Magin_Edward-thesis

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distanced himself from them by writing primarily in Kurdish, while sometimes resorting
to Arabic words to meet a desired meter. It is said that Nalbend “loved poetry so much
and was so good at it that he would use any scrap. He would have a cigarette box, and
write on that cigarette box…a kleenex and he would write a poem” (Findî 2010).
According to Mu’eyed Teyb, this was the first stage in the changes in Northern
Kurdish poetry, which would later be called the Neo-classical period. Nalbend was
attempting to write in the classical style but “his language was more popular and content
had more variety…more subjects, more strategy, more extension.” Although Nalbend
did not aspire to become involved in politics, he wrote about Kurdish nationality and the
movement for Kurdish independence. Salih Yusef, another poet of the period, was more
politically aware and adept in writing about such issues (Teyb 2010a).
Nalbend’s era saw significant change. He was born under the Ottoman Empire
and experienced the hope that a Kurdish state would develop during the British
occupation of the area which would later become Iraq. Then he saw the destruction of
that hope and the tragedies against his people that followed when the Kurdish-speaking
area was divided between Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. It was during this time that
Nalbend was moved to write poetry because he saw “that the Kurdish culture and…main
identity were lost” (Findî 2010).
3.1.2 New period
During the time leading up to Nalbend’s death 23 in 1963, “most of the people…in
Dohuk (the largest city in the Northern Kurdish-speaking area) did not know that there
was Kurdish literature or Kurdish poets” (Sindî 2010). In the Kurdish area, especially in
the city of Zaxo, which is near the Turkish border, Kurdish literature was forbidden. It
was not until he was in college (around 1966) that Badirxan Sindî heard that there were
23 When the Iraqi military was coming northward, Nalbend killed himself out of fear of being taken
prisoner by them and, perhaps, tortured. He had joined the Kurdish revolution in 1961 and felt he was a
target because of the things he said in his poetry (Findî 2010).