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‫البداية هي مقدمة لالطالع لغرض الفهم‬

Victorian poetry
Victorian poetry refers to the poetry produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
in the United Kingdom. It was a rich and diverse period in English literature with several
distinct characteristics:
Religion and Spirituality: Many Victorian poets grappled with questions of faith and spirituality.
The period saw a tension between traditional religious beliefs and emerging scientific and
philosophical ideas. Poets like Gerard Manley Hopkins explored these themes in their work.
Science and Religion: The Victorian period saw a growing conflict between scientific discoveries
and religious beliefs. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, as presented in "On the Origin of
Species," challenged traditional religious accounts of creation. This tension between science
and religion is reflected in Victorian poetry. Some poets, like Alfred, Lord Tennyson, grappled
with the implications of scientific advancements and the erosion of religious certainties in works
like "In Memoriam."

Realism and Detail: Victorian poetry frequently displayed a keen interest in the minutiae of
daily life and a detailed portrayal of reality. This attention to detail is exemplified by the works
of Robert Browning, who used dramatic monologues to delve into the psychology of his
characters.
Moral and Social Concerns: Victorian poets often expressed a strong sense of morality and
social responsibility. They grappled with the moral challenges of their time, such as the effects
of industrialization, urbanization, and social inequality.
Social Class and Morality: Victorian poetry often dealt with issues of social class and
distinctions, highlighting the contrast between different strata of society and the moral
dilemmas they faced.
The Industrial Revolution, with its far-reaching effects on society, provided poets with a wealth
of material and inspiration. These poets responded in diverse ways, expressing their hopes,
critiques, and concerns through their work. As a result, the literature of this period is rich with
reflections on the social, environmental, and emotional impact of this transformative era.

During the Victorian era, there was a significant interest in the past, particularly in the Middle
Ages, which is often referred to as a sense of "medievalism." This interest in medievalism
manifested in various aspects of Victorian culture, including literature, art, architecture, and
even politics.
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold, a prominent Victorian poet and critic, had a distinctive philosophy of poetry
that he articulated in his critical writings. Arnold's views on poetry can be summarized as
follows:
The Function of Poetry: Arnold believed that the primary function of poetry was to provide
moral and intellectual guidance to society. He saw poetry as a means of elevating and
instructing the public. In his view, poetry had a significant role to play in shaping culture and
moral values.
Classical and Hellenistic Influences: Arnold was influenced by classical and Hellenistic ideas of
art and beauty. He admired Greek culture and believed that Greek literature and art
represented the highest ideals of human expression. He sought to incorporate classical
aesthetics into Victorian poetry.

Critique of Romanticism: Arnold was critical of the excesses of Romanticism, particularly its
intense subjectivity and emphasis on emotional self-expression. He believed that poetry
should strike a balance between emotion and intellect, and that it should engage with the
world's intellectual and social issues.
The "Touchstone" Method: Arnold introduced the concept of the "touchstone" in literary
criticism. He argued that critics should use a limited number of classic works as touchstones to
judge the merit of contemporary literature. This approach emphasized the enduring value of
the classics and their role in setting a standard for literary excellence.

Cultural Critique: Arnold's philosophy of poetry was closely linked to his broader cultural
critique. He expressed concerns about the moral and intellectual decline of society, especially
in the face of rapid industrialization. He believed that poetry could help address these issues
by promoting intellectual and moral growth.

Matthew Arnold's philosophy of poetry emphasized the moral and intellectual function of
poetry in shaping and elevating society. He advocated for poetry that incorporated classical
ideals, engaged with social issues, and was subject to rigorous and objective critical
evaluation. Arnold's views played a significant role in shaping the direction of Victorian poetry
and literary criticism.
What is the difference between the definition of poetry according to
Wordsworth, Matthew Arnold, and TS Eliot?

William Wordsworth: Wordsworth was a prominent figure in the Romantic movement, and his
definition of poetry is closely tied to Romantic ideals. He believed that poetry should be a
spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and emotions. His famous concept of "emotion
recollected in tranquility" emphasizes the role of memory and reflection in poetic creation.
Wordsworth saw poetry as a means of capturing the ordinary and the everyday, making it
extraordinary through the power of imagination. In essence, he valued the emotional and
imaginative aspects of poetry, emphasizing the relationship between the poet and nature.
Matthew Arnold: Matthew Arnold, a Victorian poet and critic, had a more intellectual and
critical approach to poetry. He saw poetry as a form of criticism of life and believed that its
primary function was to provide moral and intellectual guidance. Arnold's concept of "the best
that has been thought and said" reflects his belief in the high cultural and intellectual standards
that poetry should uphold. He advocated for poetry's role in addressing the moral and social
concerns of his time, promoting culture and education as a means of achieving a more
enlightened society.
T.S. Eliot: T.S. Eliot, a modernist poet and critic, had a highly complex and multifaceted view of
poetry. He emphasized the importance of tradition and the need for poets to engage with the
literary past. Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent" essay highlights his belief in the poet's
place within a broader literary tradition. He also introduced the concept of the "objective
correlative," which stressed the importance of using concrete and specific imagery to convey
emotions and experiences. Eliot's poetry often explores spiritual and existential themes,
reflecting his personal journey toward religious faith.
In summary, Wordsworth valued the emotional and imaginative aspects of poetry, Arnold
emphasized poetry's role as a critic of life and society, and Eliot stressed the importance of
tradition, the use of objective correlative, and the intellectual and spiritual dimensions of
poetry. Each poet's definition of poetry reflects the values and concerns of their respective
literary movements and historical contexts.
 ‫من هنا تبدء المحاضرات اليومية‬
The Victorian age: is an era of realism
The Victorian era, the era of novels such as the writer Richard Dickens, "Hard Times"
Also Victorian Poets of the Realist Movement such as :
The Industrial Revolution that affected on society and how society suffered from that
revolution, how hard the workers "the hands" were living and suffering.
And How nature was suffering from the dust and factory pollution
The philosophy of society at that time was materialist philosophy and the conflict between
classes, as the higher class was controlling the lower class and make them struggling (from hand
to mouth) and according to "Marxist theory" it should be Equality between classes.
The conflict also appeared between religion and science, as several scientific theories appeared
at that time, such as Darwin’s book The Origin of Species, and how the ideas that were in the
book were against religion.
Also, many people at that time tried to apply scientific theories to religious texts, so there was
a reaction from the clergy. This showed a conflict between science and religion, as many people
began to doubt the existence of the Creator. So the Oxford movement is a religious movement
appeared in the Victorian era by Cardinal Newman.
They believed that too much materialism and too much industrialism would lead to the
decline of society and lead to a move away from faith, so they said we must not lose our faith
and not doubt of Creator "GOD".
This was reflected in the poetry of the Victorian era, where many poets called for holding on
faith and adherence to faith.
The other topic is women
In the Victorian era, there were the first steps of feminism. There were women who wrote
literary works, such as Emily Brontë, but she published her works under an unknown nickname
because society at that time did not accept literary works by women. In the Victorian era, there
was a spotlight on the suffering of women, as they were voiceless or with a weak voice, and
woman was not free and ruled by the man (her father, brother, or husband). woman was always
as if she were something under the authority of a man, as if she was slave in the (Patriarchal
society)
Also, the poets of the Victorian era were interested in the same thing as the poets of the
Romantic era, which is interest in the past (interest in the Middle Ages). However, the poets of
the Romantic era were interested in aspects of beauty, such as the beauty of nature or the
beauty of women, while the poets of the Victorian era were interested in reviving something
that had been lost in the Victorian era, such as land scape of nature missed because industrial
revolution and others things missed like " Loss of faith " , chivalry , courage, and Respect
women. It was used to compare with what was missing in the Victorian era as a form of criticism
of society, that society had become worthless and decayed.
Nature in the Romantic era was different from the vision of romanticism in the Victorian age
The Romantics saw the beauty of nature as idealized (nature worship) and women as angels
While the Victorians viewed nature as something that had become lost in civilization, where
there was smoke , dust and the effects of pollution and the industrial revolution, women were
viewed as an oppressed being, without a voice, and as a slave under the authority of men.
Therefore, the Victorians used views of nature and women as elements that had become lost
to them, and as a form of criticism of society and the philosophy of the era in That Time (A
Critique of the Materialist Philosophy of the Age) Where people were victims of their time.
Victorin is divided into two parts The first section is the beginning of the Victorian era, poets by
Raphael, who appeared in the aesthetic movement Where they write for beauty over meaning,
such as the poem Blessed Damozel by Dante Gabriel Rossetti The purpose of writing poems
was the doctrine of aesthetics, art for art's sake The second section is the end of the Victorian
era, such as Tennyson and Matthew Arnold, where their school of poetry followed the
(Didactics) approach, which is that a literary work must carry a message or a moral lesson. They
wrote poetry in order to criticize life, criticize society, and for highlighting on society’s problems
as a kind of reform of society. Also, one of the things that society was suffering from was the
distinction between social classes (Marxism), where the owners of the money, the upper class,
were the ones controlling the fate of the lower class, the workers who did not have enough for
their daily sustenance, and the suffering of that lower class (the workers). Their names are
Charles Dickens (The Hands), and there is a quote. From his book Hard Times as a description of
their economic situation (from hand to mouth). The wages they receive from those with money
are only enough for food.
Victorian era writers were interested in realistic social issues and society problems.

