First I must say how shocked I am that so many poems mentioned in this chapter use Greek Mythology! I ignorantly had an idea in my mind that Arab poetry mainly focused on nature and sailing the seas due to that being the general topics or should I say the most widespread and traditional subject for poetry. What I found particularly interesting in this chapter, leaving aside the history of how mythology came to the Arabs, was how new modern poets decided to use the characters in Greek myth ‘freely’ and ‘use only one or few aspects of the figure’’ (47) instead of limiting oneself to the original story. An example of this is by the poet ‘Mihyar’ who uses the Quranic story of the Prophet Muhamed’s journey (miraj) to the heavens. He only takes the basis of the Quranic story and replaces it with himself being guided by Ulysses (instead of the angel Gabriel) to the heavens. (58) This again is mentioned in chapter one when referring to Gibrans work where Lazarus taken form the bible is portrayed in a way that Gibran sees fit.(40)
Hi all, I think we have to comment after the Dr. posts us a question but we can also comment on what we have talked about in class like what Tasneem did ;)
Hiya Maryam =) I'm not sure about your question but something at the back of my mind is telling me that Dr Ebtehal mentioned that we should read chapter 2 and not forget to post...plus on the syllabus it says that the 1st post is due after reading that chapter. I could be wrong so don’t take my word for it :P....but it wouldn’t hurt to comment anyway ;) Cheerio for now…
So far the introduction that we are having to Gibran is incredible, i am so glad that there is a course in KU that we can actually look into his work. I have been a fan of his for quite some time and was always wondering if we would come across his works. After looking at some of his poetry like "The Song of the Wave" and studying his tendency to use the Romantic style everything started to fall into place! (i advise all to read that wonderul poem.) Another short story that i enjoyed is "The Poet of Babylon" and i am sure that many more, including our assigned reading will be thrilling!
I just thought i would present my feedback on what i had read, Firstly, from ,"Sand and Foam" i feel Gibran's style is concerned with understanding life, making sense out of what is diffcult to understand regarding the concepts of life. Another focus that Gibran has is regarding image and how we present ourselves in the world and how people see us, in reference to his pieces "Madman" and "My Friend". Also in the latter text i notice the focus on individuality, his want to be alone to enjoy his thought or his beliefs, he doesnt want his friend to know about a part of him; he chooses to keep some of himself to himself and not give it all away.
Due to a modern world of constant tragedy, fluctuation and change (wars, technology etc), and in a world were God seems nothing more than an abstract idea, a lack of faith was spreading amongst the Arab scholars. Like Westerners, they too had to search for answers to their questions (and religion seemed to be out of the question for some). Many resorted to their own individualistic ideas, but some did not totally neglect the past they once believed in; as it seems, the result of such a resort is a mixture of personal beliefs, eastern (i.e. Islamic) and western (i.e. Greek) ideologies, not to mention the added tang of modernity -like the example you mentioned Taz.
Suddenly, Greek ideologies (such as Plato’s utopian vision) and Arab ideologies (heaven, a savior/prophet) were added to the general pessimistic and negative view of modern life, thus creating a more realistic perspective rather than a ‘head-in-the-clouds’ view of life. Reality begins to kick in as one speaks of a Utopian vision of any kind, as expressed in many poems of this article (see poems on page 49 and 50).
White Wings, great idea! I hope when it's my turn to take this class, you do the same.
Dana, Mushira, Tasneem & the rest: Enjoy it while it lasts. Blogging is an amazing way of discussing stuff and letting yourself into other people's minds.
Yamama I totally agree with you... Yes these lines are for ELIYA ABU MATHI and he is one of the Mahjar school poets. Reading the first lines of the poem, it seemed to be interesting and has a target behind it's meaning, so I searched for the rest of the poem and tried to translate as much as i can into Arabic just to let you get the general meaning behind it..
Here is the rest of the poem... It is so interesting I guess... Even if you have some struggles with Arabic but it is worth reading and understanding just to have an idea about Elyia's style and personality maybe...
أنا حرّ ومذهب كلّ حرّ مذهبي ما كنت بالغاوي ولا المعتصب ********** أني لأغضب للكريم ينوشه من دونه وألوم من لم يغضب ********** وأحبّ كلّ مهذب ولو أنّه خصمي، وأرحم كلّ غير مهذب ********* يأبى فؤادي أن يميل إلى الأذى حبّ الأذية من طباع العقرب ********* لي أن أردّ مساءة بمساءة لو انني أرضى ببرق خلب ********* حسب المسيء شعوره ومقاله في سرّه : يا ليتني لم أذنب
Explanation:
Here the poet is trying to show the audience that he looks forward for peace with others by saying " he has a liberated and free belief and is not a seducer nor narrow-minded, he likes wee-mannered people even if they were his enemies and is merciful toward the unmannered, and his heart refuses hard because it is the nature of scorpions."
