The prominent Kurdish poet of the 20th century, Cegerxwîn (1903-1984) penned nationalist and Marxist poetry, which was disseminated in the 1950s and 1960s particularly through Kurdish madrasa students and teachers in Kurdish-populated regions in the Middle East. From the 1970s on, his poetic works were disseminated even more widely, as they were set to music by the Europe-based Kurdish singer ?ivan Perwer. Through his poetry, Cegerxwîn vernacularized modern social and political themes and/or problems in a Marxist and Kurdish nationalist idiom. In addition to his poetry, this paper makes use of invaluable audio-visual sources such as his 1983 video-taped interview in Paris and a video recording of his funeral ceremony in the Kurdish town of Qamishlo in Syria, which was attended by thousands of Kurds. It highlights three characteristics of Cegerxwîn’s poetic work. First, in his poetry he incessantly uses the common modernist metaphor of “awakening” to awaken the Kurds, peasants and laborers, from their sleep of oppression. Second, his poetry has a strong anti-colonial, leftist and internationalist solidarity characteristic. His global perspective covers such issues as African American struggle and the wars in Vietnam and Korea. Third, his poetry is also autobiographical. One can trace his personal experience in his poetry such as his imprisonment in Syria and his observations after he moved to Sweden in 1979.