1. The poem "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold

Dover Beach Poem Philosophy of poet Matthew Arnold The philosophy of the poet Matthew
Arnold lags behind the philosophy of poetry of the Romantic era. It is not like the philosophy of
Worsworth (poetry is a spontaneous flow of emotions and the ability to transform feelings into
poetry), while Matthew Arnold in the Victorian era had a different philosophy as he believed
that poetry (criticism of life and criticism of society to diagnose society’s problems He believes
that the benefit of poetry is like the benefit of religious texts that discuss people’s problems.
Just as religion can solve a specific problem or science can solve a specific problem, poetry can
also solve a specific societal problem. Therefore, Matthew Arnold’s poetry focuses on realism,
which is the prevailing characteristic of the Victorian era (the era of realism). This view differs
from that of the poets of the Romantic era (the era of imagination).
At the beginning of the poem we see a romantic image where we see elements of
romanticism, which are the description of nature.
"The sea is calm tonight
The tide is full, the moon lies fair"
This is the influence of Romanticism school, as it not only affected that time, but also
influenced the poetry of all eras after it. This is a description of nature, which is the details
of the sea and the moon, and it is one of the elements of romance, but here the use of this
element is different, as the poet used the elements of romance in order to clarify something
missing. Where we see the turning point at the end of the stanza.
"of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling"
" with tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness"
In these lines above we see (elegy) employing elements of romanticism for something that
became lost in the Victorian era. when people's faith became weakened and many people lost
their faith, they became eternal unhappiness, which is a kind of criticism of life, as society
became more miserable when they lost their faith because to the philosophy of the era during
that time the Victorian age (the materialism).
"Sophocles long ago
heart it on the Aegean"
the poet used Greek mythology (Sophocles) as an allusion, he meant not just him how heard
that sound of sadness "tremulous cadence" but also there was who before us heard it.
"The Sea of Faith/was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore/Lay like the folds of a
bright girdle furled/ But know I only hear/ Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar"
Here is a poetic image (metaphor), Images of faith in the past was like the belt that surrounds
the earth, Compared to the situation that society became after the decline of faith, it became
misery and sadness, because the industrial revolution and because people think and interested
only of material things (materialisms) and the appearances of new scientific theories such as
Darwin’s theory about the origin of creation, which led to a conflict between science and
religion and the attempt to explain scientific theories according to religious texts, which made
People are turning away from their faith Therefore, it led to the decline of society without
morals and without faith, and misery became widespread among people in Victorian society.
This is poetry in the Victorian era. It is a kind of attempt to reform society in terms of diagnosing
the problem in society. Here, Matthew Arnold (Critique of Life) presents a diagnosis of the
problem of society at that time, which is that people have become far from faith, and the bad
side of that is the effect of losing faith, which is an invitation to return. To faith in order to get
rid of that sadness.
"And naked shingles of the world"
This is the idea of (nakedness), and here the poet means spiritual nudity, not physical nudity,
as society has become empty, without faith, without moral values, as religion has become only
a form without meaning.
After diagnosing the problem of society (loss of faith), the poet gives the solution of that
problems in the last stanza of his poem
"Ah, love, let us be true/To one another! For the world, which seems/ to lie before us like a
land of dreams"
Where the poet believes that only through love can we return to our faith in terms of loving
each other and staying away from hatred so that we can live happily without sadness. This is a
characteristic of Victorian poetry. They were searching for perfection like " land of dreams".
Without love we will become as ignorant as an army that fights a great knight with ignorance
"where ignorant armies clash by night"
This is the function of poetry in the Victorian era: to highlight problems and provide solutions
(reforming society).
2. The Poem "MY LAST DUCHESS" by Robert Browning
It reflects the controlling of men over the women, treats woman like a slave.
This poem is considered Ekphrastic poetry (poems written about works of art) and it is
from the school of pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, but here it is with realism, as the painting is
realistic and not from imagination. It is poetry that is mostly written on a painting but in this
poem contains drama, as there is a dramatic monologue, which means that the poet presents
a character who explains the poet’s point of view through dialogue in the lines of the poem.
This is the story of the Duke of Ferrara, the Duke with the painter (Pandolf) who painted a
portrait of his previous-wife discussing the cause of her death (the reason he killed her).
"But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I"
These two lines clarify the meaning that the poet is possessive, as he describes that woman
his previous wife in the painted painting as an object and he owns here.
"A heart- how shall I say? - too soon made glade,
Too easily impressed;"
"My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody's gift"
" I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together"
he is a possessive person. He owns her and wants her to behave the way he wants and not be
free in her actions. He lists the reasons for killing her, such as jealousy and that he wanted to
control her as he wants.
In addition, he is a crazy person, with a psychological problem, sadomasochistic a person enjoys
physical or mental suffering on another person, who derives pleasure from experiencing pain.
which is taking pleasure in harming others. And gives justification ideology (Art ideology) to kill
here because she was not only for him.
Also on the other hand, the idea of (Marxism) and societal differences in the Victorian era,
where he is the duke from the upper class who gave his wife who is from the lower class, he
gave her the name of the duchess and made her from a higher class, (hierarchy society) people
control people who under them.
Finally, according to feminist theory, this poetry is considered patriarchal poetry, as it shows
men’s control over women, how women lived unjustly, as if they were slaves under the power
of men, and how men treated women as if they were something or an object less than them.
"Notice Neptune"
It is another painting, the second painting in the poem that the Duke also owned. It is the
painting of the “Sea God” in Roman mythology. It shows the power of a man who controls a
horse and carries a sword, as this reflects the Duke’s control over women. It shows how
possessive he is, and how controlling he is over women.
Also from another view of the idea of the poem (the theme), the poet gives an indirect message
of criticism to the Italian Renaissance, and the Italian Humanism as the poem revolves around
the Duke of Ferrara in Italy, where they claimed humanity and shows their interested in Art, but
at the same time they treated women in an inhuman way as if they were an object, without a
voice and without freedom. The woman is like a slave. this is answer the question "how he is a
killer and at the same time he is interested in art?".

Eliot's philosophy of poetry:

Poetry is a cultural heritage. Tradition represents the accumulation of wisdom and
experiences of past ages.
Therefore, knowledge of past literature is important and essential for achieving great new
literary achievements. For Eliot, poetry is organization rather than inspiration, not like
Worthy's definition (poetry is a spontaneous flow of emotions and not like Matthew Arnold's
definition (poetry is a criticism of life). The poet does not have a personal expression. He is
merely a means of conveying impressions and experiences in a professional manner. Poetry is
not a complex of emotions, but an escape from emotions. For this reason, he depersonalizes
his emotion.
The works of poets in the present must be compared and contrasted with the literary works of
the past. Comparison is made for the purpose of analysis and for a better extending of the
new works.
Tradition and individual Talent Essay by T.S. Eliot in 1919 , By “tradition,” Eliot means the
literary heritage. All the great literary works of the past from the time of Homer (8th century
B.C.) to the present day. Eliot believes that the standard for every for every writer is the schools
of ancient writers such as Homer, Dante , Shakespeare and Milton.
Poetry is a cultural heritage. Tradition represents the accumulation of wisdom and
experiences of past ages.
Therefore, knowledge of past literature is important and essential for achieving great new
literary achievements. For Eliot, poetry is organization rather than inspiration, not like Worthy's
definition (poetry is a spontaneous flow of emotions) and not like Matthew Arnold's definition
(poetry is a criticism of life). But The poet should not have a personal expression and the poet
is merely a means of conveying impressions and experiences in a professional manner. Poetry
is not a complex of emotions, but an escape from emotions. For this reason, he depersonalizes
his emotion.
The works of poets in the present must be compared and contrasted with the literary works of
the past. Comparison is made for the purpose of analysis and for a better extending of the new
works.
Impersonality and Emotion: Eliot suggests that the best art is characterized by a sense of
impersonality. The writers should distance themselves from their personal emotions and ego,
allowing the tradition to shape and guide their work. This idea challenges the romantic notion
of art as an outpouring of personal emotion.
• Poetry does not express itself and its feelings, but rather general, universal issues and
ideas.
• The poem is separate from the poet and his personal life.
• The poet is like a “catalyst.” The poet’s job is to stimulate a chemical reaction. The poet
is like a mediator. He does not show his feelings, but is a mediator for conveying topics
and producing literary works.
• Eliot emphasizes textuality. The personal life of the writer is not the subject of study, but
rather the techniques of writing a literary work are important and style.
Objective Correlative
• The "objective correlative" is a concept introduced by T.S. Eliot in his essay "Hamlet and
His Problems" and Also discussed in his another essay "Tradition and the Individual
Talent." It is a literary device used to evoke specific emotions in the audience or reader
by establishing a set of objects, situations, or symbols that serve as a symbolic
 representation of those emotions. Essentially, it's a way to make the audience or reader
feel the same emotions that the characters are experiencing.

“No poet, no artist for any art has his complete meaning alone”
• Past and present influence each other like a flowing river
• Literature has a unity, all influence each other, The old is influenced by the new, and the
new is influenced by the old.
• There is a function for death poets “historical Awareness”
• The past is not isolated from the present, but is modified by new literary works.
• It is impossible to evaluate any poet or writer without referring to the great figures of
ancient literature
“Novelty is better than repetition”
- Ancient literature is a Tradition influences it, the New poets, writers are influenced by it,
Ancient literature also for evaluation and judgment Not for a repetition of their themes
and topics. It is not a reformulation, but a school and an approach that they must follow.
- The writer must be creative by relying on the basis that is ancient literary works.
- The ancient writers “ the famous Poets” are not dead, but alive in their knowledge and
should be emulated.
The idea of Timelessness of literature, for all times.
3. The poem "the love song of Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot
This poem is considered one of the first poems of the modernist era in terms of style,
language, and ideas. For example, it represents the image of the modern man who must take
care of his appearance and clothing. this poem also contains an application of the philosophy of
poetry that he presented in his article (Traditions and Individual Talents), its connection
between literary works in the past through several revelations in the poem. For example, Eliot
begins his poem with verses from Dante's work (The Divine Comedy) in the third part "Inferno",
the verses in which Dante meets another character, Gedo. The poet compares the character of
Prufrock to the character of Gedo, but Gedo was literally in hell, while Prufrock is in another
hell, since the idea of hell in the past is different from the idea of hell in modernity, Prufrock is
not in a literal hell like Gedo, but rather his life and his condition make him live in a miserable
life like a hell it is a sense of hell not literal.
Also the connection in both cases we have women, in the Divine Comedy the woman's
function was to purify Gedo from sins to move him from hell into heaven. On the other hand,
the woman here is different from the woman in Victorian poetry. The woman in Eliot's poem is
different, as it shows the image of the superficial modern woman who only cares about
appearances and superficiality, but inside she is empty.
” in the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo"
Here is a different view of women, not like the past, as Eliot used this allusion to explain that
women in the modern era have begun to pretend to be educated and talk about
Michelangelo, but they are superficial and empty on the inside. It is kind of irony upon modern
woman.
………. ……….. ………..
The style used in this poem is stream of consciousness, where the poet narrates the story as it
is without organization, and without order, not like a dramatic monologue. We see the
character of Prufrock moving from one place to another directly and suddenly, from the street
to the hotel and then to the bar, and he moves directly to several places. Direct narration
(stream of consciousness).
…………….
The description became not of a natural landscape, but rather of a cityscape, filled with illness,
stress and unhappiness
"when the evening is spared out against the sky/ like a patient etherized upon a table"
A modernist description of a cityscape rather than a landscape, where the evening is like a
helpless, drugged, sick person.
……….

The term "flâneur" originated in 19th-century France and is often associated with the writings
of Charles Baudelaire and later developed by various thinkers, including Walter Benjamin. The
flâneur is a figure of urban observation and leisurely wandering, particularly associated with
city life.
This is a French literary phrase used to refer to a person who walks around and describes the
places he wanders in. Eliot presents the character of Prufrock, who was walking around the city
and describing places such as the streets and the cheap hotel, and provides an accurate
description even of the cat scratching her back on the window.
…………….
Absurdity
In many verses in the poem, the poet repeats the concept of time (repetition of time).
"And indeed there will be time/for the yellow smoke"
"there will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands"
"Time for you and time for me
And time yet for hundred indecisions"
"And indeed there will be time/for wonder, Do I dare? Do I dare?"
The poet presents the idea of routine and absurdity, the absurdity of repeating time without
purpose, And the idea of endless pain, and the idea that life is meaningless. It is one of the
characteristics of the philosophy of the modern era (Absurdism).
" I have measured out my life with coffee spoons"
Comparing his life with a coffee spoon, where the poet depicts life as trivial and meaningless,
without benefit such as the triviality of using a coffee spoon. It is a worthless thing like life. It
is another image of the absurdity of life.

The allusions
The poet T. S. Eliot mentioned several characters in the poem as an allusion to reflect the
triviality of Prufrock's life and insignificants by comparison between allusion characters with
prufrock character.
The first allusion is the use of a stanza from the Divine Comedy, one of Dante's works, where
the poet Eliot used the character of Gedo in order to compare the "literal hell" that Gedo was
in and the idea of the hell that Prufrock was living in (sense of hell). It is not a literal hell like
Gedo's hell, but rather the feeling of hell.