Good luck and enjoy Arab lit. because it is interesting and has deep meanings..:)
Hello everyone :) Reading the chapter on The Greek Cultural Heritage was quite interesting, I had no idea that the Arabs borrowed so much from GReek literature and actually created a literature of their own by using bits and pieces of Greek myths, namely Odysseus/Ulysses. I had never made that association between Odysseus and Sindbad, I had always seen them as two different legendary people, never making a comparrison.The similarities are many, I don't know how I never linked them. As for the way that the poets considered themselves similar to Odysseus, being on a journey of enlightenment and finding one's identity, I connected that to the idea of a poet being a vissionary, a prophet-like person trying to guide humankind through life. Finally I'd like to note that the Lebanese poet Fuad Rifqa seems different from the other poets mentioned in this chapter because he is "haunted by the oppressive running of time to see any use in social utopia." This view grabbed my attention more than the other poets' views. He is more concerned with the self and the journey of discovering the depths of one's soul. Everything else isn't as important. Moving on to Gibran, I especially enjoyed Sand and Foam, the small quotations were inspiring and easy to remember. They are such short lines with such great insight and they carry so much meaning. "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."-Gibran
I can't help but notice the yearning of most of the poets, who wish to live in a place where there is no evil in the mist of the air. A place filled with innocence and tranquility. To be frank I do not blame them. I even emphathize with one of the poets who has this nostalgia towards his country especially the River Nile and I do believe that it is one of the rivers from Heaven. Nice fact isn't it?
1st of all a big LOL to Yaz!! :P not medicated ehh looool the yipeeee sounded very medicated to me :P :P
2ndly--who's Amethyst? =) lol ..let me know who u are….(looooved ur list btw!!!) lol even after that I still can’t guess who u are!
3rdly..Maryam your post was really great! =) Yeh the mixing of East and West is very prominent in ‘modern’ Arabic literature as i gathered from chapter 2, it's amazing to see how they adapted to Eastern culture (shown by them understanding and relating to Greek myths and then incorporating them with their own style and thought). Just something else to comment on for those of u that are wondering why aren’t these poets writing about Arab myths?? Is it just the adventures of Sinbad?!" well on pg 45 there’s the answer :) *Its because the traditionalists shunned symbolism and allegory and mainly focused on stories form the Quran and Bible*
Oh and one more thing, the school of poetry ‘Apollo’ and its members, were they the first ones to incorporate western influences in their work? If not who was? :S
Chapter two was fascinating! I was (pleasantly) surprised to learn about the Greek influence on Arab poets, just like everyone else was:-P I guess Greek mythology is so vast that it finds its way into all kinds of literatures.
I think the best thing about discovering this link between Greek mythology and Arabic literature is that it negates a notion I’ve always had about the Arabs being distant people with a separate literature, separate beliefs, and a separate everything else. The exoticism of Greek myths must have been very tempting to the Arabs, and their imaginative element must have competed with other religions, like Islam and Christianity, especially in a world where there was “constant tragedy, fluctuation and change (wars, technology etc), and in a world were God seems nothing more than an abstract idea,” as Maryam mentioned:-)
Gibran's ability to master language proves to be highly impressive. He is one of the few writers whom I feel has what Wordsworth called "Poetic Genius." Not only was reading his short stories enlightening, but applying Asa'ad Khairallah's critical essay to them showed me just how far arabic literature engaged greek myth in its work. As KHairallah states, Gibran played with Greek myths to fit the arab culture, or better yet, the content of his work. It was remarkable to discover that in traditional arabic literature: "Symbolism and allegory were not welcome," yet Gibran's short stories were packed with metaphors , allusions, and symbols. Apart from Gibran, the other poets such as Nazik Al Mala'ika and Omar Khayyam in Khairallah's essay seemed to have an even deeper influence from greek myth. Their passion in writing about journeys, greek characters/gods, and their strong hope for a Platonic world which they colourfully intersected with arabic culture seems to me as contemporary. No wonder why they started the New Poets movemement! i think i'm really starting to see and feel the beauty of arabic literature..
Having read the second chapter of our text book, which discusses "Greek Culture and Heritage…" I can proudly say that I can see the light. It is unfortunate as Arabs; we tend to forget about authors, poets, dramatists, and philosophers who come from the same areas as we do. Instead we tend to "worship" foreign artists and abide to everything and anything they say. However, reading this chapter, I can now relate to these Arab poets we are studying. For they were as we are, stuck between two worlds, we try to hold on to our roots, but yet again we are highly influenced by the western world and its literature.
