[”A Profile from the Archives“ is a new series published by Jadaliyya in both Arabic and English in cooperation with the Lebanese newspaper, Assafir. These profiles will feature iconic figures who left indelible marks in the politics and culture of the Middle East and North Africa.]
Name: Badr
Name of father: Shakir
Date of birth: 1925
Name of wife: Iqbal Taha Abduljalil
Children: Ghaida/Ghilan/Alaa
Major: Degree from the High School of Teachers
Profession: Poet
Badr Shakir Essayyab
- Iraqi.
- One of the pioneers who renewed modern Arabic poetry. He is considered, along with Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati and Nazik Al-Malaeka, the first who attempted to write the new form of the Arabic poem, what is called "Al-Taf'aila poem."
- Born in the town of Jaikour, south of Basra. He was the oldest of his brothers, Abdullah and Mustafa. His father was so happy of his birth that he wrote down his date of birth but forgot it later. The researcher, Mahmoud Al-'Aabta, checked the records of Al-Mahmudiya school, where the poet studied, and found out that his date of birth was in 1925.
- His father, Shakir Abdul Jabbar bin Marzouk Assayab, used to work at the Bureau of Dates.
- His mother, Kareema, was an illiterate woman and his father's cousin. She died in 1932. His father remarried, so he and his brothers moved to live with his paternal grandmother, Ameena.
- He married Iqbal Taha Abdul Jaleel on 19 June 1955 and had three children: Ghaida, Ghailan and Aala.
- He studied in Bab Suleiman School, and Al-Mahmoudiya School in Abi Al-Khaseeb, and then he joined Al-Basra high school.
- He finished his high school studies in 1943. He suffered from anemia due to the extremely poor life he had, which caused malnutrition. He also suffered from tuberculosis in his youth, which made him thin.
- He joined the High School of Teachers in Baghdad in 1943, where he received his academic degree and met with Baland Al-Haydari, Suleiman Al-Esa, Ebrahim Al-Samarae, and Nazik Al-Malaeka. At that time, he joined the Communis Party and was elected the President of the Student Union of the High School of Teachers.
- Between 1944 and 1945, a group named "Abqar Brothers" was established in the High School of Teachers. This group addressed issues about poetry with unrestricted freedom relying on the support of the dean of the school, Matta Aqrawi. Essayyab was a member of this group.
- He was fired from the High School on 1 August 1946 because of his political activism as a member of the Communist Party.
- He moved later to work as a clerk in the Bureau of Imports.
- He met with Lamea Abbas Amara in 1948 and fell in love with her but certain social circumstances ended the relationship. He graduated in the same year from the High School of Teachers and was appointed as English teacher in Ramadi High School.
- He was fired on 25 January 1949, from the Ministry of Dducation and banned from teaching for ten years. He was arrested and sent to jail in the same year.
- He travelled to Basra where he worked as a taster of dates in the Iraqi Dates Company.
- He worked as a clerk in Basra Oil Company.
- He returned to Baghdad and suffered from unemployment until he found a job as a warehouse manager for a roads paving company in Baghdad.
- After the political turbulence In Baghdad in 1952, he feared arrest and fled to Iran and later to Kuwait using a forged Iranian passport with the name of "Ali Arting" on board a sailing ship from Abadan In 1953. He described this trip in his poem "Al-Firar" or "Fleeing."
- In Kuwait, he found an office job in Kuwait's Electricity Company.
- In 1954, "Adab" magazine hired him and published his work.
- Few months later, he returned to Baghdad and cut his ties with the Communist Party. He was appointed in the General Bureau of Imports and Exports.
- In the winter of 1957, he was introduced to the Lebanese newspaper, "Alshi'ar", published by Yousif Al-Khal, and Essayyab soon became one of its writers alongside Adonis and Unsi Al-Haj. At that time, he cut his relationship with "Adab" magazine which previously hired him.
- On 7 April 1959, a ministerial order fired him from government service for three years.
- He visited Beirut in 1960 to publish a collection of his poetry and met with Yousif Al-Khal, Unsi Al-Haj, Khaleel Hawi and others. A poetry competition for the best poetry collection organized by "Shi'ar" magazine coincided with his visit. He won the first prize (1000 Lebanese Lira then) for his collection "Unshudat Al-Matar" or "The Song of the Rain," that was published later by "Shi'ar" publishing company.
- He returned to Baghdad after his dismissal was overturned and he was appointed in the Iraqi Ports Bureau, which drove him to move to Basra.
- He was arrested on 4 February 1961, and released on 20 February of the same year. He then returned to his work in the bureau.
