Q:Write a note on the life and literary works of Ahmad Shouqi.

Introduction:
Ahmad shouqi was one of the greatest Arabic poet laureate. He was an Egyptian poet and dramatist who pioneered the modern Egyptian literary movement, most notably introducing the genre of poetic epics to the Arabic literary tradition. He was nicknamed Amir al- Sho'araã which literary means the prince of poets,

Life:
Crown of poets and poetry Ahmad Shawqi was born in 1868 at Cairo. He got his early education from Madrassa tul Haqooq in Cairo.Upon graduating from high school, he attended law school, obtaining a degree in translation. Shawqi was then offered a job in the court of the Khedive Abbas II, which he immediately accepted.
After a year working in the court of the Khedive, Shawqi was sent to continue his studies in Law at the Universities of Montpellier and Paris for three years.
While in France, he was heavily influenced by the works of French playwrights, most notably Molière and Racine. He returned to Egypt in 1894, and remained a prominent member of Arab literary culture until the British forced him into exile in southern Spain, Andalusia, in 1914. Shawqi remained there until 1920. After coming back , he again started his literary works with great zeal and zest. He died in 1932.

Literary Works:

Poetry:
Ahmad Shawqi was a momentous and worldwide famous poet. His poetry was filled with ripen thoughts, good political, patriotic and nationalistic approaches. He introduced new trends in poetry in the form of epic and wrote patriotic and general incidental long poems such as “waddi neel”.
His style is very unique and common sense. His words are common and simple. His meaning extracting way is very graceful.
His Poetry can be divided into two periods:
1)Before exile
2)After exile
Before exile his basic object was to oblige the King and remained stuck with royal family. In this era he only praised kings and other royal members.
After exile he began to write poems in nationalistic style. His focus became common interest of his country and its population.
In the service of Islam , Ahmad wrote “Al hamziah wa Nabwiyya” and “Nahj al-Burda”.

Plays:
Shawqi was the first in modern Arabic literature to write poetic plays. He wrote five tragedies:
• Majnun Laila (literally "The Mad about Layla"), his first play.
• The Death of Cleopatra
• 'Antara
• Ali bek el-Kabeer
• Qambeez (Cambyses II), 1931
and two comedies:
• Es-Set Huda (Madam Huda)
• El-Bakhila (the Miser)
in addition to a prose play: the Princess of Andalusia.

Prose:
Shauqi wrote symbolic and metaphorical prose. The only difference between poetry and prose was that in prose there was no rythm like the Markets of Gold.

Novels:
Shawqi wrote several novels. A few survived among which:
• The Last Pharaoh, translated by Poet Ahmed Seddik

Conclusion:
Ahmad Shawqi’s contribution in literature is great . During first world war he wrote poetry to evoke nationalism, patriotism and emotions for Jihad among the people of Egypt and other Muslim world. So he was called Ameer u Shuraa, Shair e Misar wal Mashriq and Shair ul Muslimeen.

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