The success story of the poet Atika Wahbi Al-Khazraji
The poet Atika Wahbi Al-Khazraji was born in Baghdad in 1924. Her father passed away six months after her birth, leaving her mother to take care of her. Al-Khazraji depicted the loss of her father in her poetry: How I would grieve when I saw a girl calling "Father" as he would start with my little one I’d rush in humility, despair, and yearning, Asking my mother as tears overcame me
Atika often mentioned her mother in her poems as a gesture of loyalty, kindness, and gratitude. At the same time, she took pride in what she heard about her father's piety and good orientation towards Allah, which is evident in her verses: I am, O my Lord, the daughter of the noble and the proud The daughter of that devout, free, and generous man Who spends the night in remembrance and the inspiration of prayers
Al-Khazraji graduated from the Teachers' House in Baghdad, Department of Arabic Literature, in 1945. She then traveled to Paris in 1950, where she completed her higher studies at the Sorbonne and obtained a State Doctorate in Arabic Literature. She returned to Baghdad, where she worked as a professor of Arabic literature at the Higher Teachers' House, which later became the College of Education.
Atika has three poetry collections: "Breaths of Magic" released in 1963, "Clusters of Flowers" and "Gleams of the Moon" both released in 1975, and a poetic play titled "Majnun Layla." In prose, she has made significant contributions, in addition to her contributions to literary magazines, newspapers, radio, and television.
Dr. Atika stood out through her national and pan-Arab poems as an authentic Arab poet, aware and unwilling to live on the margins of events. Instead, she spoke on behalf of the nation, embodying its pains and hopes, and instilling a spirit of hope. The poet considered herself belonging to all Arabs and sang of her love for her vast Arab homeland, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, the Levant (Syria and Palestine), Algeria, Morocco, Libya, and other Arab countries.
Atika on Algeria: For you, land of Algeria, captivated among poets
And on Egypt: O Egypt, my soul greets you, thirsty, will not live near the Nile for days
And on Iraq: If Baghdad was my guiding star, then I see your people as my family, and your cradle as mine
And on Damascus: My love for Damascus, my loyalty, Baghdad, the beloved, I meet her
And in her national poetry, she did not forget the issue of Palestine, saying: When were the Jews ever with homes, when the desert spat them out When were the Jews ever warriors, with speed and precedence in the battlefield
Source/ Adapted from the book "Women's Literature (Critical Studies)" from the research of the first international symposium for female literati held in Cairo, 1999, (2007) pages (380-384).