"though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter"
The allusion to the character of john the Baptist from the Bible, who was brave and challenged
the king and said to him, “You are not just, so he was killed by the king.” Here the poet compared
the cowardly character of Prufrock to the character of the brave Yahiya the Baptist, who was
not afraid of the king.

"And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid"
An allusion of the character of Jesus Christ (Lord Servant), who, despite the simplicity of his life,
is an important person for many people, but Prufrock is afraid and useless.
"To say: I am Lazarus, come from the death
Comeback to tell you all, I shall tell you all"
Another allusion of the character of "Lazarus" from the Bible, he died for three or four days, and
his wife came to Christ and begged him to bring him back to life, so Christ brought him back to
life and said what he saw after death. Here the poet links the character of Lazard with the
character of Prufrock, who walks like a dead man who has already lost himself and has nothing
to lose.
"No! I am not prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be"
Here is another reference (allusion) to the character of Prince Hamlet from the play by
Shakespeare, where Hamlet was hesitant like Prufrock, and despite Hamlet's great hesitation in
making the decision to take revenge on his uncle, in the end, he did something "killed his uncle",
he achieve something, but Prufrock compared to Hamlet, remained hesitant and more than
Hamlet as Prufrock did not do anything until the end he did not do it.

Dandy character
"My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by simple pin-
They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!")"
In these verses above, the poet intends to criticize the modern man (Irony) about the modern
man who has begun to care only about his appearance and clothes without paying attention to
the true value inside the human, as from inside he is just an empty person (Dandy person).

A writer who is against women in his literary works is often described as misogynistic. Misogyny
refers to a strong dislike, contempt, or prejudice against women. If a writer consistently portrays
women in a negative light or harmful attitudes towards women through their writing, they may
be labeled as misogynistic.
” in the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo"
Eliot used this allusion to explain that women in the modern era have begun to pretend to be
educated and talk about Michelangelo, but they are superficial and empty from inside. It is
kind of irony upon modern woman. So he considered against women "misogynistic".

I grow old… I grow old

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
A realistic picture of the modern man who cares about his appearance. It criticizes that the
modern man has become empty inside, superficial, and only cares about his clothes.

"Till human voices wake us, and we drown"

The last line of the poem, it is metaphorical Line, the situation in which Prufrock lives is futile,
without purpose and in the end he finds himself dead.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬.. ‫نسالكم الدعاء‬

3. The poem Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats
It is a journey from the physical world to the spiritual world by practicing spiritual art to achieve
immortality.
In essence, "Sailing to Byzantium" is a poem about the search for transcendence and the quest for
immortality through artistic creation. Yeats grapples with the inevitability of aging and decay but
seeks solace in the idea that art has the power to transcend the temporal and capture the eternal
essence of the human soul. The poem is a meditation on the transformative and timeless nature of
artistic expression as a means of achieving a form of immortality in the face of the transience of
human existence.

the poet presents a description of the new

The young generation, the generation of young people who
In one another's arm, birds in the trees, are busy with the hustle and bustle of life and the
Those dying generations- at their song material things of life (Immature people). He
The salmon-falls, the mackerel- crowded seas. described them as being like salmon, as they have
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long the property of walking against the flow, and like
a bird that flies from one place to another (a sexual
image). In addition, the negative harmony, as they
Caught in that sensual music all neglect do not seek spiritual things. Rather, they seek
Monuments of unageing intellect material and physical things, so they do not do
…………………………………. anything valuable or spiritual that would make
An aged man is but a paltry thing, them immortal. They seek bad art and loud music,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless they were without values and without spiritual
actions, just superficial people
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress
……………………………….. O sages standing in god's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall
The poet described the elderly who interested in
spiritual actions and spiritual Art and do not care
O sages standing in God's holy fire about material things, so they will be immortal.
As in the gold mosaic of a wall Therefore, the poet presented the idea of
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre, immortality through immortal spiritual Art. The
And be the singing-masters of my soul. poet depicts art as a healing power by spiritual
…………………… practice and exercise, through his journey to the
city of Byzantium, which represents authentic
perne in a gyre, spiritual art (pure art).

It is the Irish sense, as the poet used Irish words or "O sages standing in God's holy fire"
phrases in his poems in order to introduce them " Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
into English literature. It is (mythology) in order to And be the singing-masters of my soul."
say we are here, we are as Irish people, we are also in this poem we see kind of perspective of
here. It is a kind of peaceful cultural style as a Sufism, The Holy fire that purifies the soul from the
response to the British occupation of Ireland, so the material world, as the poet separates from the
poet used Literature as a means of affirming Irish material world and becomes a practitioner of
identity and he rejected the method of war and spiritual actions (Spiritual Art) as a type of a healing
blood. power for the soul in order to achieve immortality.
Through artistic teachings, as the Byzantine city
represents spiritual art, so here we find the Sufi
touch.
 And fastened to a dying animal
And fastened to a dying animal
Here the poet describes the body as a
It knows not what it is; and gather me
“dead animal.” It is a metaphor of the
Into the artifice eternity.
body and materialism that at the end will
finish and are not immortal.
and gather me
Into the artifice eternity.
unlike that physical action unlike the dying
generation "dying animal", there is the old man
who seeking about spiritual Art as "artifice" it is
positive "spiritual art" and not something negative
it is not a materialistic art but it is the spiritual art
by (singing master) where he could obtain
immortality by making immortal spiritual Art.

…………….
My bodily form from any natural thing, "Of hammered gold and gold enameling"
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enameling "To lords and ladies of Byzantium
……………….. Of what is past, or passing, or to come."
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come. It is a form of immortality, where the poet looks to
a promising future with the hope of obtaining
immortality by practicing spiritual artistic work
that will remain immortal.
Therefore, the poet made his journey to the
Byzantine city. It is a journey to search for
immortal spiritual art. It is a journey to search for
immortality. The poet left the superficial material
world that does not follow immortal artistic values
and went to a city that respects spiritual artistic
values (the transition from the material world to
the spiritual world).

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬.. ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

2. The poem Richard Cory by Arlington Robinson
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked,
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked. Edwin Arlington Robinson was born on
December 22, 1869, in Head Tide,
And he was rich--yes, richer than a king--
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

"Richard Cory" first appeared in the American poet Edwin Arlington Robinson's 1897 collection, The Children of
the Night. In four brisk stanzas, "Richard Cory" tells the story of a wealthy man who often strolls the streets of a
poverty-stricken town whose residents all envy his seeming glory. Yet the poem's final line reveals that, despite
seeming to have everything he could want, Cory kills himself. The poem's thematic interests in wealth, poverty,
and the elusive nature of happiness are deeply tied to its historical context: a series of economic depressions
that struck the U. S. in the 1890s.

The poet Robinson was interested in ancient traditions, interested in the Middle Ages "Medievalism", and also
interested in ancient myths and the past poetic form. We see this clearly in his poetry collection (Captain Craig).
The poet introduced the past form into modern poetry by adding a modern style and modern themes, in the
form as if it were a sonnet form "Old poetry", but with modern topics and modern language and style.

Why did the poet use that form? Why he was interested in past form and medieval traditions?

Because the poet believed that the past represented the era of success and heroism, but now, in the era of
modernity, that era of success has ended, the American dream has been corrupted, and the era has become the
era of failed people, it is the age of materialism and superficiality. Therefore, in many times, the poet invokes in
his poems the character of a failed man, such as the character of the "Prince of Failure", and the character of
(( Richard Cory)) is one of those characters represented by the poet. Or, for example, he represents a fictional
city like the (Tilbury Town), in which there are people who are not heroes but rather failures people.

The poet believed that getting success should be through the experience of failure, like a person who enters a
dark tunnel and walks in the darkness, but at the end of the tunnel sees the light (success). He meant that a
person must obtain success by gaining experience and benefiting from the sins and mistakes that he committed
previously, in short. (Success through failure).

It was a kind of criticism of the modern era, in which the American dream ended and was corrupted, and the era
of (Footman) ended, and now the era has become the era of materialism and superficiality.

By the way, Robinson was the first who introduced psychological philosophy into American literature, specifically
into poetry, even before Freud's theory.
"Whenever Richard Cory went down Town"

"He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favored and imperially slim."

In the first verses, the poet represents the character of (Richard Cory) and described him as a rich
man with an elegant appearance and social status, a person who owns everything, from the
outside as if he were as a prototype.

"But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked."
The poet continues to describe the character of "Cory", a man who appears amazing on the
outside, with a brilliant appearance, but when he speaks it appears that he is stammering,
indicating that from the inside he is a failed person. He is only stunning in appearance,
but from the inside he is empty and a failure. A person who appears to be educated and
cultured and we thought he has everything, but at the beginning of his speech, his truth is
uncovered that he is a fake person and a failure form the inside.

"In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place."

"And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head."

because of his appearance, people thought "Cory" had everything and they wished they could be like
him. But in the end they discovered that he was a failure, and his reality that he was empty from inside,
at the end he killed himself (suicide) .Here the poet refers to the corruption of the American dream and
the decay of society, as they thought that the American dream, which was (every person, regardless
of his race and social class, can work and achieve a decent life, prosperity, development,
progress, humanity, and helping others) all of these dreams has ended and has become
corrupted because of the times it has become the era of materialism and people became
concerned with only getting money and Superficiality, so society lost values and lost humanity.

The poet emphasizes that the society must have spiritual values far from materialism in order to achieve
the American dream.

The poet brings up the character of Corey as an example and model of the American people at that time,
who were only interested in money and material things, but he had something essential missing, which
was true and spiritual values. Therefore, he was a failure and a superficial person, representing the
decadence of society at that time.

"Cory" killed himself in the tragic end "suicide", indicating the psychological philosophy
in Robinson's poetry, where he was the first who introduced psychological philosophy into American
literature, specifically into poetry, even before Freud's theory. The suicide of Richard Cory serves as a powerful
commentary on the limitations of judging a person's happiness or well-being based solely on external factors. It
reminds us that appearances can be deceiving, and individuals may be grappling with personal challenges that
are hidden from the public eye.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسالكم الدعاء‬

Confessional poetry
Confessional poetry is a genre of poetry that emerged in the mid-20th century,
characterized by poets who wrote about intimate and often deeply personal experiences,
including their innermost thoughts, emotions, and struggles. This style of poetry is called
"confessional" because it often reads like a personal confession.
The confessional poetry movement is commonly associated with the 1950s and 1960s in the
United States. It was a reaction against the perceived impersonality and formalism of earlier
modernist poetry. Confessional poets rejected the idea of maintaining a detached, objective
persona in their work and instead embraced a more subjective and emotionally charged
approach.
(poetry for cure themselves)
the features of confessional poetry include a focus on the poet's own life, a willingness to
explore taboo subjects and trauma, and the use of intense and vivid language to convey raw
emotions. Confessional poets often removed the lines between their art and their personal
lives, incorporating autobiographical details into their work especially the psychological side
the dark side of their lives.
It was like confession. They told stories that reflected their psychological state, used poetry
as a tool to describe their conditions and suffering, and wrote about topics such as suicide,
murder, sexuality, and psychological problems such as depression. Because the time was full
of depression and psychological problems.
The poets were touchy and affected by the horrific practices of the people around them in the
society even with their family such as ((Robert Lowell)) as the poet’s family worked in the
whale trade, where they killed whales, and at the same time they belonged to a peaceful
religious family, so the poet also criticized that contradiction and wrote against his father.