I find it very intriguing to see that Greek mythology has been used in Arabic poetry. The issue in the Arab world is that we connect everything with religion; which makes it impossible for scholars to relate Greek Gods to their lives, for that is considered ( for some) blasphemous.
I find the link between Arabic and Greek literature a very intriguing combination .. As Maryam has mentioned earlier,the modern era provided skepticism among Arabs and Westerners alike .. However, if you keep in mind that most of these poems were written in the early 1900's.. well it's sort of far-fetched, even in our world today .. Adunis's and Cavafy's works are practically ode-like poems that praise Ulysses, while other writers tended to concentrate on the beauty of a woman's eyes.. what makes them even more daring is how they seemed to find a common ground between Islam and Greek Ideals (Heaven and Utopia for example) and created this fantasy world they dwelled in.. However, i do not really find this "fantasy world" too much of a happy place, most of these poems start off as being highly pessimitic and Heraclitean (Hijzai, 53).. towards the end they switch to their Platonic "nature" where Utopia gives them that glimpse of hope they have left.. a world "where freedom, justice, and dignity help the individual and the group."
This chapter about "The Greek Cultural Heritage and the Odyssey of Modern Arab Poets" was very interesting in a way, it taught me information that I never knew before. Believe it or not I was not aware of how much the Arabic poetry was influenced by Greek mythology. What attracted me most was how the characters or should I say people in both the Greek culture and the Arabic poetry. "except for the mention of two mythical personages and what peryains to them, namely, the Arab Sindabad and the Greek Odysseus." "It is striking to find here a poet who made use of so many mythical figures not only planning to limit himself to the mythical framework of sea and sailing but finding it necessary to associate Ulysses with the most famous Arab sailor, Sindbad! So why this development and how does it manifest itself?" (pg 46)It is amazing how Arab poets from diffrent countries all were influenced by one culture, this shows how strong and important the Greek culture was at that time. Looking forward to more discussion in class about it :)
I want to make something clear which the author failed to do and that is to distinguish the origins of myth of Sinbad. Sinbad is not an Arabic myth in fact it's roots shift back to India this can be supported from the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arabian_Nights and Sinbad is part of the Arabian Nights.
Thats an interesting fact... that The Beatles took from Gibran's poem in their song Julia. I didn't know that. I admire Gibran for still loving his country and to be buried in its soil. Constantine P. Cavafy is what I call a person with a great deal of experiences or more like an International figure. No wonder he advised Ulysses in his poems not be too hasty in returning to Ithaca... try to enjoy the experiences of life, let it nourish you. I should keep that in mind.
Gibran's ability to master language proves to be highly impressive. He is one of the few writers whom I feel has what Wordsworth called "Poetic Genius." Not only was reading his short stories enlightening, but applying Asa'ad Khairallah's critical essay to them showed me just how far arabic literature engaged greek myth in its work. As KHairallah states, Gibran played with Greek myths to fit the arab culture, or better yet, the content of his work. It was remarkable to discover that in traditional arabic literature: "Symbolism and allegory were not welcome," yet Gibran's short stories were packed with metaphors , allusions, and symbols. Apart from Gibran, the other poets such as Nazik Al Mala'ika and Omar Khayyam in Khairallah's essay seemed to have an even deeper influence from greek myth. Their passion in writing about journeys, greek characters/gods, and their strong hope for a Platonic world which they colourfully intersected with arabic culture seems to me as contemporary. No wonder why they started the New Poets movemement! i think i'm really starting to see and feel the beauty of arabic literature..
Hiya people! WOW great comments.. I feel like I missed out on a lot since I fell ill. I would just like to thank those who commented on my 1st post. And I appreciate those who agreed on some certain points.
I think by now, almost everyone might agree that Greek myths are NO longer 'dead'; they are, in fact, very much alive, rejuvenated and have been modernized too. Even nowadays, they are still lurking in the corners of our minds, ever heard of “Holy Hera”? (Note: Hera is the Greek queen of gods and wife of Zeus)
I'm still thinking about Morpheus (a computer program used to downloads MUSIC -I uninstalled it by the way, it had way too much adware!) and how Orpheus (minus the M) is actually the name of Greek god of MuSiC.. As we all know, even the courses we study/studied are affected by Greek myths i.e.:
Survey of Criticism --> Plato Romantic Poetry --> Wordsworth, pagan ideas, etc Modern Novel --> James Joyce, Ulysses Anglo/Arabic lit --> Adonis, his poetry and Ulysses (again) etc
And just since my thoughts have been ‘music-ified’ :) I feel that the Beatles taking from Gibran’s works is a very interesting point Zainab. I guess that reveals that it’s NOT only easterners who seem influence by westerners, because vice versa is quite true.
