، مما آثار عليه غضب اليمين واليسار معا.
جمع في شعره كلا من البساطة والبلاغة اللتين تميزان الشعر الحديث، وأبدع في كتابة الشعر الوطني والغزلي. غنى العديد من الفنانين أشعاره، أبرزهم أم كلثوم عبد الحليم حافظ ونجاة الصغيرة وفيروز وماجدة الرومي وكاظم الساهر ومحمد عبد الوهاب، واكتسب شهرة ومحبة واسعة جدا بين المثقفين والقراء في العالم العربي. كان يتقن اللغة الإنجليزية، خاصة وأنه تعلم تلك اللغة على أصولها، عندما عمل سفيراً لسوريا في لندن بين عامي 1952 - 1955.
بدأ نزار يكتب الشعر وعمره 16 سنة وأصدر أول دواوينه " قالت لي السمراء " عام 1944 بدمشق وكان طالبا بكلية الحقوق، وطبعه على نفقته الخاصة. له عدد كبير من دواوين الشعر، تصل إلى 35 ديواناً، كتبها على مدار ما يزيد على نصف قرن أهمها " طفولة نهد ، الرسم بالكلمات ، قصائد ، سامبا ، أنت لي " . لنزار عدد كبير من الكتب النثرية أهمها : " قصتي مع الشعر ، ما هو الشعر ، 100 رسالة حب " . ويعتبر قصتي مع الشعر السيرة الذاتية لنزار قباني .. حيث كان رافضا مطلق الرفض ان تكتب سيرته على يد أحد سواه وقد طبعت جميع دواوين نزار قباني ضمن مجلدات تحمل اسم المجموعة الكاملة لنزار قباني. وافته المنية في لندن يوم 30/4/1998 عن عمر يناهز 75 عاما كان منها 50 عاماً بين الفن والحب والغضب.
Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani was a Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher. His poetic style combines simplicity and elegance in exploring themes of love, eroticism, feminism, religion, and Arab nationalism. Qabbani is one of the most revered contemporary poets in the Arab world, and is considered to be Syria's National Poet.
When Qabbani was 15, his sister, who was 25 at the time, committed suicide because she refused to marry a man she did not love. During her funeral he decided to fight the social conditions he saw as causing her death. When asked whether he was a revolutionary, the poet answered: “Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set (it) free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense and body with my poetry. The relationships between men and women in our society are not healthy.” He is known as one of the most feminist and progressive intellectuals of his time.
While a student in college he wrote his first collection of poems entitled The Brunette Told Me. It was a collection of romantic verses that made several startling references to a woman's body, sending shock waves throughout the conservative society in Damascus. To make it more acceptable, Qabbani showed it to Munir al-Ajlani, the minister of education who was also a friend of his father and a leading nationalist leader in Syria. Ajlani liked the poems and endorsed them by writing the preface for Nizar's first book.
The city of Damascus remained a powerful muse in his poetry, most notably in the Jasmine Scent of Damascus. The 1967 Six-Day War also influenced his poetry and his lament for the Arab cause. The defeat marked a qualitative shift in Qabbani's work – from erotic love poems to poems with overt political themes of rejectionism and resistance. For instance, his poem Marginal Notes on the Book of Defeat, a stinging self-criticism of Arab inferiority, drew anger from both the right and left sides of the Arab political dialogue.
ولد نزار قباني في مدينة دمشق لأسرة من أصل تركي، واسم عائلته الأصلي آقبيق (عائلة مشهورة في دمشق، آق تعني الأبض وبيق يعني الشارب) حيث قدم جده من مدينة قونية التركية ليستقر في دمشق، عمل أبوه في صناعة الحلويات وكان يساعد المقاومين في نضالهم ضد الفرنسيين – في عهد الانتداب الفرنسي لسوريا - عمه أبو خليل القباني رائد المسرح العربي, ومن أوائل المبدعين في فن المسرح العربي.
اشتهر شعره بتميز واضح وابداع متأثرا بكل ما حوله فكتب عن المرأة الكثير، كان لانتحار أخته بسبب رفضها الزواج من رجل لا تحبه، أثر عميق في نفسه وشعره، فعرض قضية المرأة و العالم العربي في العديد من قصائده، رافضا شوفينية الرجال. نقلت هزيمة 1967 شعر نزار قباني نقلة نوعية : من شعر الحب إلى شعر السياسة والرفض والمقاومة فكانت قصيدته " هوامش على دفتر النكسة " 1967 التي كانت نقدا ذاتيا جارحا للتقصير العربي، مما آثار عليه غضب اليمين واليسار معا.