The differences between Autobiographical poetry and confessional poetry

The main differences between them is confessional poetry is a specific subset of
autobiographical poetry characterized by intense self-disclosure and emotional depth and show
the negative side of their life especially the psychological side the dark side of their lives and
explore taboo subjects and trauma, while autobiographical poetry is a broader category
including any poetry that draws inspiration from the poet's life experiences without necessarily
adhering to the confessional style, they depict sequences of their life both sides negative and
positive events.
"skunk Hour" one of the poems belongs to the confessional poetry
The poem skunk Hour by Robert Lowell ‫اهم االبيات وشرح األفكار الرئيسية‬
Her son's a bishop. Her farmer
Is the first selectman in our village;
She is in her dotage.
………………….
Of queen Victoria's century,
She buys up all
The eyesores facing her shore,
And lets them fall.
……………………….
decorator brightens his shop for fall:

there is no money in his work,

he 'd rather marry.
………………………..
One dark night,
My Tudor ford climbed the hill's skull;
I watched for love-cars. Lights turned down,
They lay together hull to hull,

My mind's not right.

………………………………….
"Love, O careless love…." I hear
My ill spirit sob in each blood cell,

I myself am hell;
nobody's here-
……………………..
A mother of skunk with her column of kittens swills the garbage pail

And will not scare.

…………………………
the poem belongs to the confessional poetry as The poet wrote about the psychological side
the dark side of his life. He presents unrelated ideas, and we as readers must connect them.
Several characters suffering from the losing of something important in their lives
"She is in her dotage."
as the poet presents in the first stanza the character of the woman who has become a senile
old woman and has lost her memory.
"The eyesores facing her shore,
And lets them fall."
In the second stanza, the poet evokes the character of a woman who has lost her beauty.
"The season's ill
We have lost our summer millionaire"
In the third stanza, the poet brings the millionaire who lost his money.
"there is no money in his work,
he 'd rather marry."
In the fourth stanza, the poet exposes the person who loses his work and his dream of marriage.
"My mind's not right."
In the fifth stanza, it's a clear confession, it is typical image of confessional poetry, the poet
evokes himself as a psychologically disturbed person who lost his mind after witnessing an
obscene scene in a such car in the street. The poet meant, I lost my sanity including myself when
I watched such obscene seen wouldn't be acceptable.
One dark night,
my Tudor Ford climbed the hill’s skull;
I watched for love-cars . Lights turned down,
they lay together, hull to hull,
where the graveyard shelves on the town. . . .
My mind’s not right.

it is a reference from the poem The Dark Night: Stanzas Of The Soul By Saint. John Of The
Cross:
O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
the Lover with his beloved,
transforming the beloved in her Lover.

In addition, it represents the obscene seen, sexuality, the night of post-modern time.
the poet meant he also was losing his sanity just like those people that I'm rated them each
one of them they lost certain acts certain aspects I myself lost my sanity including myself
when I watched such obscene seen wouldn't be acceptable.
And the line “my mind’s not right” considers as a typical example of confessional poetry, it's a
clear confession.
……………………..
A car radio bleats,
“Love, O careless Love. . . .” I hear
my ill-spirit sob in each blood cell,
as if my hand were at its throat. . . .
I myself am hell;
nobody’s here—
“Love, O careless Love", is a reference to “A popular blues song” of that time written by W.C.
Handy and performed by Bessie Smith (1925), in which the narrator threatens to kill his or her
wayward lover. The song was performed with slight variations of lyrics by many musicians
before Lowell wrote this poem in 1959.
the poet meant that every blood cell in his body was suffering, weeping, it is image full
description of his illness and depression.

"I myself am hell" is a reference to an echo of Satan speaking in John Milton's Paradise Lost:
“Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell” (Book 4, line 75)
The poet described his feeling, he meant I am loneliness, "I am alone" in the illness like a hell.
only skunks, that search
in the moonlight for a bite to eat.
They march on their soles up Main Street:
white stripes, moonstruck eyes’ red fire
under the chalk-dry and spar spire
of the Trinitarian Church.

I stand on top
of our back steps and breathe the rich air—
a mother skunk with her column of kittens swills the garbage pail
She jabs her wedge-head in a cup
of sour cream, drops her ostrich tail,
and will not scare.
Now move on to another character, the animal character the poet Speaking of “night time” under the
moonlight (dark hour), it also reflects depression. He sees the moonlight reflecting on the skunk's eyes,
reflecting the color red (violence).
It is the sense of action, there is effort in that animal and there is eagerness, while the poet himself
lacks that action and lacks that enthusiasm, and lost his passion, and he is learning the lesson from the
mother skunk. When animals cross the street and go to church, it is a sense of hope that a reference
to the people go to the church to confess as (Spiritual purification) because committing sins. The
image of hope is reflected in the skunk, which gave the poet a lesson in the sense of action and taking
care of her children unlike the poet himself. the mother of skunk that was under the church gives us a
human lesson that she was taking care of her children and was not afraid of anything in order to provide
food for her children.

In summary, this poem is a confession by the poet of the state of depression that he lives in, in
addition to a criticism of the lives of post-modern people, as he provided a description of the
way people live in the city in the time of modernity, where women care about their beauty, men
care about money, and people practice sexual immorality in the streets in the cars, and many
lost their humanity and became worse than animals. And The smelly animal, the skunk, is better
than a human as people began losing their humanity and we should take a lesson from that
animal. The animal became more humanity than human.
All of that images in the post-modern age are rejected by the poet, as the modern way of life
makes him feel more and more depressed Because he is sensitive and touchy, all of these things
makes him feel psychologically disturbed and lives in mental illness.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

 ‫ داخله باالمتحان بس لحد االن ما اخذنا عنها قصيدة‬.. ‫هسه نبدي بهاي الحركة‬Beat Movement
Beat Movement ‫المهم اللي بيها تعريفها واألمــور التي مؤشرة باللون االحمر‬
Beat movement, influenced by romanticism and transcendentalism. Unconventional,
spontaneous and stands against societal structures and institutions.
In the 1950s, a new generation of poets rebelled against the conventions of mainstream
American life and writing.
Beat poetry emerged from the disappointment that followed World War II, a period of
unimaginable atrocities including the Holocaust and the use of nuclear weapons against
Japan. Following the end of the war, the United States and the Soviet Union quickly entered
a Cold War, a period of geopolitical hostility that created paranoia and created cultural and
political repression from home.
Beat poets sought to write in an authentic, unfettered style. “First thought, best thought”
was how central Beat poet Allen Ginsberg described their method of spontaneous writing.
Poetically experimental and politically dissident, the Beat poets expanded their
consciousness's through explorations of hallucinogenic drugs, sexual freedom, Eastern
religion, and the natural world. They took inspiration from jazz musicians, surrealists,
metaphysical poets, visionary poets such as William Blake, and haiku and Zen poetry.

• Features of Beat poetry:

• Spontaneity and Improvisation: Beat poets often wrote spontaneously, capturing the
raw and unfiltered thoughts and emotions of the moment. They valued improvisation
and rejected traditional forms and structures.
• Free Verse: Beat poets frequently used free verse, abandoning traditional rhyme and
meter. This allowed for a more open and flexible form of expression.
• Social Critique and Rebellion: The poets rebelled against the conservative values of the
time, addressing issues such as materialism, and the repressive nature of authority.
• Spirituality and Eastern Influence: Many Beat poets were drawn to Eastern philosophy
and spirituality, incorporating elements of Buddhism and other Eastern traditions into
their work. This influence is evident in their exploration of mysticism and a search for a
deeper, more meaningful existence.
• Sexuality and Liberation: Beat poetry explored themes of sexuality and liberation,
challenging societal norms and called for personal freedom. Allen Ginsberg's poem
"Howl" is a notable example that addresses issues such as mental illness, sexuality, and
the dehumanizing aspects of modern society.
• Road Narratives: The road or journey is a common theme in Beat literature, reflecting
the poets' desire for exploration, self-discovery, and a break from the constraints of
mainstream society. Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road" is a good example of this
theme.
• Spoken Word Performances: Many Beat poets were known for their dynamic spoken
word performances, often reciting their poetry in jazz clubs and coffeehouses. This
added a performative aspect to their work, emphasizing the oral tradition of poetry.
‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسالكم الدعاء‬
 ‫ وان الذي باللون األصفر قد‬, ‫ اقرأ القصيدة اكثر من ثالثة مرات قبل ان تبدء قراءة الشرح‬,, ‫الشرح موجود اسفل القصيدة‬
..‫) وانما مــن المحاضرة اليومية‬AI( ‫ مع مالحظة ان الشرح ليس من النت وليس‬... ‫تم حذفه من قبل األستاذ‬
For the Union Dead BY ROBERT LOWELL
The old South Boston Aquarium stands
in a Sahara of snow now. Its broken windows are boarded. 1
The bronze weathervane cod has lost half its scales.
The airy tanks are dry.

Once my nose crawled like a snail on the glass;

my hand tingled 2
to burst the bubbles
drifting from the noses of the cowed, compliant fish.

My hand draws back. I often sigh still

for the dark downward and vegetating kingdom 3
of the fish and reptile. One morning last March,
I pressed against the new barbed and galvanized

fence on the Boston Common. Behind their cage,

yellow dinosaur steamshovels were grunting 4
as they cropped up tons of mush and grass
to gouge their underworld garage.

Parking spaces luxuriate like civic

sandpiles in the heart of Boston. 5
A girdle of orange, Puritan-pumpkin colored girders
braces the tingling Statehouse,

shaking over the excavations, as it faces Colonel Shaw

and his bell-cheeked Negro infantry 6
on St. Gaudens' shaking Civil War relief,
propped by a plank splint against the garage's earthquake.

Two months after marching through Boston,

half the regiment was dead; 7
at the dedication,
William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.

Their monument sticks like a fishbone ‫هذه الستانزا حفظ بالكامل‬

in the city's throat. 8
Its Colonel is as lean
as a compass-needle.

He has an angry wrenlike vigilance,

a greyhound's gentle tautness;
he seems to wince at pleasure, 9
and suffocate for privacy.

He is out of bounds now. He rejoices in man's lovely,

peculiar power to choose life and die— 10
when he leads his black soldiers to death,
he cannot bend his back.

On a thousand small town New England greens,

the old white churches hold their air 11
of sparse, sincere rebellion; frayed flags
quilt the graveyards of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The stone statues of the abstract Union Soldier

grow slimmer and younger each year— 12
wasp-waisted, they doze over muskets
and muse through their sideburns . . .

Shaw's father wanted no monument

except the ditch, 13
where his son's body was thrown
and lost with his "niggers."

The ditch is nearer.

There are no statues for the last war here; 14
on Boylston Street, a commercial photograph
shows Hiroshima boiling

over a Mosler Safe, the "Rock of Ages"

that survived the blast. Space is nearer.
When I crouch to my television set, ‫ذني البيتين حفظ‬ 15
the drained faces of Negro school-children rise like balloons.