LOL Shahad that final quote by Gibran is really full of wit, but also full of deep meaning; I like how Gibran is seen as a "poetic genius" as Yasmine mentioned, he’s like a Wordsworth himself if you think about it, to me he's more of a poetic 'hero'? Wouldn't you say?
By reading "Nasser and the Death of Elegy in Modern Arabic poetry", I was amazed by the different allusions with which the death of the former Egyptian president, Jamal Abd al-Nasir, can be associated.Nasir's end can be an indirect interpretation of the prophet Muhammad's end; wile Nasir died after the farewell ceremonies he made to celebrate making peace between Yasir Arafat and King Hussain during the civil war between the fidaiyyin forces led by Arafat and King Hussain's army in 1967, leaving the Zionists in possession of Jerusalem and the Sinai. The prophet Muhammad also left the Byzantines in possession of Jerusalem and Galilee when he died after his farewell pilgrimage during which a group of Arab tribes professed Islam in his presence.
But I was more impressed by the association of the circumstances that surrounded Nasir's death with the ancient death and rebirth myths. These myths-like the myth of Tammuz,one of the fertility gods,and phoenix, where both Tammuz and phoenix sacrificed themselves to give life either by the seasonal renewal of nature,as in the case of Tammuz,or by creating a new phoenix from the ashes of the old one which burned itself- can be reflected through the mass procession in wich people were crying for Nasir's rebirth out of denial.
Reading "The Greek Cultural Heritage and the Odyssey of Modern Arab Poets" reminds me of the term "Taf3ela" poetry during the contemporary period of Arabic poetry. In "Taf3ela" poetry, some poets use the essence of mythology and manipulate myths in accordance with their own contemporary beliefs. For example, I recall a poem by Adunis in which he manipulates the ending of the myth concerning Ikarus in order to uphold the eternal dream of the impossible and pursue it. When Ikarus and his father, Dedarus, decide to escape prison, they make wings of wax to fly over the sea and reach a faraway land.While the father flies near the surface, Ikarus decides to fly high as much as he can, so the higher he flies, the closer he gets to the sun until the wings melt and Ikarus sinks into the sea, but in the poem by Adunis on Ikarus, he actually flies away disappearing from sight to chase his dream of reaching and achieving the ultimate. However, his returning is expected:
Since our main focus today in class was on nostalgia as an important theme regarding Arabic poetry since the pre-Islamic poetry, I would like to shed some light on the "Mu3alagat", a kind of long Arabic poetry that was popular during the pre-Islamic period. These "mu3alagat" have often started with introductory verses referred to as " mogademat 6alaleya" by which the poet cries over the remains of the homeland when the emigration season starts. These introductory verses appealed to the people of that ime because they shared with them the memories of their homeland and loved ones whom they lost during the emigration. We can also see in these verses the longing for women associated with nostalgia as we mentioned in class: طرفة بن العبد البكري: لخولة اطلال ببرقة ثهمد تلوح كباقي الوشم في ظاهر اليد
النابغة الزيباني: يا دار مية بالعلياء فالسند اقوت وطال عليها سالف الامد
الاعشى: ودع هريرة ان الركب مرتحل وهل تطيق وداعا ايها الرجل
45 comments:
اسم المدونة يشوق
ناطرين
اييه ده ؟؟؟
هو انتي بتدي دروس خصوصية ؟؟؟
بو صالح
حمودي
هلا بالربع
هذه مدونة مخصصة لطلبتي ولمواضيع الدراسة
ولأ يا جمودي، مو دروس خصوصية
:)
تابعونا
Hi Dr :)
I'm Maryam (from class) and I have managed to post something here..
Hello Doctor, I was lost but found my way.
hiya =)
ahaa made it safe and sound!
hi girls
welcome to our own space :)
Hello everyone! This is Zainab N. Zainab S, I guess we found the way:-P
Hi everyone this is Yamama, found the site :)
عادي نشارك؟ ولا نقضب الباب؟
لقيت الباب مطرف قلت أدش، وإلا كلاس شغال، شاخباري أيام الجامعة، إذا تبون شي قولوا لوحات طباشير ممسحة لوح
hi girls..
welcome to our blog
هلا بوصالح وفهد
حياكم...شرفتونا
وشاركوا أفا عليكم...عسى تعجبكم مواضيعنا
فهد، انت صج قديم، لوحة ومساحة وطباشير؟؟
:)
اقدر اشارك
First I must say how shocked I am that so many poems mentioned in this chapter use Greek Mythology! I ignorantly had an idea in my mind that Arab poetry mainly focused on nature and sailing the seas due to that being the general topics or should I say the most widespread and traditional subject for poetry.
What I found particularly interesting in this chapter, leaving aside the history of how mythology came to the Arabs, was how new modern poets decided to use the characters in Greek myth ‘freely’ and ‘use only one or few aspects of the figure’’ (47) instead of limiting oneself to the original story.
