Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati (Arabic: عبد الوهاب البياتي) (December 19, 1926 – August 3, 1999) was an Iraqi poet.
Contents
Biography
Al-Bayati was born in Baghdad. One of his friends, Ahmed Abdel-Moeti Hegazi, said urban centers of "hotels and institutions, cafés and airports" were actually his temporary residences. He attended Baghdad University, and became a teacher after graduating from Dar al-Mu'allimin (the Teacher's College) in 1950, the same year that he released his first collection of poems, Mala'ika wa Shayatin (Angels and Devils).
In 1996, he published a poem "The Dragon". The translation by Farouk Abdel Wahab, Najat Rahman, and Carolina Hotchandani is from the volume Iraqi Poetry Today (ISBN 0-9533824-6-X) (c) 2003, edited by Saadi Simawe. "The Dragon" is an example of al-Bayyati's frequent incorporation of mythological figures into his poetry. Critics have interpreted the poem as addressed to Saddam Hussein.
Sufism
Al-Bayati was influenced by the Middle Eastern Sufi figures. One example is a poem by al-Bayati entitled "A’isha's Mad Lover" in his book, Love Poems on the Seven Gates of the World (1971): "In this context Al-Bayati's poetry becomes Sufi in default, since he assumes the position as a modernist whose aspirations for an earthy paradise have not materialized."
Works
Original volumes
Mala'ika wa shayatin (Angels and Devils), 1950
Abariq muhashshama, 1954
Risala ila Hazim Hikmet wa quas'aid ukhra, 1956
Al-Majd li al-atfal wa al-zaytun, 1956
Ash'ar fi al-manfa, 1957
Ishrun qasida min Berlin, 1959
Kalimat la tamut, 1960
Muhakama fi Nisabur, 1963
Al-Nar wa al-kalimat, 1964
Sifr al-faqr wa al-thawra, 1965
Alladhi ya'ti wa laya'ti, 1966
Al Mawt fi al Hayat, 1968
Tajribati al-shi'riyya, 1968
'Ulyun al-kilab al-mayyita, 1969
Buka'iyya ila shams haziran wa al-murtaziqa, 1969
Al Kitaba al Teen, 1970
Yawmiyyat siyasi muhtarif, 1970
Qasaid hubb 'ala bawwabat al-'alam al-sab, 1971
Sira dhatiyya li sariq al-nar, 1974
Kitab al-bahr, 1974
Qamar Shiraz, 1976
Mamlakat al-sunbula, 1979
Sawt al-sanawat al-daw'iyya, 1979
Translated volumes
Lilies and Death, 1972 (trans. Mohammed B. Alwan)
The Singer and the Moon, 1976 (trans. Abdullah al-Udhari)
Eye of the Sun, 1978
Love Under Rain (Al-hubb tahta al-matar), 1985 (transl. Desmond Stewart and George Masri)
Love, Death, and Exile, 1990 (trans. Bassam K. Frangieh)
Anthologies with only works by Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati
Poet of Iraq: Abdul Wahab al-Bayati. An introductory essay with translations by Desmond Stewart, 1976
Abdul Wahab al-Bayati, 1979 (a short introduction and four poems, trans. Desmond Stewart and George Masri)
Anthologies with works by Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati and other poets
Abdullah al-Udhari, ed. and trans. Modern Poetry of the Arab World. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1986.
An Apology for a Short Speech
The Arab Refugee
The Fugitive
Hamlet
Profile of the Lover of the Great Bear
To Ernest Hemingway
Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed. Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987
The Birth of Aisha and Her Death
Eligy for Aisha
The Impossible
Luzumiyya
Simawe, Saadi ed. Iraqi Poetry Today, ISBN 0-9533824-6-X London: King's College, London, 2003
The Dragon
An Elegy to Aisha
I am Born and I Burn in My Love
Love Under The Rain
The Nightmare
Nine Ruba'iyat
Shiraz Moon
Three Ruba'iyat
To Naguib Mahfouz [Amman, 15 April 1997]