Colonel Shaw
is riding on his bubble, 16
he waits
for the blessèd break.

The Aquarium is gone. Everywhere, ‫ذني البيتين أيضا حفظ‬

giant finned cars nose forward like fish; 17
a savage servility
slides by on grease.
 The interpretation from the lecture.
The general idea about the poem:
The poet Robert Lowell criticized the idea of war and pointed out two types
of war, one he glorified and the other he criticized.
The poet glorified the American Civil War that broke out because of slavery
and racism in the American South, where there were northern states and
southern states. The northern states at that time rejected slavery, while in
the southern states, they brought workers (the labor men) from Africa, but
after that, they got slavery and bad treatment, for these workers and their
families, as most of the southern states were famous for agricultural work
(cotton cultivation, for example). On the other hand, in the northern states,
there was Abraham Lincoln, who called for stopping the idea of slavery and
his struggle for equality between the races, and also in humanitarian matters
such as his attempt to abolish the death penalty. He was the one who tried to
unify the South and the North. then the American Civil War broke out, which
lasted between (four to five years) and led to the death of many people, great
losses, and the sacrifice of military commanders, like (Colonel Robert Gould
Shaw), and the regiment that was led by the 54th Regiment from
Massachusetts, which is A unit made up of black soldiers (Negros) who
sacrificed themselves with their leader for freedom and equality against
racism and slavery. The poet made a comparison between the Civil War,
which he glorified, and World War II, which the poet criticized, and he
criticized the decline of American ideals and materialism in the era of
modernity, in terms of the poet’s use of the poetic image of the (Shaw)
Memorial in the city of Boston, and how the scene has become changed from
before, as the America of the past is the America of glory. in addition, there
was Heroism not like modern America, which is without glory, without
heroism, and is all materialistic, superficial, and without spirituality or any
human values.
The poet wanted to revive a historical event in the modern era, and make a
comparison between the glory of the past and the devastation of modernity,
slavery, and the loss of the idea of heroism, like the military leader, Colonel
Robert Gould Shaw, the white man who led a military group of Negroes who
had no idea of racism or slavery. In the end, he was killed with his soldiers
and sacrificed himself for the sake of the Negro soldiers and for their country,
and the poet refers to that act of heroism and glory, but now in modernity
that sacrifice has become for nothing because until that moment America
suffers from slavery and racism.
The first war was glorified by the poet Robert Rolle, while the second war in
the modern era, World War II, was criticized by the poet as people lost their
humanity. The poet referred to the nuclear bomb that America dropped on
Japan (like a mushroom) and killed many people without any kind of mercy,
and the true values in society became the value of Materialism (only running
for money) without human values and the purpose only for money and
wealth. The poet criticized the image of American modern life, such as large
luxury cars and other modern tools, and compared it with the American past,
which was full of spirituality and human values, which created glory in the
American past, but now in modernity, America has lost, losing the spiritual
values and humanity.
The poet presented the idea of dryness, not just the lack of water, but it
means spiritual dryness the lack of spirituality, the same idea that the poet TS
Eliot referred to in his poem (the West Land) In the era of Modernity, spiritual
values were lost and were replaced by material values, and people became
dehumanized.
Also, the poet presented the idea of loss and the idea of nostalgia for the past
(nostalgically), as the world has now become materialistic and characterized
by mediocrity, without real human values, and without spirituality, which
represents (vulgarity).
The Explanation of Stanzas:
The first stanza, the image of a broken pelvis of fish and a reference to a type
of fish (in the Aquarium) which is (Cod) that began to lose its scales and died
and now no longer exists, the idea of loss, and the idea of nostalgia for the
past (nostalgia)
The poet mentions several possibilities through which he shows how
modernity and modernity’s technological tools have turned America
downward and made it lose the glory of the past. The first image is in the first
stanza (Aquarium).
The second image in the fourth stanza, the place (Boston Common), which
represents a special place for the government, such as the state’s general
council, where the excavators that the poet resembles are like animals like a
dinosaur that uproots the land in order to build a garage (for money), as the
poet criticized that building in The modern era, he pointed out, represents
demolition, not construction.
In the fifth stanza, the poet presents metaphors (sandpiles) of heaps of sand
and a sexual image of women whores, the prostitutes in Boston, where the
poet presents the third image, which is the image of the shaky house Not
Standing house (tingling statehouse), the modern state that has become a
state without foundations or weak foundations, as the demolition of
civilizations and history, makes the state without a strong foundation.
Without a history, it will be a shaky and weak country, without glory and
losing the American championship that existed in the past.
The fourth picture in the sixth stanza is an excavation that demolished the
statue of Colonel Shaw, the military leader who represents the glory of the
past and how he sacrificed himself with the Negro soldiers for freedom
against slavery and racism in the American South and was buried with the
soldiers. The picture of the demolition of the statue of that military leader
represents the lack of values in the modern era. It is as if he was killed twice,
as demolishing the monument or statue means killing his memory and killing
the true spiritual values. They demolished it only in order to build a garage for
cars for the sake of money, which represents (material).
All of these places that the poet depicted in his poem is a reflection of
American modernity, which demolished the civilization of the past,
demolished the glory of the past and spiritual values, and the pursuit became
only after money, wealth, and material things.
In the Seventh Stanza, William James, an American philosopher, referred to
the idea of “free-will,” where the poet means that the Negro soldiers led by
Colonel Shaw had two choices: death or survival, but they chose death and
sacrificed themselves for the sake of the country (America).
The eighth stanza is important... we should save it... all those images of
several places that the poet presented in the previous stanzas. The poet
represents them with a metaphor (their monument sticks like fishbone).
Under capitalism, those greats men have become unacceptable and rejected
in modern society, like a person who eats a fish and is covered with bones.
Imagine them. However, they have become unacceptable in modern society,
and how every day they kill the memory of great heroes by demolishing their
memories and demolishing their statues, like demolishing the statue of the
military leader (Colonel Shaw). This idea is similar to the idea presented by TS
Eliot in the poem (The Love Song J. Alfred Prufrock) which is the idea of
vanishing. And how this leader, who represents the heroism and the symbolic
who created the glory of America in the past (heroic America), has now
become unwanted and the society uninterested in the idea of heroism in the
era of modernity "the new America".
The ninth stanza, a description of the statue, and how it is ready to hunt and
that he was sure and ready for that.
The tenth stanza is a reference to the words of the American philosopher
(William James), the poet meant when the Negro soldiers were told by their
commander with the same words of that philosopher and they sacrificed
themselves as a "free will" to sacrifice for the sake of the country and
freedom against slavery and racism as a spiritual duty and not a material
duty.
The Thirteenth Stanza, an irony of the modern era and how they dealt with
the leaders and soldiers who sacrificed themselves in the civil war and how
they were buried in a Ditch in the war, know without glorification and
without glorification for that great sacrifice he made for the country. Is it
reasonable that this is the reward for the great sacrifice for the country to
be thrown like this after his death into a forgotten pit without memory or
glorification? Where the military leader died with his Negro soldiers without
honor, which makes them die again, where their memory was killed.
The Fourteenth Stanza, a dramatic transition to the second war that the poet
referred to, which is World War II, where there was not even a Ditch for
soldiers, nor graves for them. They were just killed on the battlefields without
burial, without even a grave, without memory, or even glorification, and
there became no importance for human life. Without humanity, how they
saw pictures and advertisements of war in the streets naturally, not caring
about human lives. Like the pictures of the nuclear bomb dropped by
America on Hiroshima in Japan.
The fifteenth stanza, we should save it, especially the last two lines of the
stanza the poet presents the material image of the modern era (over a
Mosler safe, the Rock of Ages), the image of the box of money which was
the only one who was immune and could withstand explosion and fire, as the
modern era only cares about money and the safety of wealth, in contrast to
their lack of interest with the lives of people who killed in the thousands in
World War II. In addition, The poet means that when he was lying down and
watching television, he saw scenes of racist practices in society and the
imaged linked with the painful real story (Negro school - children rise like
balloons), where they were nine black students who suffered from racism,
and the school administration did not accept them in the school, and at that
time the President of America intervened to accept them in the school, as the
connection here is that how a person sacrificed himself like (Colonel Shaw),
who sacrificed himself for the country and for freedom against slavery and
racism, and how that sacrifice became nothing, and useless, he meant until
now I am watching in the Television (in the society) the racism yet know and
Racist practices and how racism against Negroes has become more and more
even more than before.
The sixteenth stanza the poet mentioned that the idealism sought by people
like the leader (Colonel Shaw) and his sacrifice for equality and non-racism
are just unfulfilled dreams that resemble the blessed dreams.
The last stanza, the seventeenth, we should memorize it. The poet presents
the modernist image by referring to the modern technological tools that
people use, such as the large, long, smooth-running American cars (giant
finned cars), which reflect the hedonism, superficiality, and materialism of
the modern era, the pursuit only of money, and the loss of values. Without
Spirituality in modern society. Like the jazz age.
‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬.. ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬
 Lady Lazarus BY SYLVIA PLATH this poem wrote in 1961, she died in 1963.
I have done it again.
One year in every ten 1
I manage it——

A sort of walking miracle, my skin 2

Bright as a Nazi lampshade,
My right foot

A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine 3
Jew linen.

Peel off the napkin

O my enemy. 4
Do I terrify?——

The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth? 5

The sour breath
Will vanish in a day.

Soon, soon the flesh

The grave cave ate will be 6
At home on me

And I a smiling woman.

I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die. 7

This is Number Three.

What a trash 8
To annihilate each decade.

What a million filaments.

The peanut-crunching crowd 9
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand and foot——

The big strip tease. 10
Gentlemen, ladies

These are my hands

My knees.
I may be skin and bone, 11
Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman.
The first time it happened I was ten. 12
It was an accident.

The second time I meant

To last it out and not come back at all. 13
I rocked shut

As a seashell.
They had to call and call 14
And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.

Dying
Is an art, like everything else.
I do it exceptionally well. 15

I do it so it feels like hell.

I do it so it feels real. 16
I guess you could say I’ve a call.

It’s easy enough to do it in a cell.

It’s easy enough to do it and stay put. 17
It’s the theatrical

Comeback in broad day

To the same place, the same face, the same brute 18
Amused shout:

‘A miracle!’
That knocks me out. 19
There is a charge

For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge

For the hearing of my heart—— 20
It really goes.

And there is a charge, a very large charge 21

For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood

Or a piece of my hair or my clothes.

So, so, Herr Doktor. 22
So, Herr Enemy.

I am your opus,
I am your valuable,
The pure gold baby 23 not included

That melts to a shriek.

I turn and burn. 24 not included
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.

Ash, ash—
You poke and stir.
Flesh, bone, there is nothing there—— 25

A cake of soap,
A wedding ring, 26
A gold filling.

Herr God, Herr Lucifer

Beware 27
Beware.

Out of the ash

I rise with my red hair 28
And I eat men like air.