جمع في شعره كلا من البساطة والبلاغة اللتين تميزان الشعر الحديث، وأبدع في كتابة الشعر الوطني والغزلي. غنى العديد من الفنانين أشعاره، أبرزهم أم كلثوم عبد الحليم حافظ ونجاة الصغيرة وفيروز وماجدة الرومي وكاظم الساهر ومحمد عبد الوهاب، واكتسب شهرة ومحبة واسعة جدا بين المثقفين والقراء في العالم العربي. كان يتقن اللغة الإنجليزية، خاصة وأنه تعلم تلك اللغة على أصولها، عندما عمل سفيراً لسوريا في لندن بين عامي 1952 - 1955.
بدأ نزار يكتب الشعر وعمره 16 سنة وأصدر أول دواوينه " قالت لي السمراء " عام 1944 بدمشق وكان طالبا بكلية الحقوق، وطبعه على نفقته الخاصة. له عدد كبير من دواوين الشعر، تصل إلى 35 ديواناً، كتبها على مدار ما يزيد على نصف قرن أهمها " طفولة نهد ، الرسم بالكلمات ، قصائد ، سامبا ، أنت لي " . لنزار عدد كبير من الكتب النثرية أهمها : " قصتي مع الشعر ، ما هو الشعر ، 100 رسالة حب " . ويعتبر قصتي مع الشعر السيرة الذاتية لنزار قباني .. حيث كان رافضا مطلق الرفض ان تكتب سيرته على يد أحد سواه وقد طبعت جميع دواوين نزار قباني ضمن مجلدات تحمل اسم المجموعة الكاملة لنزار قباني. وافته المنية في لندن يوم 30/4/1998 عن عمر يناهز 75 عاما كان منها 50 عاماً بين الفن والحب والغضب.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
May 13, 2010
Reading Nizar’s translated poems is like drinking a cup of coffee that has been diluted ten times with water. And that does not mean that the translation is weak; on the contrary it’s excellent but does not reflect all of his spirit.
When reading his poems in Arabic, Nizar makes you feel happy, loved, frustrated, and outraged all at the same time. You'd toss his book out of anger then pick it up to read more. He plays with your nerves and leaves his finger prints all over your soul.
And I think the only thing he loved more than his woman was the Arab land. He wrote the most beautiful poems about Lebanon, Beirut, Jerusalem, and Syria.
I give this book three stars b/c it does not have the same effect one feels when reading Nizar’s poems in Arabic. Otherwise, it's very well presented and the translators did excellent job …and I wish to see more of his poems translated to English.
My favorites:
Cup and Rose
Without Words
Geometry
You write the poem and I sign it
A man’s nature
Dedication
Each year that you are my beloved
A woman walking within me
Um Al-Mutaz
I Declare: There is no woman like you
An Unfinished Poem
A lesson in Drawing
Beirut, Mistress of the World
Posters
When reading his poems in Arabic, Nizar makes you feel happy, loved, frustrated, and outraged all at the same time. You'd toss his book out of anger then pick it up to read more. He plays with your nerves and leaves his finger prints all over your soul.
And I think the only thing he loved more than his woman was the Arab land. He wrote the most beautiful poems about Lebanon, Beirut, Jerusalem, and Syria.
I give this book three stars b/c it does not have the same effect one feels when reading Nizar’s poems in Arabic. Otherwise, it's very well presented and the translators did excellent job …and I wish to see more of his poems translated to English.
My favorites:
Cup and Rose
Without Words
Geometry
You write the poem and I sign it
A man’s nature
Dedication
Each year that you are my beloved
A woman walking within me
Um Al-Mutaz
I Declare: There is no woman like you
An Unfinished Poem
A lesson in Drawing
Beirut, Mistress of the World
Posters
March 17, 2012
Breathtaking poems.
April 3, 2017
I love Nizar Qabbani. He is one of my favorite poets, and this book does a fantastic job of translating his most popular love poems, with a small dash of his more political pieces. I only wish it included the original Arabic, so the reader could judge the translation.
June 14, 2011
Gorgeous poetry. What a great way to be introduced to a different country, a new (to me) author.
January 2, 2023
“Like a cloud laden with poetry
she rained over my notebooks”
“You are the homeland that gives me identity
He who does not love you... has no homeland.”
“you are the last train; night and day it travels
across the veins of my hands
You are the last train
and I am your last station.”
