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8/6/2019 Presentation Pamela

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Jawdat Haydar and the Modern Spirit

of the Mahjar Poets


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Haydars Life

Haydar was born in Baalbeck in 1905.

He joined his exiled family in Anatolia in 1914.

Upon his return to Lebanon, he developed a

particular interest in the English language.

In 1925, he traveled to the USA to pursue his

education at North Texas University.

He wrote his first English poem there. In 1928, he decided to come back to Lebanon,

but he faced some complications.


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Haydars Life

In 1960, he decided to devote the rest of his life

to poetry writing.

In 1980, Voices, his first collection of poems,

was published in New York.

Voices was followed by Echoes (1986),

Shadows (1999) and 101 Selected Poems

(2001). His writings reveal the influence of the Mahjar

poets.


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The Mahjar Poets

By 1905, the Mahjar poets had already settled in

the USA and started their literary careers.

They belonged to the wave of Lebanese

immigrants who were forced to leave theircountry because of Ottoman oppression.

Living as exiles, they were rooted in their Arabic

culture; therefore, they continued to write in

Arabic. However, they realized the importance of their

newly acquired English language and decided to

use it to address the outside world.


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The Mahjar Poets

They were concerned for the Arabic languageand aware of the need to overcome thelimitations set by Arabic poetry.

As a result, they found much freedom ofexpression in English.

Due to their exile, they wrote about their feelingsof nostalgia, longing for Lebanon, idealization of

nature, alienation, and cultural experience. These themes are found in Haydars poetry, but

under a MODERN light.


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The purpose of the study is

To argue that Haydar not only reincarnates the

spirit of the Mahjar poets, but he also represents

a continuity, which is shaped by modernism,

through the development of the themespreviously emphasized by the Mahjar poets.

Neoclassicism Romanticism The Mahjar Movement The Tammuz School Modernism Jawdat Haydar

1870s 1900s 1940s 1950s-1960s 19801870s 1900s 1910s-1920s


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The Four Major Areas Under Study

1- Haydars Cultural Identity

2- Haydars Use of English

3- Haydars Poetic Themes

4- Haydars Modernism


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1- Cultural Identity

The Mahjar poets retained their Arab identity

while embracing the American culture. As a

result, they were obviously culturally hybrid. The

nature of their identity is revealed in Rihanisterms: I am a citizen of two worlds [the East and

the West] a citizen of the Universe (The Book

of Khalid 237).

Although Haydar did not live in exile, his writings

reveal his belonging to two cultures: the Arab-

Lebanese and the English.


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Haydar declared: Despite its international

course, the poetry I write in English is steeped in

my roots as an Eastern and Arab man who feels

the hardships of his nation and suffers deeplywith it (Khairallah 51).

One critic commented: Haydar grants us the

privilege of sharing with him the intellectual

heritage of those Lebanese who feel as much at

home in the American cultural tradition as in

their own (Wahbeh 5).


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1- Cultural Identity Haydar praised the beauty of his homeland:

The deep is rising, the ships heading east

The green mountains capped with snow behind

Perhaps the eye of an artist possessed

May contain such a paradise in mind

(Voices, Lebanon, 5-8)

At the same time, he remembered Texas dearly:

Oh! no more never more those homely sunsets,

No more never more those song sparrows to hear;

Ah! For the Queen moon to take me where she sets

On the horizon in old Texas, the dear.

(Echoes, Sweet Home, 13-16)


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Because Haydars poetry aimed to release thepoet from the constraints of time and place, it isuniversal in many ways.

Cultural identity is not a stable nucleus in thehuman being because it is a continuous andchanging process (Funk and Sitka xiv).Therefore, it would be inappropriate to bind

Haydar with one cultural identity. Instead, it isbetter to perceive him as a cultural hybrid, whohad a humanistic sense of belonging to theworld.


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2- The Use of English

Haydar considered the Arabic language to beone of the greatest languages in the world(Mishwar al Omor 168), but he was also aware

that it was outdated and needed to bemodernized and changed.

The fact that the English language provided him

with what he needed to express himself explainshis decision to use English exclusively in hispoetry.


