قصة حبي

let me first apologize for a late post

technical trouble :)

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Reminder

we are meeting at coffee Bean cafe (sp??) for class

be there 10 minutes early please

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Ahmad Rami

more info

do you girls know that he was in love with Um Kalthom, the singer, and that even after he got married, he continued to deeply love her and write love-songs for her

his wife knew...and understood

read/listen (with your hearts) :) to this

ذِكرياتٌ عبرت أُفق خيالي

بارقاً يلمع في جُنْح الليالي

نَبَّهَتْ قلبيَ من غفوته

وجَلَتْ لي سِتْرَ أيامي الخوالي

كيف أنساها وقلبي

لم يَزَلْ يَسْكُنُ جَنْبي

إنها قصة حبي

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as for our new chapter

here is what the very energetic Zainab had to say about the reading

Zainab Al-Sharif said...
From what I understood, it discusses the uncertainties of life and how it is complex to interpret it, therefore the fragmentation of the poems. This can be related to T.S Eliot's The Wasteland, where the poem is filled with different speakers that are hard to identify. Arab poets of the modern period have similar characteristics. They comment about something at a distance rather than personalising their experiences. For instance, the poem "Criticiszing pain" consists of " [. . .] a totally controlled, unemotional,but still rich and humane,way. In a memory of a friend who died in south Lebanon [.]" The critic emphasized the way in which the poet addresses "the friend" rather than his friend.I would like to add another quote by the essayist, commenting about the positive aspect of fragmentation "The fragmented self is definately a freer self. It is, in a way, as if an iron encasement has been blown up and shattered, creating a feeling of panic and a certain degree of loss of direction and orientation. But in this state of dispersal and loss, the soul suddenly breathes the fresh breeze from virgin forests [.] This might be out of the subject but I couldn't help to resist the temptation of teasing those who hate psychoanalysis. You will understand what I mean by reading these few lines "[...] my first footstep to the first legs to light up my body, to make me recognize it and recognize the narcissus in me."Ok I have said enough I should give u the chance to comment on the chapter.

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take her lead and comment away

أنظر اليهم من بعيد، يعانقون الموت من أجل البقاء

update

elegy

Al-Khansa

Mutammim Ibn Nuwayra

Wars of Apostasy

Ghazal poetry

Madih poetry

Al-Mutanabbi

on AL-Mutanabbi's grandmother

Gamal Adb Al-Nasir

Amal Dunqul

Dunqul's work

Fadwa Tuqan

samples of her work

فدوى طوقان

الى روح ((لمى)) فاروق طوقان

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نحبك، نبكيك لا تبعدي

حنانك لا تمعني في المغيب

اتمضين كالحلم؟ كيف وقد كنت

ملء العيون وملء القلوب

فيا قسوة الموت يوم طواك

وحطم غصن صباك الرطيب

لمى لن تغيبي، يظل حضورك

اقوى من الموت، لا لن تغيبي

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for our new chapter

here is what couple of your colleagues said

Fatima Rajab

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Reading " Nasser and the Death of Elegy in Modern Arabic Poetry " I understood that the elegy or ( شعر الرثاء ) has been a central concern of the public since very long, and even earlier than that exists the competing of Arabic elegy as a private business.Before Islam elegies were supposed to be written by family or close relatives. Moving to the modern period, we see that the elegy's perception is to spread the public voice out loudly and to stand against colonialism. But after WW1 this public elegy was attacked by Arab Romantic schools who called for individualism. On the other side we have Jamal Abd Al-Nasir who had an active political life and a number of herioc actions. Nasir was seen as the Prophet Muhammad by the eyes of some Arabic poets like Nizar Qabbani and Zafir al-Sabuni. After the death of Nasser we see how ancient mythology came back again by linking Nasser with ancient myths and heros like Tammuz (God of rebirth).

