Nature and death in the poetry of al-Malā'ika, al-Shābbī and Shukrī, and certain English Romantic poets : a comparative study
Abstract
The first part of this thesis, divided into two
chapters, deals with the early background of European
Romanticism; the reasons behind its appearance and
problems of definition. There follows a discussion on
the question of the originality of Arabic Romanticism,
with ,a brief review of the roots and main literary groups
of this movement in Arabic poetry.
Part two examines the influence of English poetry
and thought on three Arab Romantic poets: Nāzik Sādiq
al-Malā'ika, Abū al-Qāsim al-Shābbī and
Abd aI-Rahmān Shukrī.
This is discussed parallel with the channels of
this influence.
The main focus of this research is however, to show
the ways in which al-Malā'ika, al-Shābbī and Shukrī perceived and reflected nature and death in their poetry.
Their attitudes towards certain phenomena in nature
such as the countryside, night, the sea, childhood and
moral and social lessons of nature are compared with
certain attitudes of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and
Shelley.
Themes such as life and death, fear of death,
fatalism, immortality and death as a welcome experience
are also the concern of this thesis, with a comparison of
these themes in the poetry of the Arab and English
Romantic poets.
However, owing to the popularity of Keats and
Shelley with the three Arab Romantic poets, this thesis
concentrates on their poetry.
This research has selected only certain phenomena
and themes from nature--and death because of the dominance
of these subjects in the poetry of al-Malā'ika, al-Shābbī and Shukrī. The translations of Arabic poetry in this thesis are
intended to convey the general sense of the source texts,
rather than to give a precise rendering of these texts
into English.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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