THE EMIGRANT POETS 182inspiration for the younger generation of writers. He was the driving force
behind the formation in 1920 of al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya, who elected him
President. The association included the distinguished poets Nasib 'Arida,
Mikha'il Nu'aima and Rashid Ayyub.
The aim of the association was clear: it was to unite their efforts to infuse
a new life in modern Arabic literature by turning away from the tradi-
tional excessive preoccupation with mere verbal skill, and by seeking to
write a literature that suited the requirements of modem times, a literature
distinguished primarily by keen sensibility and subtle thought. "True poetry',
Jibran writes, in terms which border on the sentimental, 'is the incarnation of
a divine spirit bom of a smile that revives the heart or a sigh that brings tears
to the eyes', and 'the poet is an angel sent down by the gods to teach men
divine things'.^6 Most of the products of the members of the association
appeared in the periodical al-Sctih, which rendered a great service to the
cause of Mahjar poetry after the disappearance of Nasib 'Arida's review
al-Funun. Not long after the establishment of the association Nu'aima pub-
lished his well-known book of criticism al-Ghirbal (The Sieve'), which
appeared in 1923, with an introduction by the Egyptian al-'Aqqad, who as
we have seen was the joint author of the equally iconoclastic work of criticism
al-Diwan (1921). Nu'aima's book is in many ways a manifesto of the Mahjar
movement in North America. The two-fold aim of the Pen Association,
namely the repudiation of traditional excessive verbiage and conventional-
ism, and the attempt to rise above provincialism by making literature
primarily the expression of universal human thought and feeling, are given
a clear and vehement expression in The Sieve. An interesting short chapter
in the book is a piece entitled 'Let us Translate' ;^7 in which the author strongly
advises Arab authors to concentrate upon translating the literary master-
pieces of the human spirit as anecessarystepinordertobringArabicliterature
back into the main current of world literature. From Nu'aima's lengthy study
of Jibran,^8 first published in 1934, it is dear how important and extensive
Jibran's influence was on the rest of North American Mahjar poets. Jibran's
output is enormous. Besides painting, he wrote essays, short stories, books
of meditations, poems both in traditional forms and in vers libre, as well
as much poetic prose with strongly marked biblical echoes. He wrote both
in Arabic and in English: he is, in fact, one of the few Arabs who managed to
produce best sellers in English. Most readers of English, especially in
America, must have come across copies of his book The Prophet, a work of
fairly popular mysticism: by 1958 it had sold a million copies.^9
As an Arabic poet it must be admitted that, interesting as he is, Jibran
does not occupy a very high rank, and that is partly because of his exceedingly