An example of this is by the poet ‘Mihyar’ who uses the Quranic story of the Prophet Muhamed’s journey (miraj) to the heavens. He only takes the basis of the Quranic story and replaces it with himself being guided by Ulysses (instead of the angel Gabriel) to the heavens. (58) This again is mentioned in chapter one when referring to Gibrans work where Lazarus taken form the bible is portrayed in a way that Gibran sees fit.(40)
Girls, a little here please..?
Ok, here's a question for ya: should we begin to comment (on what we've read) BEFORE, or AFTER the Dr. posts us a question?
I was waiting for a the Dr. to post a something, so that I can comment, answer etc.. Or should I just comment like Taz did?
I'll wait an hour or so before I do (I think there's a two day limit, and one day has already passed) :S
By the way, very interesting comment Taz..
Girls, a little help here please..?
Do we begin to comment (on what we've read) BEFORE or AFTER the Dr. asks us a question?
I was waiting for a the Dr. to post a something, so that I can comment, answer etc.. Or should I just comment like Taz did?
I'll wait an hour or so before I do (I think there's a two day limit, and one day has already passed) :S
By the way, very interesting comment Taz..
Hi all, I think we have to comment after the Dr. posts us a question but we can also comment on what we have talked about in class like what Tasneem did ;)
Hiya Maryam =)
I'm not sure about your question but something at the back of my mind is telling me that Dr Ebtehal mentioned that we should read chapter 2 and not forget to post...plus on the syllabus it says that the 1st post is due after reading that chapter. I could be wrong so don’t take my word for it :P....but it wouldn’t hurt to comment anyway ;)
Cheerio for now…
ello :)
i'm late i know, but better late than sorry :P
Tasneem very interesting post.
As for Mariyam's question; the Dr. mentioned that she'll post something two days before class, for our first post.
enjoy what's left of your weekend :P
Hello everyone.Sorry to pop in late like this.
So far the introduction that we are having to Gibran is incredible, i am so glad that there is a course in KU that we can actually look into his work. I have been a fan of his for quite some time and was always wondering if we would come across his works.
After looking at some of his poetry like "The Song of the Wave" and studying his tendency to use the Romantic style everything started to fall into place! (i advise all to read that wonderul poem.) Another short story that i enjoyed is "The Poet of Babylon" and i am sure that many more, including our assigned reading will be thrilling!
Some commnts about our reading assignment...
I just thought i would present my feedback on what i had read, Firstly, from ,"Sand and Foam" i feel Gibran's style is concerned with understanding life, making sense out of what is diffcult to understand regarding the concepts of life.
Another focus that Gibran has is regarding image and how we present ourselves in the world and how people see us, in reference to his pieces "Madman" and "My Friend". Also in the latter text i notice the focus on individuality, his want to be alone to enjoy his thought or his beliefs, he doesnt want his friend to know about a part of him; he chooses to keep some of himself to himself and not give it all away.
(See article on page 43)
Due to a modern world of constant tragedy, fluctuation and change (wars, technology etc), and in a world were God seems nothing more than an abstract idea, a lack of faith was spreading amongst the Arab scholars. Like Westerners, they too had to search for answers to their questions (and religion seemed to be out of the question for some). Many resorted to their own individualistic ideas, but some did not totally neglect the past they once believed in; as it seems, the result of such a resort is a mixture of personal beliefs, eastern (i.e. Islamic) and western (i.e. Greek) ideologies, not to mention the added tang of modernity -like the example you mentioned Taz.
Suddenly, Greek ideologies (such as Plato’s utopian vision) and Arab ideologies (heaven, a savior/prophet) were added to the general pessimistic and negative view of modern life, thus creating a more realistic perspective rather than a ‘head-in-the-clouds’ view of life. Reality begins to kick in as one speaks of a Utopian vision of any kind, as expressed in many poems of this article (see poems on page 49 and 50).
Thanks :)
LOL Taz I think I did take your word for it..! I commented on chapter two..
Oh well, what can we do?
Btw, great coments Mushira :)
براك
حياك الله ، تسعدنا مشاركتك
girls
amazing comments and insights
clarifications on the next post
let's get to work
:)
Hey! I just had to comment:)
White Wings, great idea! I hope when it's my turn to take this class, you do the same.
Dana, Mushira, Tasneem & the rest:
Enjoy it while it lasts. Blogging is an amazing way of discussing stuff and letting yourself into other people's minds.
I'll see you all in 3taibi;p
Hello :) I just wanted to check if this would work.. if it does ... yipeee!! i can start posting :D (not medicated :P) lol!
Hello girls,
Yamama I totally agree with you...