The general idea about the poem:

In the mid-twentieth century, in the sixties, women's liberation movements appeared, such
as the feminist movement against patriarchal society, which demanded women's rights,
equality between men and women, women's right to work and education, and their right to
vote and enter politics.
Sylvia Plath criticized the patriarchal society and all the men around her. She even criticized
her father and her husband, the poet Ted Hughes who was also prominent poet and writer,
and even criticized God, as she combined God with Lucifer as they are in the same level they
are males. Everything that represents masculinity was attacked by Sylvia Plath and she called
for the punishment of men, so we see that her poetic language contains an attack on men.
She was affected by World War II and the Holocaust that the Nazis did to the Jews because
she was Jewish.
The poet links the miracle of "Lazarus" return with the miracle of her return several times
after suicide attempts, the idea of coming back after death. She likens herself to the phoenix
that will return and triumph after death (victory over death). Therefore, the poet imagines
that she is not afraid of death and that she is not afraid of the men who watch her and enjoy
seeing her in pain and are happy to see her die, but she is indifferent to death. The image of
 rising after death like a phoenix is presented as a kind of challenge. The poet "Plath" also
described death in a romantic way as an art and she does not scare from death.
She tried to kill herself several times throughout the early 60s and in February of 1963, she
succeeded. It is an example of confessional poetry, the poem "Lady Lazarus" is one of the best
poems of Sylvia Plath and an ideal example of Plath’s diction.

The title "Lady Lazarus"

The title references to the death and coming back again after death. Lazarus, the well-known bible
character who was returned to life after the dead after three days in the tomb, will set the tone for the
rest of Plath’s poem. Since Lazarus was brought to life again, this poem will be one of victory over
death, just like the biblical story. However, Plath intends to identify with the Lazarus decaying in the
tomb rather than the Lazarus who had been brought back to life. In addition, this poem contains Plath’s
poetic expression of her suicidal thoughts. The poet means that in every suicide attempt, she was going
to die but came back again like Lazarus.

The explanation of stanzas: -

The first and second stanzas, she links her return to life several times with the story of the
miracle of Lazarus' return to life. The story is from the Bible. Lazarus, after being dead in the
grave for three days, came back to life by a miracle from Christ. Here is a kind of
autobiography where the poet indicated that she was not The first attempt at death or
suicide, three times, as there were two attempts before this attempt (once every ten years),
and the poet likens her skull to the same skulls burned in the Nazi Holocaust for Jewish
people, as the Nazis used Jewish skulls to make a “lampshade.”
The third stanza, (Jew linen), here is a reference to the (linen fabric) with which the bodies of
the dead Jews were covered, and when Lazarus returned after death, he cut the cloth with
which it was covered. As a reference that she is now dead and covered with that cloth that
covers bodies after death.
The fourth stanza, (My enemy), is a reference to the men in the poet’s life, as she was against
the patriarchal society and attacks men in her poems and considers them all her enemies. Her
doctor, her father, her husband, she considers them all her enemies, and as if she says to
them, “Do you scare me?” No, you will not, pointing out that she is not afraid of them, not
even afraid of death.
The fifth stanza, the poet presents the features of a body of dead person whose organs will be
vanishing after death.
The sixth stanza, an indication that the body decaying in the grave will rise again, the idea of
returning after death.
In the seventh and eighth stanzas, the poet describes herself as despite this pain, but she still
a smiling woman. She is now thirty years old and, like a cat, has nine lives, referring to her
previous attempts to commit suicide and return to life. She refers to the third attempt to
commit suicide, but she did not succeed every time. She wants to die and tries to die, but she
cannot. Here is also a historical fact about her life, autobiographical.
In the ninth and tenth stanza, the poet describes all the men around her as they crowd
around her as if they were enjoying her suffering as if it were a scene on the stage in the
theatre, as if she were naked on the stage and the men were as crowds watching her and
enjoying watching her suffering. She is attacking the men poet is affected with the feminist
movement and against patriarchal society.
The twelfth and thirteenth stanzas, are also lines that represent a historical fact about the
poet’s life, as the poet refers to the first escape from death that occurred when she was ten
years old and it was an accident that was not an attempt to commit suicide, but the second
time when she escaped death it was an attempt to commit suicide and she wanted to die, but
she survived in the last moments and came back to life.
The fourteenth stanza, the poet presents a poetic image and an indication that when she
returned to life, she was beautiful like (seashell) and pearls surrounded by worms, as the poet
described men as if they were worms surrounding the pearls, surrounding her, covering her
soul so that make her not be free. This represents the poet's attack on men. Men who
perform obscene scenes. The poet despised men as seeing her as if she was a naked woman.
The fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth stanzas, Here the poet depicts death as art. Here
the poet Sylvia Plath romanticizes death and likens death to art. She does this attempting for
death as a free will, and that she has experience with death and that it does not frighten her,
and she is the one who wanted to die, and no one can threaten her with death, and that
Death is more real than the stage show (theatrical).
In the eighteenth stanza, the poet describes her third return from death and her survival of
the third suicide attempt, and how she saw herself surrounded by the same faces with the
same men surrounding her. Also here is a historical fact about her life and her attempts to
commit suicide.
In the nineteenth, twenty and twenty-one stanzas, the poet describes her return to life as a
miracle, and the poet depicts the way people looked at her (especially men) when her body
returned to life, as they were in a theater paying money (charge) in order to watch her
suffering, and that some of them paid (charge) In order to hear my heart, others paid a lot
(very charge) to touch her dead body that coming back to life.
The twenty-two stanza, here is a German word (Herr Doktor), where the poet refers to her
doctor who helped her return to life using a German name, referring to German Nazism and
the Holocaust, and that he is a man like other men who is considered her enemy.
The twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth stanza, the poet presents the Nazi image, representing the
ugliness of the Nazi practices in the Holocaust, where the poet depicted the image of placing
the Jews in ovens to burn them, and then after burning them, one of the workers who works
with the Nazis comes and enters (poke) in the bodies of the dead Jews for searching about
something valuable to steal from them like a gold ring or a gold tooth. The poet links this
image with the image of her body after death, as it refers to the person who will come
searching her body for something valuable in order to steal it. He will find nothing, neither a
gold ring nor (a gold filling).
The twenty-seventh stanza, the poet compares God to Satan (Herr God, Herr Lucifer) as they
being equal in the same level because they belong to males, where the poet attacks males and
all the men around her and goes further to attack God and compare him to Satan because she
considers him male like Satan.
The last, twenty-eighth stanza, after she die and become ashes, she will return again and rise
after death, the idea of (victory after death), where she presented a poetic image to liken
herself to the phoenix through the features of that bird with red hair, and she will eat men
like air, indicating her hatred for Men and her attacks on them and that she will defeat them
after death. It is as if she is saying death did not kill me and will make me stronger.
The most important four questions in the poem:
How do you read the poem as a poem of holocaust?
The answer in Stanza 2, 3 , 22 , 25 , 26
how do you read the poem as a poem of feminism?
The answer in stanza 4 , 7 , 10 , 14 , 20 , 21 , 27 , 28 (very important)
how does Plath romanticize death?
The answer in stanza 15 .
How do you read the poem as confessional poetry?
In Every lines she described her attempting to commit suicide, three times in many lines
above with their explanation.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬.. ‫نسالكم الدعاء‬

By Sylvia Plath 1932-1963
"The Moon and the Yew Tree" her mother (the moon) and her father (the yew tree)
This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary.
The trees of the mind are black. The light is blue. (Sadness and suffering inside her mind)
The grasses unload their griefs at my feet as if I were God,
Prickling my ankles and murmuring of their humility.
Fumy spirituous mists inhabit this place
Separated from my house by a row of headstones. Horror image (Gothic)
I simply cannot see where there is to get to.

The moon is no door. It is a face in its own right,

White as a knuckle and terribly upset.
It drags the sea after it like a dark crime; it is quiet
With the O-gape of complete despair. I live here.
Twice on Sunday, the bells startle the sky – bell for changing, but does not work for her
Eight great tongues affirming the Resurrection. For her the time is done.
At the end, they soberly bong out their names.

The yew tree points up. It has a Gothic shape. Horror image (Gothic)
The eyes lift after it and find the moon.
The moon is my mother. She is not sweet like Mary. Negative image for the moon
Her blue garments unloose small bats and owls.
How I would like to believe in tenderness –
The face of the effigy, gentled by candles,
Bending, on me in particular, its mild eyes.

I have fallen a long way. Clouds are flowering confessional poetry

Blue and mystical over the face of the stars.
Inside the church, the saints will be all blue, criticize the religious men in the church
Floating on their delicate feet over cold pews,
Their hands and faces stiff with holiness.
The moon sees nothing of this. She is bald and wild. Sadness inside her and everyone science
And the message of the yew tree is blackness – criticize her mother and her father
blackness and silence.

general idea about the poem:

We have two symbols in this poem, the moon as a symbol of her mother, with Gothic shape,
and the Yew tree as a symbol her father. Usually that tree is without fruit and is a symbol of
the grave. Through that symbolism, Sylvia Plath gives a very dark image of her mind, and a
sense of darkness, as Plath depicted the moon not as a bright moon, but She portrayed him
as if it had strange shape like an animal and the color is blue, as the poet gives the image of
terror (Gothic) in the poem and also the image of sadness and depression that was inside the
poet.in addition, In this poem, Plath criticized her family and also criticized the clergy.
Explanation of the most important poetic images in the poem with these questions:
Q/ How did the poet Sylvia Plath portray the image of horror (Gothic) in the poem?
Q/ The poet gave many poetic images that represent horror in the poem (Gothic)?
Q/How did the poet attack her family and the church? How did the poet turn the image of
positivity into negativity?

The poet Sylvia Plath criticized her family and attacked them, as she depicted the moon
in a negative way, with a strange shape and a blue color full of Gothic and darkness, as a
symbol of her mother, or the (Virgin Mary) The poet gave her the image of wearing blue
clothes (an image of sadness), while the Virgin Mary usually wore white cloths, but Plath
depict virgin Mary in negative way. In addition, she depicted the black Yew tree, which is
usually found in graves, as a symbol of her father. This reflects the suffering inside her mind,
as she was suffering from a psychological illness and reflects her hatred for her family and
her attacks on them. The poet depicted the (Yew tree) as having a scary shape, and that this
tree is usually found in the church or grave, so it symbolizes death and sadness. In addition,
she depicted the moon with a strange shape and a blue color, while usually the moon is
bright and beautiful, but that beauty does not work with Plath, as everything that Plath
sees in her eyes that is blue or black represents a terrifying image (Gothic) represents
sadness and death. Another image of Gothic is the image of fog (mists) that Plath presented
as imagined that she sees the fog as having the shape of a strange body and a frightening
shape. (Gothic) is something related to the poet’s mind and reflects her psychological illness
and suffering. The poet also depicted the church bell, which usually gives the image of a
sense of rebirth, a sense of safeness, and a sense of religion, but this bell does not work with
Plath, as if she was someone who missed the train, the time was done for her, and no one
around her can save her, and nothing around her can make her feel happy. Even the church
and the clergy were criticized by Plath for being silent, watching her suffering and her pain
without doing anything, without offering any help for her, and looking at her suffering with
enjoyment.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسالكم الدعاء‬

Musee des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden

About suffering they were never wrong,

The old Masters: how well they understood (the idea of generation)
Its human position: how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating "The Massacre of the Innocents"
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away "the Fall of Icarus"
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, No reaction , No body care
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

The general idea about the poem, its belong to Ekphrastic poetry:

The general idea of the poem is individual suffering and the lack of interest for others suffering.
When you suffer, you will suffer alone and no one will notice that and no one will care about that
suffering. Even the poet himself, when others suffer, does not care about their suffering. The
poem focuses on personal suffering and the lack of concern of others individual suffering and
individual pain. When a person is exposed to a certain disaster, other people continue with their
daily routine as if nothing had happened.