- His financial situation forced him to translate two American books for The Franklin Institution in 1961.
- He received an invitation in 1961, to join "The Contemporary Literature" Convention in Rome under the patronage of the International Organization for the Freedom of Culture.
- His health started to detoriorate in 1961 and he was unable to walk.
- He returned to Beirut in April 1962.
- On 18 April 1962 he was admitted to the hospital of the American University of Beirut. Some of his friends, including the poet, Yousif Al-Khal, helped him pay the costs of the hospital.
- His health deteriorated badly, so he went back to Basra in September 1962. The International Organization for the Freedom of Culture paid his expenses for a whole year after arranging for a scholarship for him.
- He travelled to London to seek treatment. He could not join the PhD program in Oxford University, but Mr. Albert Hurani succeeded in securing a place for him in Durham University in Northern England.
- After a short stay in Durham, he left to Paris on 15 March 1963.
- He feft Paris on 23 March 1963 on a wheelchair on his way to his homeland.
- Two weeks after his arrival to Basra he was fired from government service for three years starting 4 April 1963.
- He worked as literature correspondent in Iraq for "Hiwar" magazine. He used to send reports about the literary movement in Iraq to the editor of the magazine in Beirut, Tawfik Zayegh, for forty dollars a piece.
- He agreed to be treated by a Bedouin from Zubair who cauterized Essayyab's legs and back but this treatment did not improve his condition.
- He returned to his government work in the Bureau of Ports on 11 July 1963.
- His health deteriorated suddenly on 9 February 1964, which required his immediate transfer to the port's hospital in Basra after his temperature reached forty degrees celsius. Medical checkup showed that he had double pneumonia and the beginning of heart failure, along with severe diarrhea and vomiting. He also suffered from a twenty-five centimeter septic ulcer in the iliac area, in addition to the spread of the hardening of his spinal code, which caused him paralysis in his limbs.
- On 1 April 1964, his sick leave reached its maximum limit and the Society of Iraqi Writers and Authors, in which he was a member, asked the ministry of health to treat him.
- Kuwaiti poet, Ali Al-Sabti, published an appeal to the Kuwaiti minister of health, Abdul Latif Muhammad Al-Thanyan, asking him to treat Badr in Kuwait on the expense of the Kuwaiti government. The minister agreed and Essayyab was transferred to Al- Amiri hospital in Kuwait on 6 July 1964.
- Essayyab published some poems while in Al-Amiri hospital in Kuwait in "Al-Raed Al-Arabi" magazine for a good compensation.
- He died on 12 December 1964 in Al-Amiri hospital in Kuwait after a long battle with a disease that he tried, uselessly, to treat in Beirut and London.
Some of his work:
- “Azhar Thaabila” or “Wilting Flowers” was his first collection of poems published in 1947 by Al-Karnak publishing company in Cairo.
- “Asatir” or “Legends” published in 1950.
- “Fajr Assalam” or “The Dawn of Peace” published in 1950.
- ” Haffar Al-Qubur” or ” The Grave digger” published in 1950.
- “Al-Asliha Walatfal” or “Weapons and Children” published in 1953.
- “Al-Mumis Al-‘Aamyaa” or “The Blind Prostitute” published in 1953.
- “Unshudat Al-Matar” or “The Song of the Rain” published in 1960.
- “Al-Ma’abad Al-Ghariq” or “The Drowned Temple” published in 1962.
- “Manzil Al-Aqnan” or “The House of Slaves” published in 1963.
- “Shanasheel of Bint Al-Chalabi” published in 1964.
- “Iqbal” was published in 1965.
- “Al-Hadaya” or “The Gifts” was published in 1971 after his death.
- ”Qitharat Arrih” or “The Violin of Wind” was published in 1973 after his death.
- “A’aasir” or “Hurricanes” was published in 1973 after his death.
- “Al-Bawakir” or “The Beginnings” was published in 1974 after his death.
Prose Translations:
- Three Centuries of Literature, multiple authors - The Library of Al-Hayat, Beirut. Two volumes, the first volume has no date and the second was done in 1966.
- The Poet, The Inventor and the Colonel, Peter Ustinuv - One chapter play in Al-Usbu’a newspaper, Baghdad. Volume 23 in 1953.
Poetry translations:
- "The Eyes of Elsa" or "Love and War."
- "Poems about the Atomic Age."
- Selected poems from the "International Modern Poetry."
- Poems by Nadhim Hikmat in Al-‘Aalam Al-‘Aarabi magazine, Baghdad in 1951.
[This article was translated from the Arabic by Ali Adeeb Alnaemi. Click here for the Arabic text.]