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Yasmine

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I must say, i did not only find this chapter informative about the poetic Arabic tradition of elegy, but I also was deeply inspired by the story of Egyptian political hero, Jamal Abd al Nasser. It is hard to believe that one man could not only change the course of history, but also equally inspire nations and poets to stick to a kind of poetry that was retiring. As you have said, Fatima, after WWI Romantic poets attacked the poetic discipline of elegy, as it was seen as old-fashioned and collides with their individualistic, modern approach to poetry. However, the death of Nasser breathed life into a discipline that was once dying and allowed Arab poets to experiment with style rather than theme. This gave rise to younng poets and allowed prominent ones to affirm their poetic talents. "Nasser's death both created an oppurtunity for poets to use their elegaic talents to the fullest and made it difficult if not impossible, for them to duplicate their efforts at a later date. Thus, Nasser's death could be said to have decreed the death of elegy in modern Arabic Poetry."Forgive my long quote i just saw it to be perfect for my discussion :)I do have more to say about Darwishs enlightening yet real poem, "The Man with the Grren Shadow", but I will keep it for next time since i can sense someone yawning :P

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Shahd

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This chapter was more interesting than the previous ones we have read, since most of us have background on Jamal Abdulnasser. We all know how he was such an important figure, but reading about how he was viewed as a prophet figure or visionary was very moving. Also, "elegy" or "ritha" is a kind of poetry that we had been taught in school. I recall clearly reading work by "Al Khansa'a", in arabic ofcourse and being touched by the intensity of emotion and mourning her loved ones.But I am still a bit confused about elegy being either public or private..If I understand correctly, after AbdulNasser's death, elegy became a public thing,where everyone could mourn publicly? I'm not too sure.As for the example on Nizar Qabani's poem, "Qatalnaka" I was very surprised that he could write with such political bluntness. I have read alot of his poems but they have all been love poetry..I reccomend his work for all you girls..it is simpler than most arabic poetry. Finally, Darwish's poem "The Man with the Green Shadow" was very inspiring and beautifully worded, especially the way he associates the color green with Abdulnasser which is "the color of veggetation and growth" (p 77). The language and style are very moving, speaking to us "privately" and publicly.

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Tasneem

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The chapter on ‘Nasser and the Death of Elegy’ I found really interesting as some of it was linked to a postcolonial class I took last semester. The effect colonialism has on poetry and other forms of literature whether it may be novels or critical essays we now see in this chapter on Arabic poetry. There’s something about being colonized and oppressed that stirs up the spirit and enhances the mood for national liberation, especially writers who believe that they can make a difference by expressing how they feel on behalf of the colonized citizens. This is called ‘’resistance literature’’ (pg64) which boosted the writing of arab elegy poems because of the ''violent interference of colonial and imperial history'' as Barbora Harlow described in her book.

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and don't miss Mariam's comment on the West and the concept of Freedom on the previous post

:)

worth talking about next time we meet

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ok

i give you the stage

comment away

حر ومذهب كل حر مذهبي/ما كنت بالغاوي ولا المتعصب

updating the update

:)

Happy Eid to you all

I've commented on all your comments...check it out

you girls can continue the discussion as you please here until the next post

I will be posting some more new information on this post

keep checking

Eid kisses to you all

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Update

Girls...comment on this post, not the previous one

:)

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More information

Gibran's Biography

Adonis in Greek Mythology

Adunis the Syrian poet

C.P. Cavafy

Ithaca

Bader Shaker Al-Sayyab

Fuad Rifqa

Ulysses

Odysseus

Orpheus

Heraclitus

Eurydice

Abul Wahhab AL-Bayati

also here

Nazik Almalaika

Magians

Penelope

Ahmad Hijazi and samples of his work

Heideggerian

Chronos

Phrygia

Sisyphus

Khalil Hawi

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Adonis

The TS Eliot of Arab Literature

“Tailor, my love is torn-can you sew it for me?”
“Only if you have threads of wind.”

Hello girls

the picture above has nothing to do with your assigned comments, or if you choose, it does :) It is totally up to you

I will post about Arab writers just as bonus information, do with it what you like

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Going through the comments of the last post, I sensed confusion as to the subject to be commented on

My original plan was to post a question or a comment about the "new" reading and then have you react to it one day before class at least

Meaning, I expect one comment, one day before class at the latest

Then, I expect another comment within the next four days after class on the same post

but

I loved all your comments from the last post

so, let's use them to guid as for our first assignment

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Here is what Taz said

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)

Here is what Mushira said

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.

And here is what Maryam said

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).

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I wouldn't be able to say something better

so

use these comments as guide lines for your own comment either on our past reading, our handout reading (Gibran's work) or on our new reading (new chapter of the book)

your comment can also be independent

meaning, you can state your opinion on any other idea that is of your likeing in any of our readings so far

Do post a comment before our class on Monday

let's make this our first assignment

and we'll talk more in class

I will comment with you as well

girls

you amaze me

:)

(By the way, can you figure out the poet of the verse of the title??)