What does the poetry of Adonis, from his specific vantage point, offer students of poetry today?
Toorawa: I taught a seminar titled “New York, Paris, Baghdad: Poetry of the City” last semester at Cornell. I assigned Adonis alongside Baudelaire, Whitman, Cavafy, Lorca, al-Bayati, Adnan and others. I think it’s fair to say, based on the students’ reactions, that Adonis offered them what other great poets offer: a way, sometimes new, sometimes just newly formulated, of thinking about self, world, language, and commitment.