Yes these lines are for ELIYA ABU MATHI and he is one of the Mahjar school poets.
Reading the first lines of the poem, it seemed to be interesting and has a target behind it's meaning, so I searched for the rest of the poem and tried to translate as much as i can into Arabic just to let you get the general meaning behind it..
Here is the rest of the poem... It is so interesting I guess... Even if you have some struggles with Arabic but it is worth reading and understanding just to have an idea about Elyia's style and personality maybe...
أنا
حرّ ومذهب كلّ حرّ مذهبي
ما كنت بالغاوي ولا المعتصب
**********
أني لأغضب للكريم ينوشه
من دونه وألوم من لم يغضب
**********
وأحبّ كلّ مهذب ولو أنّه خصمي، وأرحم كلّ غير مهذب
*********
يأبى فؤادي أن يميل إلى الأذى
حبّ الأذية من طباع العقرب
*********
لي أن أردّ مساءة بمساءة
لو انني أرضى ببرق خلب
*********
حسب المسيء شعوره ومقاله
في سرّه : يا ليتني لم أذنب
Explanation:
Here the poet is trying to show the audience that he looks forward for peace with others by saying
" he has a liberated and free belief and is not a seducer nor narrow-minded, he likes wee-mannered people even if they were his enemies and is merciful toward the unmannered, and his heart refuses hard because it is the nature of scorpions."
Good luck and enjoy Arab lit. because it is interesting and has deep meanings..:)
Hello everyone :) Reading the chapter on The Greek Cultural Heritage was quite interesting, I had no idea that the Arabs borrowed so much from GReek literature and actually created a literature of their own by using bits and pieces of Greek myths, namely Odysseus/Ulysses. I had never made that association between Odysseus and Sindbad, I had always seen them as two different legendary people, never making a comparrison.The similarities are many, I don't know how I never linked them. As for the way that the poets considered themselves similar to Odysseus, being on a journey of enlightenment and finding one's identity, I connected that to the idea of a poet being a vissionary, a prophet-like person trying to guide humankind through life.
Finally I'd like to note that the Lebanese poet Fuad Rifqa seems different from the other poets mentioned in this chapter because he is "haunted by the oppressive running of time to see any use in social utopia." This view grabbed my attention more than the other poets' views. He is more concerned with the self and the journey of discovering the depths of one's soul. Everything else isn't as important.
Moving on to Gibran, I especially enjoyed Sand and Foam, the small quotations were inspiring and easy to remember. They are such short lines with such great insight and they carry so much meaning. "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."-Gibran
I can't help but notice the yearning of most of the poets, who wish to live in a place where there is no evil in the mist of the air. A place filled with innocence and tranquility. To be frank I do not blame them. I even emphathize with one of the poets who has this nostalgia towards his country especially the River Nile and I do believe that it is one of the rivers from Heaven. Nice fact isn't it?
1st of all a big LOL to Yaz!! :P not medicated ehh looool the yipeeee sounded very medicated to me :P :P
2ndly--who's Amethyst? =) lol ..let me know who u are….(looooved ur list btw!!!) lol even after that I still can’t guess who u are!
3rdly..Maryam your post was really great! =) Yeh the mixing of East and West is very prominent in ‘modern’ Arabic literature as i gathered from chapter 2, it's amazing to see how they adapted to Eastern culture (shown by them understanding and relating to Greek myths and then incorporating them with their own style and thought).
Just something else to comment on for those of u that are wondering why aren’t these poets writing about Arab myths?? Is it just the adventures of Sinbad?!" well on pg 45 there’s the answer :)
*Its because the traditionalists shunned symbolism and allegory and mainly focused on stories form the Quran and Bible*
Oh and one more thing, the school of poetry ‘Apollo’ and its members, were they the first ones to incorporate western influences in their work? If not who was? :S
Chapter two was fascinating! I was (pleasantly) surprised to learn about the Greek influence on Arab poets, just like everyone else was:-P I guess Greek mythology is so vast that it finds its way into all kinds of literatures.
I think the best thing about discovering this link between Greek mythology and Arabic literature is that it negates a notion I’ve always had about the Arabs being distant people with a separate literature, separate beliefs, and a separate everything else. The exoticism of Greek myths must have been very tempting to the Arabs, and their imaginative element must have competed with other religions, like Islam and Christianity, especially in a world where there was “constant tragedy, fluctuation and change (wars, technology etc), and in a world were God seems nothing more than an abstract idea,” as Maryam mentioned:-)
Gibran's ability to master language proves to be highly impressive. He is one of the few writers whom I feel has what Wordsworth called "Poetic Genius." Not only was reading his short stories enlightening, but applying Asa'ad Khairallah's critical essay to them showed me just how far arabic literature engaged greek myth in its work. As KHairallah states, Gibran played with Greek myths to fit the arab culture, or better yet, the content of his work. It was remarkable to discover that in traditional arabic literature: "Symbolism and allegory were not welcome," yet Gibran's short stories were packed with metaphors , allusions, and symbols. Apart from Gibran, the other poets such as Nazik Al Mala'ika and Omar Khayyam in Khairallah's essay seemed to have an even deeper influence from greek myth. Their passion in writing about journeys, greek characters/gods, and their strong hope for a Platonic world which they colourfully intersected with arabic culture seems to me as contemporary. No wonder why they started the New Poets movemement! i think i'm really starting to see and feel the beauty of arabic literature..
