THE EMIGRANT POETS 196germ, of his future development. For instance, the poet uses quatrains many
times; he writes verse narrative in stanzaic form, reminiscent of Mutran's
narrative poems, such as "The Old Man and the Maid', dealing with the
suicide of a young woman after the death of her lover, or "The Cottage Girl',
depicting an innocent but attractive simple peasant girl, lured away from
her simple lover and village folk by a rich philanderer. The poet also reveals
some interest in nature, writing poems about a brook or a bird and expressing
the desire to return to the idyllic life of a shepherd. Towards the end of the
volume we find an attempt to versify Jibran's philosophy, and even a prose
poem (clearly under the influence of Jibran) entitled "What am I?' in which
the poet is romantically conceived as a solitary and melancholy man who is
at peace only in nature.^5 *
When we turn to Ayyub's two later volumes, however, we find that the
neoclassical elements in his early poetry, enumerated above, have completely
disappeared. The declamation and rhetoric have been replaced by a much
quieter tone; short metres and multiplicity of rhymes are now dominant.
The poet has turned his back on social and political issues, seeking escape
in nature and withdrawing himself into an inner world of'romantic' dreams.
He writes about 'Lost Hopes', 'The Meaning of Life', 'The Trembling Leaf',
Isle of Oblivion', 'Through the Mist' and 'The Distant light'.^54 He now
appears as a dervish, a name by which he was known to his friends of
al-Rabita circle, although his mysticism, in fact, remains more of a poetic pose
than the result of profound spiritual experience. So complete was Jibran's
influence upon Ayyub that the only link with theoutside world that remained
in his poetry was his nostalgia for his homeland, a feature which we have
already encountered in the poetry of the whole movement.
In Latin AmericaThe five authors whose work has been briefly discussed above are the chief
figures of Mahjar poetry, though by no means the only ones, in North America,
and their output can be regarded as typical of the entire movement. When we
turn to the poetry of Mahjar in Latin America we find that it is relatively
difficult to generalize, simply because the picture it presents does not have
the same degree of consistency. For one thing, the revolt against neoclassicism
was not so unanimous. The Latin American poets made as much effort to
relate their activity to the Arabic tradition as to break new ground. More-
over, among them there was no dominant personality like Jibran to leave
his imprint upon their work. Another factor which may be relevant here is
the less developed cultural standard in Latin America compared with the
United States, where the Arab poets could not avoid falling under the cultural