NEOCLASSICISM 60mechanical and almost imbecile repetition to accord with the idea of the com-
pletely dehumanized automaton to which the individual is reduced under a
system that robs him of all dignity. In this manner we are prepared for the cli-
max of the poem, the final lines in which the rejoicing, which the poet asks
his people to indulge in at the impending dismemberment of their country is
expressed as a grotesque version, or a travesty, of mystical fervour and spirit-
ual ecstasy during a dervish ceremony:
If it be said to you, "Your country, folk, will be divided.'
Then offer your thanksgivings and gratitude, and dance and sing.
As for his social themes, Rusafi, like Zahawi, sometimes chose to embody
them in narrative form, as in his well-known poems 'The Orphan's Mother'
(p. 39), The Suckling Widow" (p. 206), 'The Divorced Woman' (p. 54), and
The Orphan on the Feast Day' (p. 58). In most of his poetry there is a melan-
choly tone, which sometimes deepens into real grief and at other times
changes into anger and frustration. But it must be admitted that often in these
narrative poems as, for instance, in The Orphan's Mother', there is an excess
of emotionalism, and their sentimentality is reminiscent of the sentimentality
of the tearful tales of the ornate Egyptian prose writer al-Manfaluti, which
they resemble greatly. Like another Egyptian author, Hafiz Ibrahim, Rusafi
was interested in describing natural disasters. In fact, his editor devoted a
separate section in his Collected Works to the poems he wrote on fires.
Poverty and destitution, especially those suffered by widows with children,
are among his favourite topics, but he did not omit to deal with other social
evils of contemporary Iraq and the Arab world, like their backwardness,
ignorance and superstitions. Like Zahawi he dealt with the question of
women's rights, preaching the emancipation of women, their education and
their casting-off the veil. In poem after poem he lamented the passing of
Arab glory, particularly the intellectual aspects of Arab civilization, as in his
poem on Nizamiyya School (p. 380). like other neoclassicists Rusafi wrote
much poetry of social occasion, which his editor collected in a separate sec-
tion of his Diwan. Poems composed to celebrate the setting-up of a school or
the establishment of an Arab textile plant or a newspaper were in fact very
largely versified journalism.
There is much description of natural beauty in Rusafi's Diwan, particularly
the beauty of Lebanese landscapes of which he was fond. like Shauqi's, this
description is generally neoclassical in tone: nature is viewed by both poets
in a civilized context in which, for instance, flowers in the meadows are
likened to jewels and pearls worn by beautiful women (p. 239). An excellent
example of Rusafi's general attitude to nature can be found in his charming