Having read the second chapter of our text book, which discusses "Greek Culture and Heritage…" I can proudly say that I can see the light. It is unfortunate as Arabs; we tend to forget about authors, poets, dramatists, and philosophers who come from the same areas as we do. Instead we tend to "worship" foreign artists and abide to everything and anything they say. However, reading this chapter, I can now relate to these Arab poets we are studying. For they were as we are, stuck between two worlds, we try to hold on to our roots, but yet again we are highly influenced by the western world and its literature.
I find it very intriguing to see that Greek mythology has been used in Arabic poetry. The issue in the Arab world is that we connect everything with religion; which makes it impossible for scholars to relate Greek Gods to their lives, for that is considered ( for some) blasphemous.
the previous post was by dana akasha , sorry forgot to write my name :P
I find the link between Arabic and Greek literature a very intriguing combination .. As Maryam has mentioned earlier,the modern era provided skepticism among Arabs and Westerners alike .. However, if you keep in mind that most of these poems were written in the early 1900's.. well it's sort of far-fetched, even in our world today .. Adunis's and Cavafy's works are practically ode-like poems that praise Ulysses, while other writers tended to concentrate on the beauty of a woman's eyes.. what makes them even more daring is how they seemed to find a common ground between Islam and Greek Ideals (Heaven and Utopia for example) and created this fantasy world they dwelled in..
However, i do not really find this "fantasy world" too much of a happy place, most of these poems start off as being highly pessimitic and Heraclitean (Hijzai, 53).. towards the end they switch to their Platonic "nature" where Utopia gives them that glimpse of hope they have left.. a world "where freedom, justice, and dignity help the individual and the group."
This chapter about "The Greek Cultural Heritage and the Odyssey of Modern Arab Poets" was very interesting in a way, it taught me information that I never knew before. Believe it or not I was not aware of how much the Arabic poetry was influenced by Greek mythology. What attracted me most was how the characters or should I say people in both the Greek culture and the Arabic poetry. "except for the mention of two mythical personages and what peryains to them, namely, the Arab Sindabad and the Greek Odysseus." "It is striking to find here a poet who made use of so many mythical figures not only planning to limit himself to the mythical framework of sea and sailing but finding it necessary to associate Ulysses with the most famous Arab sailor, Sindbad! So why this development and how does it manifest itself?" (pg 46)It is amazing how Arab poets from diffrent countries all were influenced by one culture, this shows how strong and important the Greek culture was at that time. Looking forward to more discussion in class about it :)
I want to make something clear which the author failed to do and that is to distinguish the origins of myth of Sinbad. Sinbad is not an Arabic myth in fact it's roots shift back to India this can be supported from the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arabian_Nights and Sinbad is part of the Arabian Nights.
Thats an interesting fact... that The Beatles took from Gibran's poem in their song Julia. I didn't know that. I admire Gibran for still loving his country and to be buried in its soil. Constantine P. Cavafy is what I call a person with a great deal of experiences or more like an International figure. No wonder he advised Ulysses in his poems not be too hasty in returning to Ithaca... try to enjoy the experiences of life, let it nourish you. I should keep that in mind.
Gibran's ability to master language proves to be highly impressive. He is one of the few writers whom I feel has what Wordsworth called "Poetic Genius." Not only was reading his short stories enlightening, but applying Asa'ad Khairallah's critical essay to them showed me just how far arabic literature engaged greek myth in its work. As KHairallah states, Gibran played with Greek myths to fit the arab culture, or better yet, the content of his work. It was remarkable to discover that in traditional arabic literature: "Symbolism and allegory were not welcome," yet Gibran's short stories were packed with metaphors , allusions, and symbols. Apart from Gibran, the other poets such as Nazik Al Mala'ika and Omar Khayyam in Khairallah's essay seemed to have an even deeper influence from greek myth. Their passion in writing about journeys, greek characters/gods, and their strong hope for a Platonic world which they colourfully intersected with arabic culture seems to me as contemporary. No wonder why they started the New Poets movemement! i think i'm really starting to see and feel the beauty of arabic literature..
