Ahmed Rami

Ahmed Ramy (August 9, 1892 - June 5, 1981) (also transliterated Ahmad Ramy) was an Egyptian poet, songwriter and translator. He is best known for writing lyrics for the Egyptian singers Umm Kalthoum and Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Rami was also a translator. His works include translations of several of Shakespeare's plays and the quatrains of the Persian poet Omar Khayyám. Ramy also played a leading role in developing the Arabic song, using simple language to express his sublime themes. He was named "Poet of the youth" in recognition of his considerable contributions to the Arabic song. Early life Ahmed Ramy was born in Cairo’s Nasiriyya district on 9 August 1892 into a middle-class Egyptian family. His father was then a medical student at Qasr al-’Ayni and later became a Palace doctor. Ahmed spent the early years of his childhood with his father on the island of Thasos, which belonged to Khedive ‘Abbas II; he returned to Cairo in 1901 to live with his aunt. He attended the Muhammadiyya Elementary and the prestigious Khedive Secondary Schools in Cairo. At this period, Ramy attended weekly poetic forums and started developing his poetic talent. He wrote his first poem when he was 15 years old and began to express his response to political events in his poems. His first published poem appeared in 1910 in Al-Rewaiat Al-Gadida magazine. After graduating from the Higher Teachers College in 1914, Ramy was appointed teacher of geography and English language in private schools in Sayyida Zaynab and then at al-Qurabiyya and al-Munira. It was at this time that he first made acquaintance of the poets and artists of his time, such as Abdel Halim El Masri, Ahmed Shawqi, Ahmed Nassim and Hafez Ibrahim. Six years later, he was appointed a librarian at the Higher Teachers Library, which offered him a unique opportunity to read Arabic, English and French poetry and literature. In 1918, Ramy published his first diwan, which introduced to Arabic readers a new type of poetry. Career In 1924, Ramy took a scholarship and was sent to Paris on an educational mission where he received a licence en lettres in Persian from the École des Langues Orientales Vivantes. The Persian language diploma helped him in translating the famous Omar Khayyám Quatrain from the original Persian version to Arabic.