by Adunis

Considered by many to be the most influential Arabic poet of the late twentieth century, Adunis was born Ali Ahmad Said in 1930 in Qassabayn, a small village near the Syrian coastal town of Latakia. His early education was frequently interrupted because his poverty-stricken family needed him to work in the fields and it was difficult to reach the schools. But his father urged Ali to study, encouraging him to learn Quran recitation in a local religious school and to memorize classical Arabic poetry. In early adolescence, young Ali had an opportunity to recite one of his own poems before the first president of republican Syria, Shukri al- Quwatli, who was so impressed that he awarded the boy an advanced secondary education at government expense in one of the...