The poem contains a reference to three paintings to depict individual suffering and the
indifference of others, the sense of indifference.

The first painting "The Census at Bethlehem"

Where the woman on the horse is Virgin Mary

hiding Jesus Christ, and the people around her
are not interested in what will happen to her
or to Christ, people are distracted by their daily
routine, depict individual suffering and the
indifference of others. We find the connection
to this painting by contemplating the general
idea of the poem and not just a specific line.
The second painting "The Massacre of the Innocents"
When Jesus Christ was born, the authorities
killed many children from the orders of King
Pharaoh in order to kill Jesus Christ, and
when that killing happened to many children, we
see other people not caring about it, the idea that
others do not care about individual suffering. In
addition, also in the poem, we see the idea of
generations, how are the generations different?
The younger generation is only concerned with
their personal and material matters, and the older
generation is concerned with spiritual matters.
the young people were only interested in their
personal Issues and their daily routine without
giving any importance or attention for others suffering, no Attention for that event (the killing of
children) were only concerned with their personal matters, while the older, wiser people were concerned,
the same that was given by the poet William Butler Yeats in his poem Sailing to Byzantium.

The third painting "the Fall of Icarus"

The Fall of Icarus painting based on a myth
from Greek. This painting is central to the
poem's theme. It depicts the myth of Icarus,
a young man who flew too close to the sun
with wings made of feathers and wax. The
wax melted, and he fell into the sea and
drowned. Bruegel's painting captures this
moment not as the central scene but as a
minor detail in a larger, everyday rural
setting. Icarus's legs can be seen flailing in
the water in the lower right corner, almost
unnoticed by the other figures in the
painting who are absorbed in their own activities. Auden uses this painting to illustrate his point about
the human condition: that tragedies and personal disasters often occur unnoticed by the world at large,
which continues with its routine. And we see how the Icarus' suffering is reduced and minimized in the
painting "no body care". And how the ship passed the event and continued on its way without caring.

The general idea of the three paintings is that they are from different eras, but they present the same
idea from ancient times until later eras (individual suffering) and the lack of concern for others. Since
the myth of Icarus and even before the birth of Christ, and even after the birth of Christ, individual
suffering and the lack of concern for others continue.

If you are in the past, or in modern times, you will see the same sense of indifference.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسالكم الدعاء‬

 ‫ االبيات باللون األصفر (حفظ حرفيا) محددة من أستاذ مصطفى‬, ‫ملخص القصيدة من المحاضرات اليومية‬
‫اما التي باللون األحمر هي مهمة ولكن ليست حفظ حرفيا‬
Arabia by Walter de la Mare
Far are the shades of Arabia,
Where the Princes ride at noon,
'Mid the verdurous vales and thickets,
Under the ghost of the moon;
And so dark is that vaulted purple
Flowers in the forest rise
And toss into blossom 'gainst the phantom stars
Pale in the noonday skies.

Sweet is the music of Arabia

In my heart, when out of dreams
I still in the thin clear mirk of dawn
Descry her gliding streams;
Hear her strange lutes on the green banks
Ring loud with the grief and delight
Of the dim-silked, dark-haired Musicians
In the brooding silence of night.

They haunt me — her lutes and her forests;

No beauty on earth I see
But shadowed with that dream recalls
Her loveliness to me:
Still eyes look coldly upon me,
Cold voices whisper and say —
'He is crazed with the spell of far Arabia,
They have stolen his wits away.'
The poem holds the feature of Romantic poetry, as the poet employed several elements
that support the idea of romantic poetic philosophy, as we clearly see that it contains many
elements similar to romantic poetry, such as the vision scene, the dream, the poet’s use of
his imagination, description of nature, and his interesting in the East (the Arabian desert).
The poet belongs to modernity, but he is also considered an extension of romanticism, as
he was influenced by it. His poem is based on imagination and fantasy, so he has a sense of
romance and writes with the same vision and the same style as the romantic poets, as the
poet described a place he had never visited and described the nature in that place through
his imagination.
The poem contains contradictions, as it is a desert land, but it contains forests. There is a
music, but it carries a kind of sadness. The poet wants to clarify the idea that this land carries
a variety of contradictions and contains everything.
His poetry is divided into two groups, a collection of poems for children as its themes are
always fantasy, such as a fairy.
The other collection is for adults, such as the poem (Listeners), which contains Gothic
images, the first line "is there anybody there?", where the poet describes himself standing
in front of an abandoned house and knocking on the door, but he is hesitant to enter
because he feels that the house is haunted by ghosts.
This supports the sense of romanticism as the poet uses a lot of imagination as raw material
in his poems.
He is one of the poets who did not visit the East, but he may have been influenced by the
writings of the East, such as (Perhaps) the story of "One Thousand and One Nights".
Therefore, the poet described the Arabian desert as a land that represents magic and
beauty, as we see here a similarity with the poem (The Arabian Knight) by Alfred lord
Tennyson.
Flowers in the forest rise
And toss into blossom 'gainst the phantom stars
Pale in the noonday skies.
The poem contains contradictions, as the poet described flowers that light up the dark sky.
Usually that happens in the day Not in the night as we do not see flowers shining, blooming,
and growing during the night, but the poet depicted them as open and flowering at night
Not at morning (the sense of night). Also, another contradiction is how it is a desert and at
the same time it has green and forests.
The poet wants to convey the idea that this land contains contradictions, diversities,
wonders, and everything.
Some critics said this poetry it is kind of escaping from reality, but other critics have referred
to it as a type of (Gentile poetry).
Gentle poetry typically refers to verse that evokes feelings of tenderness, tranquility, and
sensitivity. It often employs soft language, soothing imagery, and subtle emotions to
create a calming and comforting effect on the reader. Gentle poetry may explore themes
such as nature, love, introspection, or the beauty of everyday life with a gentle touch.
There are no specific characteristics of gentile poets, but the most important subject of
gentile poets is that their subjects are not like modernist poets and individual suffering. They
do not write about city life and the complexities of city life, but rather they write gently
about beauty and nature, resembling romantic poetry. (Some critics say it is an escape from
reality, but it is gentle poetry)
Sweet is the music of Arabia
In my heart, when out of dreams
I still in the thin clear mirk of dawn
Descry her gliding streams;
In the second stanza we see the poet’s description of Arabic music, and this is clearly similar
to the Romantic poetry as it is similar to the poem "Kubla Khan" by the poet Samuel
Coleridge:
"In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora"
It is having The same idea of the Eastern Music where there is a clear romantic spiritual
touch, and it also gives the idea of interest in the East, in addition the dreamy vision also
the same, building of the poet imagination, and he described the beauty of nature and
exaggerated in his description, relying on his imagination "there is no Beauty like the beauty
of the Arab region" such as Coleridge's imagination in "Kubla Khan" and his description of
the beauty of Eastern women. All of these elements support the idea that the poet has a
romantic features and that he is an extension of them.
'He is crazed with the spell of far Arabia,
They have stolen his wits away.'
The last lines the poem, the poet explains that people called him crazy because he is
fascinated by that Land "Arabian Desert" and talks about the beauty of that land. They call
him crazy because they are materialistic people who do not understand spiritual matters
Not having spiritual touch and romantic touch like him, and people around him do not
believe in spirituality. They only believe in materialism. It is kind of Gentle poetry that refers
to verse that evokes feelings of tenderness, tranquility, and sensitivity. It often employs
soft language, soothing imagery, and subtle emotions to create a calming and comforting
effect on the reader. Gentle poetry may explore themes such as nature, love,
introspection, or the beauty of everyday life with a gentle touch.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

Church Going by Philip Larkin (1922-1985)

Once I am sure there’s nothing going on 1

I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut (physical description of church)
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence,

Move forward, run my hand around the font. 2

From where I stand, the roof looks almost new –
Cleaned, or restored? Someone would know: I don’t.
Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few
Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce
‘Here endeth’ much more loudly than I’d meant.
The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door
I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence, (sarcasm for the church)
Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.

Yet stop I did: in fact I often do, 3

And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches fall completely out of use
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?

Or, after dark, will dubious women come 4

To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?
Power of some sort or other will go on
In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;
But superstition, like belief, must die,
And what remains when disbelief has gone?
Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,

A shape less recognisable each week, 5

A purpose more obscure. I wonder who
Will be the last, the very last, to seek
This place for what it was; one of the crew
That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?
Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,
Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff
Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?
Or will he be my representative,

Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt 6

Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground
Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt
So long and equably what since is found
Only in separation – marriage, and birth,
And death, and thoughts of these – for which was built
This special shell? For, though I’ve no idea
What this accoutred frowsty barn is worth,
It pleases me to stand in silence here;

A serious house on serious earth it is, 7

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet, a turning point in the poet's
Are recognised, and robed as destinies. Opinion toward the church
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.

General idea about the poem:

This is the second poem in which there is a criticism of the church and a criticism of religion.
The first is Sylvia Plath’s poem (The Moon and the Yew Tree), as the features of modernity is a
materialistic features the materials were dominating in the twentieth century, especially after
people, including writers, were affected and shocked by the horrors and calamities of the World
War. They became skeptical about the role of God and skeptical about The role of spirituality
and the psychological complexity has become greater. On the other hand, in contrast to the
poets of the Victorian era, their poems called for religion and faith, such as Mathew Arnold’s
poem "Dover Beach", which called for religious and spiritual values.
There is a contradiction and duality in the poem, where at first sections of the poem we see
(sarcasm for church) and at the last section at the end of the poem we see a shift in the poet’s
opinion and a reference to the psychological importance of the church and traditional social
practices in the church. At first, the poet described his disappointment in religion in the
beginning of the poem, as the poet was (skeptic) does not totally believe in God and he is a
(secular) and doubter of the existence of God, and some critics indicated that he was an atheist.
The poet did not only criticize the church, but also criticized the entire religious system, and
compared how the church appears to be like A museum of old things full of dust and a
description of the physical aspect of the church and that it is devoid of the spiritual aspect. The
poem is considered a criticism of the church and religion and that it is without spiritual benefit
and useless. It only referred to the traditional social benefit of the church such as the marriage
celebration or death ceremonies, as the description of the church is without a metaphysical
image and without A spiritual value. He mocked the church and insulted the religious institution,
saying that it was decaying and describing it as an old and empty building with no one in it (the
idea of emptiness), which means that it had become without religious and spiritual practices.
On the other hand, at the end of the poem he changed his opinion (contradiction) as he referred
to only a social benefit such as marriage and birth celebrations and the baptism of children.
Also, all death ceremonies are described by the poet as social traditions, so there is a
contradiction and duality in the poet’s opinion at the end of the poem.
After the World War and witnessing the horror of war, many poets and writers were affected
and doubted the existence of God and doubted the religious institution. Some critics say that
the poet was affected by the bad treatment his family received from the church, so it is a
reaction about religion and the church.

