Doha: The Culture and Arts Chapter of Qatar University’s (QU) Alumni Association organised its Annual Poetry Forum.
It included the participation of a number of QU faculty from the Arabic Language Department: Dr. Rami Abu Shehab, Dr. Abdel Salam Hamed, Dr. Mahrous Boriek and Dr. Mahmoud Nasser Kaheel, and was moderated by Dr. Mohammad Al Rahawi.
The annual poetry forum aims to benefit students and graduates from the experience of poets, and to learn about the latest developments in the poetic scene at the level of form, content, artistic visions and means of expression. The event featured an array of different poetry genres and was attended by QU faculty, alumni and students.
Vice-President of the Culture and Arts Chapter Amna Abdulkarim commented on the event saying: “Culture and Arts chapter, in this poetic forum, wants to highlight poetry as one of the arts alongside the other arts; since it amplifies in the mind’s eye aesthetic images. Poetry, with its contents of words and rhythm, shows the substance of life in its finest spiritual, aesthetic expressions if music, as the philosopher Schopenhauer puts it, only presents the spirit of life without its substance.
“We are eager to exhibit poetry as a creative and cultural work in order to raise the audience’s taste, and this goal cannot be achieved by sitting away from the cultural scene. Rather, it is by creating this permanent communication between generations of graduates and leaders of thought, culture, arts and literature.”
Dr. Mahrous Boriek, a poet and a faculty member in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at QU, said: “We at the Department of Arabic Language and Literature are excited to take part in this annual poetic gathering with the Culture and Arts Chapter of the Qatar University Alumni Association, since we think that poetry plays an important role in fostering tastes.
“This gathering is a good chance to highlight the necessity of creating connections between poets and those who are beginners in poetic path, and to heal with poetry since it emerge us from daily administrative demands and teaching responsibilities.”