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2- The Use of English

In addition, the use of English meant the ability

to reach larger audiences around the world,

especially for a poet who sought to convey his

messages to the world.

Finally, Haydars exclusive use of English may

be interpreted as a direct development from the

Mahjar tradition of writing.


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3- The Themes

Idealized nature and

condemned the harmful

effects ofindustrialization and the

preoccupation with

materialism.

Used the theme of

nature to condemn the

scenes of destruction inLebanon.

And to warn against

imminent environmental

catastrophes.

1) NatureThe Mahjar Poets Jawdat Haydar


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3- The Themes

Expressed theirnostalgia by

remembering thechildhood years theyspent in Lebanon.

Stayed in the past.

Expressed his nostalgiaby remembering the

glorious past ofLebanon.

Projected the past into

the future to show thereaders that Lebanoncan restore its gloriousimage of the past.

2) Nostalgia for the pastThe Mahjar Poets Jawdat Haydar


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3- The Themes

Longed for their native

country because they

were living as exiles inthe USA.

Expressed his longing

for Lebanon despite the

fact that he was not inactual exile.

His longing springs

from his rejection of the

present situation of hiscountry and his wish to

reunite with the

Lebanon of the past.

3) Longing for LebanonThe Mahjar Poets Jawdat Haydar


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3- The Themes

Were compelled to

leave their country.

Felt alienated upon

their arrival in a strange

land.

Were unable to cope

with and integrate theirnew-found society.

Did not write his poems

in exile.

Expressed feelings of

alienation which were

the result of his

rejection of the bitter

reality of his countryand environment.

4) AlienationThe Mahjar Poets Jawdat Haydar


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The Mahjar poets alienation was the result of apersonal experience.

Haydars alienation, on the other hand, was the

result of the combination of collectiveconsciousness with personal experience.

What makes Haydar a modern poet is hiscommitment to political, social and

environmental issues. Commitment or Iltizam is, in fact, a modern

concept, introduced to Arabic poetry in the1950s.


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1) Political Commitment:

Haydar believed in Lebanese unity; therefore, he

called for all Lebanese people to unite in the name

of their love for their country:

Brothers why be like a moon on the wane

Ever beating the bolted door in vain

Hence why not unite again to stand gainPrideful of your Lebanese cultured vein(Shadows, Brothers, 1-4)


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He was also a supporter of Lebanese

nationalism and condemned foreign powers for

disseminating discord among the Lebanese and

causing the War. He condemned the strong nations which purport

to be protecting the rights of man and yet abuse

them.

In short, he condemned the erroneous use of

power which leads to the destruction of nations

and people.


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2) Social Commitment:

Haydar was attentive to his peoples sufferings.

He was also a supporter of womens rights.

He called for Lebanese immigrants to return totheir country:

Come back put your foot down and your head up

Like proud Sannin on the breast of our landWith eyes looking the world from the top up

Our flag, down the years of the brine washng sand(Shadows, Lebanese Immigrants, 21-24)


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3) Environmental commitment:

Haydar committed his poetry to the

condemnation of forces that strive to harm

nature. In his own terms: Nature is a gift fromGod. I hope that through my work I can convey a

simple message saying: People of Earth, better

listen and be awake, be wise, read the past to

make the future. Do not pollute nature, do notdestroy it, avoid wars; otherwise, you shall lose

the paradise you are living on (McDonnell 29)


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He warned against the creation of another hellon earth through the wrong use of science.

Blinded by their desire for glory and

achievement, scientists have turned the worldinto a place of despair:

The world has become the home of despair

Countries full of scorpions and baneful snakes

Mad cows pigs goats and sheep and still unawareOf the most bloody future and earthquakes

(101 Selected Poems, Walk Straight, 1-4)


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In my 100 years I have seen a lot of changes

around me in the world, but the elements that

inspired me to write remain constant all through

my life on this earth. (Jawdat Haydar) These elements are related to his love for his

country and its nature and his belief in the

possibility for world peace.

His poetry shows a Mahjar influence, which he

developed and modernized.

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