“My mother was old-fashioned... she did not understand
how a woman could have a first love
and a second... a third...
or fifteenth.
My mother believed in one God, one lover, one love.”
“My son lays down his pens, his crayon box in
front of me
and asks me to draw a homeland for him.
The brush trembles in my hands
and I sink, weeping.”
she rained over my notebooks”
“You are the homeland that gives me identity
He who does not love you... has no homeland.”
“you are the last train; night and day it travels
across the veins of my hands
You are the last train
and I am your last station.”
“My mother was old-fashioned... she did not understand
how a woman could have a first love
and a second... a third...
or fifteenth.
My mother believed in one God, one lover, one love.”
“My son lays down his pens, his crayon box in
front of me
and asks me to draw a homeland for him.
The brush trembles in my hands
and I sink, weeping.”
November 1, 2016
I cannot think of grading Qabbani and that too with a 4. And I am not doing that. Poetry leaves everything to the imagination and translation take much of it away. Although the translations have been put in the hands of gracious interpreters such as Lena Jayussi, W.S. Merwin, and Naomi Shihab Nye, the poems are filling but unsatisfying. Language, vocabulary and descriptions are complete. But the heart is not the original heart. It is a transplant. It is with this heart and donated eyes that we read these poems. And somewhere it hurts.
March 18, 2020
I’ve always loved Nizar Qabbani’s poetry and while this book was good, it didn’t have enough for me. As someone who speaks the Arabic language fluently, I thought some of the translations fell flat. It will always sound ten times more magically in Arabic of course but this book was decent! Found some gems in it.
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April 7, 2017I'm rather appalled at these so-called "translations". For the life of me, I cannot understand why academics choose to engage with work they clearly don't respect. And this is published through "The Project of Translation of Arabic Literature," no less!
February 17, 2014
His poetry is marvelous, but I advise not reading it all at once. It's very lush (which is fine), but I was almost drunk on the words and images after I read the volume in one go.
November 25, 2018
شعرهایی که از عمق وجود لمس میشوند...
چگونه از میان آتش میگذریم
و شعلهاش را میستاییم؟
چگونه از میان آتش میگذریم
و شعلهاش را میستاییم؟
February 1, 2023
I will definitely be going back to this collection of poems many, many times.
June 2, 2025
On Entering the Sea is a powerful and emotional poetry collection. I loved Qabbani’s verse style—elegant, intense, and full of feeling. I read it slowly to truly absorb the emotion; reading it quickly would ruin the magic and blur the depth of his words.
Qabbani is clearly a master of love and erotic poetry. His writing is bold and honest, and I now understand why he’s considered such a courageous voice in the Arab world. Even in English, his poems carry strong emotion, though I could feel that some of the original beauty is lost in translation. I really admire those who can read him in Arabic.
There were also a few poems about Palestine from the 1960s. It’s heartbreaking that what Qabbani wrote 65 years ago still reflects today’s reality. SAD! SAD! SAD!
FREE PALESTINE!
Some verses I enjoyed reading:
I am afraid
"Jugged wine
Loses something when it's poured out."
Foolishness
"When I wiped you from the book of memory
I did not know I was striking out half of my life."
"The kid gnaws on the flesh of tanks and returns to us without hands.
In moments only, a country appears on the clouds, a homeland in the eyes....
A boy abandoning the usual childhood illnesses, the mothworm that nibbles words...
Who is he? This boy who leapt forth from the moldering compost of patience and the language of the dead ...
World newspapers ask how a little boy, lovely as a rose , can change the world... "
Qabbani is clearly a master of love and erotic poetry. His writing is bold and honest, and I now understand why he’s considered such a courageous voice in the Arab world. Even in English, his poems carry strong emotion, though I could feel that some of the original beauty is lost in translation. I really admire those who can read him in Arabic.
There were also a few poems about Palestine from the 1960s. It’s heartbreaking that what Qabbani wrote 65 years ago still reflects today’s reality. SAD! SAD! SAD!
FREE PALESTINE!
Some verses I enjoyed reading:
I am afraid
"Jugged wine
Loses something when it's poured out."
Foolishness
"When I wiped you from the book of memory
I did not know I was striking out half of my life."
"The kid gnaws on the flesh of tanks and returns to us without hands.
In moments only, a country appears on the clouds, a homeland in the eyes....
A boy abandoning the usual childhood illnesses, the mothworm that nibbles words...
Who is he? This boy who leapt forth from the moldering compost of patience and the language of the dead ...
