Life

In fact, Ahmed shawqi raised in a wealthy family. Mixed of Circassian, Turkish, Kurdish, Egyptian, and Greek roots. His family was prominent and well-connected with the court of the Khedive of Egypt. Upon graduating from high school, he attended law school, obtaining a degree in translation. Shawqi had a job in the court of the Khedive Abbas II. Who was the khedive of Egypt, which he immediately accepted.

After a year working in the court of the Khedive, Shawqi was sent to continue his studies in Law at the Universities of  Montpellier and Paris for three years. While in France, he was heavily influenced by the works of French playwrights, most notably  Moliere and Racine. He returned to Egypt in 1894, and remained a prominent member of Arab literary culture until the British forced him into exile in southern Spain, Andalusia, in 1914. Shawqi remained there until 1920, when he returned to Egypt. In 1927 he was crowned by his peers Amir al-Sho’araa’ (literally, “the Prince of Poets”) in recognition of his considerable contributions to the literary field.

Work 

Ahmed Shawqi’s work is mainly in three main periods during his career. The first coincides with the period during which he occupied a position at the court of the Khedive. Consisting of eulogies to the Khedive: praising him or supporting his policy. The second comprised the period of his exile in Spain. During this period, his feeling of nostalgia and sense of alienation directed his poetic talent to patriotic poems on Egypt as well as the Arab world and panarabism .The third stage occurred after his return from exile. During that period he became preoccupied with the glorious history of Ancient Egypt and Islam. This was the period during which he wrote his religious poems, in praise of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The maturation of his poetic style was also obvious in his plays.