Hiya people! WOW great comments.. I feel like I missed out on a lot since I fell ill. I would just like to thank those who commented on my 1st post. And I appreciate those who agreed on some certain points.
I think by now, almost everyone might agree that Greek myths are NO longer 'dead'; they are, in fact, very much alive, rejuvenated and have been modernized too. Even nowadays, they are still lurking in the corners of our minds, ever heard of “Holy Hera”? (Note: Hera is the Greek queen of gods and wife of Zeus)
I'm still thinking about Morpheus (a computer program used to downloads MUSIC -I uninstalled it by the way, it had way too much adware!) and how Orpheus (minus the M) is actually the name of Greek god of MuSiC.. As we all know, even the courses we study/studied are affected by Greek myths i.e.:
Survey of Criticism --> Plato
Romantic Poetry --> Wordsworth, pagan ideas, etc
Modern Novel --> James Joyce, Ulysses
Anglo/Arabic lit --> Adonis, his poetry and Ulysses (again) etc
And just since my thoughts have been ‘music-ified’ :) I feel that the Beatles taking from Gibran’s works is a very interesting point Zainab. I guess that reveals that it’s NOT only easterners who seem influence by westerners, because vice versa is quite true.
LOL Shahad that final quote by Gibran is really full of wit, but also full of deep meaning; I like how Gibran is seen as a "poetic genius" as Yasmine mentioned, he’s like a Wordsworth himself if you think about it, to me he's more of a poetic 'hero'? Wouldn't you say?
Thanks again..
By reading "Nasser and the Death of Elegy in Modern Arabic poetry", I was amazed by the different allusions with which the death of the former Egyptian president, Jamal Abd al-Nasir, can be associated.Nasir's end can be an indirect interpretation of the prophet Muhammad's end; wile Nasir died after the farewell ceremonies he made to celebrate making peace between Yasir Arafat and King Hussain during the civil war between the fidaiyyin forces led by Arafat and King Hussain's army in 1967, leaving the Zionists in possession of Jerusalem and the Sinai. The prophet Muhammad also left the Byzantines in possession of Jerusalem and Galilee when he died after his farewell pilgrimage during which a group of Arab tribes professed Islam in his presence.
But I was more impressed by the association of the circumstances that surrounded Nasir's death with the ancient death and rebirth myths. These myths-like the myth of Tammuz,one of the fertility gods,and phoenix, where both Tammuz and phoenix sacrificed themselves to give life either by the seasonal renewal of nature,as in the case of Tammuz,or by creating a new phoenix from the ashes of the old one which burned itself- can be reflected through the mass procession in wich people were crying for Nasir's rebirth out of denial.
Reading "The Greek Cultural Heritage and the Odyssey of Modern Arab Poets" reminds me of the term "Taf3ela" poetry during the contemporary period of Arabic poetry. In "Taf3ela" poetry, some poets use the essence of mythology and manipulate myths in accordance with their own contemporary beliefs. For example, I recall a poem by Adunis in which he manipulates the ending of the myth concerning Ikarus in order to uphold the eternal dream of the impossible and pursue it. When Ikarus and his father, Dedarus, decide to escape prison, they make wings of wax to fly over the sea and reach a faraway land.While the father flies near the surface, Ikarus decides to fly high as much as he can, so the higher he flies, the closer he gets to the sun until the wings melt and Ikarus sinks into the sea, but in the poem by Adunis on Ikarus, he actually flies away disappearing from sight to chase his dream of reaching and achieving the ultimate. However, his returning is expected:
مر هنا ايكار
حدق في الورق الشاحب شم النار
في الغرف الخضرة في البراعم الوديعة
وهز..هز الجذع واستجار
والتف كالوشيعة
ثم انتشى وطار
لم يحترق
لما يعد ايكار
Since our main focus today in class was on nostalgia as an important theme regarding Arabic poetry since the pre-Islamic poetry, I would like to shed some light on the "Mu3alagat", a kind of long Arabic poetry that was popular during the pre-Islamic period. These "mu3alagat" have often started with introductory verses referred to as " mogademat 6alaleya" by which the poet cries over the remains of the homeland when the emigration season starts. These introductory verses appealed to the people of that ime because they shared with them the memories of their homeland and loved ones whom they lost during the emigration. We can also see in these verses the longing for women associated with nostalgia as we mentioned in class:
طرفة بن العبد البكري:
لخولة اطلال ببرقة ثهمد
تلوح كباقي الوشم في ظاهر اليد
النابغة الزيباني:
يا دار مية بالعلياء فالسند
اقوت وطال عليها سالف الامد
الاعشى:
ودع هريرة ان الركب مرتحل
وهل تطيق وداعا ايها الرجل
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