ABU SHADI 119with Abu Shadi. Although his poetry generally impresses us with its spon-
taneity, it suffers from the same defect as much Victorian poetry, of sheer
bulk or verbosity. Sometimes Abu Shadi is not inspired but gives the impres-
sion of writing mechanically, of being too prosaic and diffuse. In this respect
he differs considerably from his master Mutran who constantly polished
the language of his poems. On the other hand, with Abu Shadi and with Naji
and the rest of the poets who have been here called romantic, the diction of
the poetry attained a remarkable degree of simplicity, which in moments of
true poetic inspiration becomes deeply moving in a haunting manner,
suggestive of unknown modes of being, a thing new in Arabic poetry.
Abu Shadi continued to experiment both in form and in content until
his death. His poems are cast in a variety of forms, ranging from the tradi-
tional 'ode' or fragment which observes a single rhyme throughout, to the
stanzaic form, and even to rhymeless verse, the Arabic equivalent of blank
verse.^8 Under the influence of Mutran, Abu Shadi wrote a number of narrative
poems dealing with historical subjects. In 1924 he produced his The Navarino
Disaster which describes the defeat suffered at the hands of a combined
Anglo-French-Russian fleet (1827) by the Egyptian navy in its attempt to
defend the Ottoman Empire. In 1925 he wrote The Pride of Rosetta, which
treats the Egyptians' noble defence of Rosetta against the British attack.
Of lesser interest were his long narrative poems inspired by contemporary
or social subjects, such as 'Abduh Bey and Maha (1926). Abu Shadi also
experimented in the field of dramatic poetry. He tried to introduce into
Arabic poetry a new form, half-way between drama and opera. Influenced
probably by Wagner, and believing that in the German and to some extent
the French opera the literary quality of the text or the libretto is just as
important as the music, he set out to write a number of Arabic operas which
he hoped would be set to music some day. For his dramatic subjects Abu
Shadi went to recent history as well as ancient history and folk tales, and
sometimes he invented his own plot or story. For instance, Ihsan (1928)
is a tragedy of personal relationships set against the background of the
Abyssinian war in 1876, while Ardashir and Hayat al-Nufus (1928) is derived
from the Arabian Nights. Zenobia Queen of Palmyra is, as the title indicates,
based on ancient history and legend, and The Gods (1927)' is an allegorical
work, in which the poet-philosopher is engaged in a dialogue with the deities
of love and beauty and of lust and physical strength, and in part seems to
be inspired by the work of Keats.
Interesting as his narrative and dramatic verse is, it is not really as suc-
cessful as the more personal type of poetry which covers a wide range of