World newspapers ask how a little boy, lovely as a rose , can change the world... "
March 18, 2016
The translations are well done, but I don't think I'm a fan of Qabbani. He's a bit egotistical and indulgent. Even the elegy to his mother is overly male-centric and "who will look after me now?"
He does have moments of lyrical goodness, at least in translation, but even they are demeaning to women. I know he's meant to be this sexual liberator of women, but his writing reflects a view that a woman's worth can be measured only when she is being loved by his narrative voice. Outside of his hyperbolic elevation of the female body, there is no celebration of the female mind or value.
He does have moments of lyrical goodness, at least in translation, but even they are demeaning to women. I know he's meant to be this sexual liberator of women, but his writing reflects a view that a woman's worth can be measured only when she is being loved by his narrative voice. Outside of his hyperbolic elevation of the female body, there is no celebration of the female mind or value.
January 15, 2015
This seems to me to be one of the better translations of Nizar Qabbini poems. The translators, Jayyusi and Elmusa are also known for the well received anthology, Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry.
July 15, 2012
The translator did a fantastic job in bringing Nizar's poems to a wider audience ... The poems are beautifully translated without diluting the meaning ..
November 9, 2016
Lovely book I remember reading it and then rereading again the same week of purchase.
March 18, 2014
To say I loved this would be too little; I think I dog-earred every page. I will be avidly searching for other English translations of his work and suggesting this to anyone I meet.
November 12, 2016
Awesome, amazing. You are reading the adventure of your own life.
You are learning the amazing details, the description, even holding in your own hands, things you have never known before.
You are learning the amazing details, the description, even holding in your own hands, things you have never known before.
June 24, 2025
This was stunning, compelling and important from the very first page to the very last.
Everything he writes has this fantastical, other worldly feeling of longing to them whilst being so rooted in a realistic devotion/desperation. I love every single word and I want to read this again and again. I also wish I could read this in the original language.
I also really enjoyed the introduction written by Salma Khadra Jayyusi. I found it super insightful and a very fitting introduction to the poetry.
Everything he writes has this fantastical, other worldly feeling of longing to them whilst being so rooted in a realistic devotion/desperation. I love every single word and I want to read this again and again. I also wish I could read this in the original language.
I also really enjoyed the introduction written by Salma Khadra Jayyusi. I found it super insightful and a very fitting introduction to the poetry.
November 11, 2024
I open the door of my home
and enter again, without waiting
for an answer
because I am the question and the answer
and enter again, without waiting
for an answer
because I am the question and the answer
July 24, 2025
Not his best collection
October 20, 2025
There is only so much that translation can do.
I wish it contained some of the Poet's more famous works, but alas.
I wish it contained some of the Poet's more famous works, but alas.
November 11, 2025
my favorite poetry book ever
November 22, 2025
One of the best poets ever and a great writer in general from Romance to politics and nostalgia along with beauty and nature. It's a wonderful read cannot recommend it enough
March 9, 2023
"I do not resemble your other lovers, my lady
should another give you a cloud
I give you rain
Should he give you a lantern, I
will give you the moon
Should he give you a branch
I will give you the trees
And if another gives you a ship
I shall give you the journey."
Friheten och kärlekens poet. Hans ord letar sig in till det innersta och får hjärtat att fyllas med liv. Raderna är ofta simpla men de bär likväl de på en sådan kraft att orden tränger sig in i ens eget lilla huvud där bland alla ens tankar och minnen. Älskar honom 🤍
should another give you a cloud
I give you rain
Should he give you a lantern, I
will give you the moon
Should he give you a branch
I will give you the trees
And if another gives you a ship
I shall give you the journey."
Friheten och kärlekens poet. Hans ord letar sig in till det innersta och får hjärtat att fyllas med liv. Raderna är ofta simpla men de bär likväl de på en sådan kraft att orden tränger sig in i ens eget lilla huvud där bland alla ens tankar och minnen. Älskar honom 🤍
June 13, 2016
I don't like how he writes about women. "Let your body be the source / of all our liberty" (in 'Cashmere Down') is basically the idea and no. The foreword was helpful in contextualizing the significance of his poetry - its 'feminism' - but still, no.
Poems I liked: Language, When I Love You, Love Letters, A Lesson in Drawing
Poems I liked: Language, When I Love You, Love Letters, A Lesson in Drawing
August 26, 2010
its best to read the poems in arabic if possible
April 7, 2013
Gorgeous.
January 1, 2014
نزار همیشه عالی هست..
January 14, 2014
I wish this book had been bilingual.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews