George Nicolas El-hage Ph.d.

Lebanese Hymns of Love and War George Nicolas El-hage Ph.d.

These hymns and poems were written between January 1975 and August 1976, mostly during the first year and a half of what has ironically been called the ?Lebanese Civil War.? The poetry and hymns in this book are an emotionally-charged document that reflects the state of mind of a young Lebanese poet madly in love with Beirut and Lebanon during the seventies when Lebanon was an oasis of fun and was bursting with creativity and positive energy on all fronts: literary, social, economic and political. Beirut was the major capital of literary production in the Middle East. The poetry in this book is a song for Lebanon. It is a celebration of its glory and endurance and a call for the Lebanese to unite. It is a cry in the desert of discontent against those who thought that destroying the previous society would bring about a new age of contentment, only to prove that their vision was wrong and that they were but a ?false alarm? that simply caused unimaginable death, destruction, disappointment and sorrow. These hymns are both a praise for what Beirut stood for and represented in the minds and consciousness of the generation of Arab intellectuals and at the same time, they are a eulogy for the city that the Lebanese were unable to protect and preserve because of the many who took it for granted and others who allowed their jealousy and bitter ideologies to put the first nail in its coffin.