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Republic of Love
By far the most popular poet of the Arab World, popular in the true sense of the word. The late Nizar Kabbani's selected poems appear here in English for the first time. So popular is he that one of his poems is the greatest love song in the Arab world, recorded by the legendary Egyptian singer Um Khaslsoum and played on virtually every taxi's radio across the Middle East.
- GenresPoetry
First published June 15, 2002
4 people are currently reading
192 people want to read
About the author
Nizar Qabbani
243 books23 followersNizar 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 18, 2019
تمثل "جمهورية العشق" أول كتاب قرأه باللغة العربية. كتبه الشاعر المصري الشهير نزار قباني. على الرغم من أن غالبية القصائد تدور حول الحب، إلا أن بعض القصائد سياسية. في كل صفحة من صفحات الكتاب، كانت القصيدة باللغة العربية وترجمت إلى الإنجليزية. الترجمة لم تكن حرفية. على الرغم من صعوبات الفهم، استمتعت بمعظم القصائد. كانت المفضلة منهل لي هي تلك التي انتقد فيها المجتمع من خلال استعارة العشاق المتناحرين. آمل أن أقرأ هذا العمل مرة أخرى في المستقبل عندما تكون لغتي العربية أفضل.
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October 21, 2025El libro es la edición bilingüe de El libro del amor en la editorial Hyperión.
Primera vez leyendo a Qabbani y de mis primeras aproximaciones a la vasta y siempre rica poesía árabe. En términos generales son poemas correctos, sin sobresaltos, aunque algunos caen en un patetismo en exceso. Por suerte, se ve compensado con algunos poemas realmente buenos y de una fuerza lírica y sentimental realmente grande. Dejo por aquí el que más me ha gustado:
Lluevo en tus ojos cual nube
llevando en mis maletas
un tesoro de tristezas y pesares,
mil arroyos
y un millón de bosques.
Llevando bajo el abrigo
la historia y el alfabeto.
Primera vez leyendo a Qabbani y de mis primeras aproximaciones a la vasta y siempre rica poesía árabe. En términos generales son poemas correctos, sin sobresaltos, aunque algunos caen en un patetismo en exceso. Por suerte, se ve compensado con algunos poemas realmente buenos y de una fuerza lírica y sentimental realmente grande. Dejo por aquí el que más me ha gustado:
Lluevo en tus ojos cual nube
llevando en mis maletas
un tesoro de tristezas y pesares,
mil arroyos
y un millón de bosques.
Llevando bajo el abrigo
la historia y el alfabeto.
November 6, 2015
After reading (and being delighted by) ARABIAN LOVE POEMS, I was very excited to read REPUBLIC OF LOVE and I was not disappointed. Kabbani's poems are an honest delight, at once addressed to a specific reader and a universal audience. I'm so, so happy to have discovered this poet. It's a high honor just to read his work in English, knowing how divided he was about having his works translated.
Unlike with ARABIAN LOVE POEMS, this book featured longer poetic works, and the selections themselves seem more fiery and bombast. There were several that had a more political tone about Arab society, and Kabbani took on the female voice to stinging , sure effect. The translators did a very earnest job, even going so far as printing Kabbani's own thoughts on translating at the end of the book. The original poems in Arabic are present too, and it was obvious all parties did their best to convey the author's original poetic meaning. Overall, I loved it and definitely recommend it to any and all!
Unlike with ARABIAN LOVE POEMS, this book featured longer poetic works, and the selections themselves seem more fiery and bombast. There were several that had a more political tone about Arab society, and Kabbani took on the female voice to stinging , sure effect. The translators did a very earnest job, even going so far as printing Kabbani's own thoughts on translating at the end of the book. The original poems in Arabic are present too, and it was obvious all parties did their best to convey the author's original poetic meaning. Overall, I loved it and definitely recommend it to any and all!
August 16, 2023
absolute work of art.
August 3, 2025
the poems were great sad I can't read Arabic but this guy really loves breasts couldn't go a single poem without mentioning them It was kinda funny and a bit random at moments
April 15, 2018
The poetry and prose of a man with extraordinary intuition, insight and vision; about love, mad love, women, women in Arab cultures and history... as never talked about by any other nor with such passion described in powerful and amazing imagery.
...shokran Leila; may I remember you forever.
...shokran Leila; may I remember you forever.
October 26, 2014
Beautiful, thought-provoking poems - only regret is my inability to read them in their original Arabic.
August 30, 2024
never felt more grateful to understand arabic, i loved both the original poems and their translations nearly just as much
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews