Arabic Literature

Abstract Locale is one of the most important elements of poetry. In resistance literature, places have different semantic functions, depending on the emotions of the writer towards those places. These places are sometimes reminiscent of nostalgic childhood memories and a relief from the current pain and alienation, and sometimes express the poet’s intense interest in or hatred for the characters or events that are related to these places. Because resistance poets reflect the actual events of their lives and societies, and as they themselves have deeply felt the difficulties of resisting oppression and tyranny and have faced the difficulties of exile and persecution, the element of locale is prominent in their poetry. Yahya al-Samawi, a contemporary Iraqi poet, was one of the pioneers of Arabic poetry and one of the members of the Intifada in southern Iraq against the Baathist regime in 1991. Since then, as a result of his political stance, he has lived far from his homeland in exile. His experiences during the Iraqi Baath regime and his emigration followed by the occupation of Iraq by Americans led al-Samawi to pay special attention to Iraq and its cities. Therefore, the element of place is of great importance in his poetry. He consciously makes use of places in his poems to express different feelings such as love, homesickness, hatred, and praise, to recall his good memories and heal his pains, and to resist the oppressors and liberate his homeland. Therefore, this paper adopts a descriptive-analytical method to examine this element and its implications in his poetry.

Abstract Eulogy is one of the most important poetic types in Arabic literature. Due to its moralistic themes, the eulogy of the prophet of Islam enjoys a high position in Arabic literature. This poetic type has existed in different periods of Arabic poetry. However, it reached its pinnacle in the Mamluks’ period. Using a descriptive-analytical approach, the present paper attempts to examine the various subdivisions of this literary type and its pertinent styles and themes by exploring its origin of formation and its prominent poets. The results of this paper suggest that the eulogies of the prophet in the Mamluks’ period are considered as one the finest poetic forms in Arabic literature. These eulogies do not have a specific structure. Yet, long odes of this literary type include a lyrical introduction, a main body, and an epilogue and they mention the prophet’s miracles and characteristics. The art of praising the prophet flourished in the Mamluks’ period because ‎of several important reasons. First, during the Crusades this poetic type was used ‎as a motivating force to inspire efforts to defend the Islamic lands. Second, ‎the prophet was considered as a decent model to follow for Muslims. Third, Arab poets praised Mamluk ‎kings but they, not being Arab, paid no attention to their poetry. Furthermore, there was a need for this type ‎of poetry in the prophet’s birthday celebrations. The ‎spread of Sufism and Mysticism, the expansion of the Islamic world, ‎people’s desire to visit the holy places of Hejaz, and the competition between Sunni ‎circles who praised the prophet and Shia movements who praised the ‎Ahl al-Bayt are among the other reasons. Al-Busiri and Safi-al-Din al-Hilli are among the most famous poets of this period who wrote ‎poetry in praise of the prophet. Al-Busiri is the most famous one and many consider him as the inventor of ‎the technique.‎

Abstract The Afsaneh by Nima Yushij and Gharib –un-ala - Khalij by Badr Shaker are among poetic works which show many similarities , in spite of differences which give them their identity. These similarities indicate that these two works follow the same style and internal structure. The authors of this article try to compare the stylistic features of these two works and identify their similarities and stylistic subtlities so that there is better awareness of the similarities and differences between these two collections in Arabic and Persian and readers are helped to have a better understanding of them. The results of the study support the idea that these two works are very similar in their poetic style and form, although there are many differences between them in their themes and content.