Explanation of the Stanzas:

The first section, the poet describes his visit into the empty church and gives a physical
description of that place, which appears to be old and abandoned, and there are no practices
of worship or spiritual ceremonies in it, there is only material things and its empty of people.
He gave an accurate description of the things inside the church, such as the seats, and in the
first of the poem we see verses It means the materiality and absurdity, it's like as the famous
lines of absurdity (Nothing to be Done), and the poet referred to the Bible as (a little book), as
this is considered Minimize and an underestimation of the value of the Bible by the poet. He
described the general atmosphere of the church as calm and silent, and he mocked the church
when he described it as a fermented place (Brewed God knows how long) an old place, and the
poet insults the church, as instead of raising his hat as a form of respect for the church, he raises
the cloak that is at the ends of his trousers (kind of disrespect of the church). All of this
description gives the idea of the poet's mockery of the place of the church and his criticism of
the religious institution.

The second section, the poet continues the physical description of the church and the things
inside the church, as he describes the place in which in the church mothers wash children after
birth (baptizing children), and describes the platform in the church, and gives the physical
details of the church without metaphysical aspect.
The last two lines of the second section, we must memorize them. Here is a clear mockery of
the church and a clear insult to the church, as the poet criticizes the church and that he paid a
small amount of money to enter and watching the church as a kind of insult and
underestimation of the value of the church, as the poet considers that the church represents
a material aspect without spiritual value. It is a criticism of the system of Religious men and
reflects the extent of the poet’s skepticism about religion, as the poet was secular and some
critics said that he was an atheist.

The third section, the poet points out that it is not the first time that he enters the church and
sees it with this physical appearance and sees it empty of people, and he always reaches the
same conclusion and feels the same material feeling towards the church and that it has no real
spiritual value and that this place (the church) is not worthy to standing inside it as it does not
deserve to visit it or to be In it, the poet points out that there is no benefit from the church and
wonders about the purpose of the church’s existence and what its future will be like. Will it be
in the future like a historical place full of historical tools or just like a museum that we will visit
it only for watching not for worshiping.
The poet continues to describe the material things in the church (mockery and insult to the
church) and as a place that represents bad luck (unlucky places). In the lines of the poem, the
poet wonders about the future of the church. Will it be just a place for rent? This description
reflects the materialistic nature of the modern era and its distance from spirituality.

The fourth section, the poet describes after the disappearance of religion (after darkness) we
will expect that it will continue to be just a social traditional place where women come with
their children to take a blessing from a certain stone in the church for the purpose of Baptizing
a child, this is indicating that there remains something psychological inside the person, make
him belong to that kind of holy places, in addition, meaning that he becomes a place only for
traditional social practices. The poet points out that one day that faith and superstition will
disappear, end, and die, and it will be a place abandoned, neglected, abandoned, surrounded
by weeds, without importance and without spirituality.

The fifth section, the poet continues to describe the church as an old, abandoned place, and
day by day it becomes more and more old and destroyed. The poet wonders about who will
continue to visit this abandoned place (the church) and he gives reviews about the people who
worked in the church and usually practiced religious rituals, such as the people who used to
beat the drum during Prayer, people interested in historical things and antiques, people
interested in Christmas and birthday gifts, or someone like me (the poet) who is not interested
in this place, like me who is not interested in the spiritual value of church , all of these
questions and reviews represent the lack of importance of the church to the poet.
The sixth section, the poet describes people’s feelings about the sanctity of this place and how
desperate people come looking for psychological help and people who come from a far place
for the purpose of finding a sense of spirituality, such as birth ceremonies, children’s baptisms,
marriage ceremonies, or even burial ceremonies after death, all of which take place in the
church, and these may be the reasons that The church was built for these matters. The poet
depicts the church as being like a (special shell) that may contain something valuable. Here,
there is a change and a turning point in the poet’s opinion towards the church, as he refers to
the feeling of sanctity, psychological comfort, and sanctity when he is in this place (the church),
indicating that our attachment to those places is a psychological attachment. Where he
describes that place perhaps deserving a such respect, and he is silent in the presence of that
courtyard (the church), where there is a change in the poet’s opinion towards the church and a
contradiction. The last two lines of this section, he described the church as a barn (as a kind of
insult to the church), but also might be a place worthy of respect and benefit, as this was a
shift in the poet’s opinion. (barn in worth)

The seventh section, we must be memorized these lines completely. This also represents the
turning point in the poet’s opinion, as the poet continues with that turning point in his opinion
by describing the church as a place that has its sanctity and respect, and described it as the place
that make us feel comfortable and feel spiritual , and make our souls linked to our destinies, as
it connects us to destiny (to the God), as the human being, may be religious by nature, and his
feeling of sanctity towards this possibility may be something innate as human nature, and this
belief cannot be ignored, as every person by his nature has a feeling of searching for God and
seeks spirituality, as there is a stimulus within the person that pushes him to that feeling, as
the poet here refers to the importance of the church. Its value to people's lives from a holy
standpoint and from a traditional social side. Since this stanza contradicts the whole idea of the
poem and the poet’s shift in his belief and his opinion toward the importance of the church and
religion, this contradiction may give the impression that the poet was a skeptic and Agnostic, or
secular. Some critics said that he was a secularist and others said that he was an atheist. There
is an opinion that because the church previously disrespected (bad treatment) with his family,
so the poet no longer loved the church and dislike it as a reaction.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬.. ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

‫ الذي باللون األصفر هو (حفظ حرفيا) محدد من أستاذ مصطفى‬, ‫ملخص القصيدة من المحاضرات اليومية ومن االنترنت‬
‫والذي باللون األحمر هو مهم جدا ولكن ليس حفظ حرفيا‬
Heritage BY COUNTEE CULLEN (For Harold Jackman)
What is Africa to me:
Copper sun or scarlet sea,
Jungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men, or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
When the birds of Eden sang?
One three centuries removed
From the scenes his fathers loved,
Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,
What is Africa to me?

So I lie, who all day long

Want no sound except the song
Sung by wild barbaric birds
Goading massive jungle herds,
Juggernauts of flesh that pass
Trampling tall defiant grass
Where young forest lovers lie,
Plighting troth beneath the sky.
So I lie, who always hear,
Though I cram against my ear
Both my thumbs, and keep them there,
Great drums throbbing through the air.
So I lie, whose fount of pride,
Dear distress, and joy allied,
Is my somber flesh and skin,
With the dark blood dammed within
Like great pulsing tides of wine
That, I fear, must burst the fine
Channels of the chafing net
Where they surge and foam and fret.

Africa? A book one thumbs

Listlessly, till slumber comes.
Unremembered are her bats
Circling through the night, her cats
Crouching in the river reeds,
Stalking gentle flesh that feeds
By the river brink; no more
Does the bugle-throated roar
Cry that monarch claws have leapt
From the scabbards where they slept.
Silver snakes that once a year
Doff the lovely coats you wear,
Seek no covert in your fear
Lest a mortal eye should see;
What’s your nakedness to me?
Here no leprous flowers rear
Fierce corollas in the air;
Here no bodies sleek and wet,
Dripping mingled rain and sweat,
Tread the savage measures of
Jungle boys and girls in love.
What is last year’s snow to me,
Last year's anything? The tree
Budding yearly must forget
How its past arose or set—
Bough and blossom, flower, fruit,
Even what shy bird with mute
Wonder at her travail there,
Meekly labored in its hair.
One three centuries removed
From the scenes his fathers loved,
Spice grove, cinnamon tree,
What is Africa to me?

So I lie, who find no peace

Night or day, no slight release
From the unremittant beat
Made by cruel padded feet
Walking through my body’s street.
Up and down they go, and back,
Treading out a jungle track.
So I lie, who never quite
Safely sleep from rain at night—
I can never rest at all
When the rain begins to fall;
Like a soul gone mad with pain
I must match its weird refrain;
Ever must I twist and squirm,
Writhing like a baited worm,
While its primal measures drip
Through my body, crying, “Strip!
Doff this new exuberance.
Come and dance the Lover’s Dance!”
In an old remembered way
Rain works on me night and day.
Quaint, outlandish heathen gods
Black men fashion out of rods,
Clay, and brittle bits of stone,
In a likeness like their own,
My conversion came high-priced;
I belong to Jesus Christ,
Preacher of humility;
Heathen gods are naught to me.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

So I make an idle boast;
Jesus of the twice-turned cheek,
Lamb of God, although I speak
With my mouth thus, in my heart
Do I play a double part.
Ever at Thy glowing altar
Must my heart grow sick and falter,
Wishing He I served were black,
Thinking then it would not lack
Precedent of pain to guide it,
Let who would or might deride it;
Surely then this flesh would know
Yours had borne a kindred woe.
Lord, I fashion dark gods, too,
Daring even to give You
Dark despairing features where,
Crowned with dark rebellious hair,
Patience wavers just so much as
Mortal grief compels, while touches
Quick and hot, of anger, rise
To smitten cheek and weary eyes.
Lord, forgive me if my need
Sometimes shapes a human creed.

All day long and all night through,

One thing only must I do:
Quench my pride and cool my blood,
Lest I perish in the flood.
Lest a hidden ember set
Timber that I thought was wet
Burning like the dryest flax,
Melting like the merest wax,
Lest the grave restore its dead.
Not yet has my heart or head
In the least way realized
They and I are civilized.
Hybridity ‫من االنترنت لفهم هذا المصطلح‬
Hybridity refers to the mixing or blending of different elements or influences to create
something new and unique. In the context of literature and poetry, hybridity often refers to
the combination of different cultural influences within a single work.
When applying the concept of hybridity to the Heritage poem, it means exploring how the poem
incorporates and merges various cultural, historical cases. The Heritage poem draw upon
different cultural traditions and perspectives that reflecting the complex and interconnected
nature of the poet's heritage or identity for example, (The Black African American people).
‫من االنترنت لفهم هذا المصطلح‬
The Third Space is a postcolonial sociolinguistic theory of identity and community realized
through language. It is attributed to Homi K. Bhabha. Third Space Theory explains the
uniqueness of each person, actor, or context as a "hybrid"
The concept of "third space" originates from postcolonial and cultural studies and refers to a
metaphorical space that transcends and challenges binary categorizations. It is a space where
cultural, social, and linguistic boundaries overlap, intersect, and create new possibilities.
In the context of cultural identities, the third space represents a space of hybridity,
negotiation, and cultural mixing. It is an in-between space where individuals or communities
navigate between their own cultural background and the dominant culture they interact with.
The third space is neither wholly one culture nor the other, but a space of cultural fusion and
transformation.
The concept was introduced by cultural theorist Homi K. Bhabha, who argued that the third
space allows for the emergence of new forms of identity and cultural expression. It challenges
fixed notions of identity and offers a site for cultural hybridization, where different cultural
elements can coexist and interact.
The idea of the "third space" is about a special place where different cultures come together
and mix. It's not just one culture or the other, but a space in between where new things can
be created.
It's like a meeting point where people from different backgrounds can find common ground
and create new ways of thinking and being. In literature and art, the third space is often
explored to show how different cultures can blend and create something unique and exciting.
It's a space where new ideas and identities can flourish.
In literature and art, the concept of the third space can be applied to works that explore
cultural hybridity, and complexities of identity. It represents a space of dialogue, negotiation,
and creative possibilities, where multiple cultural perspectives converge and give rise to new
narratives and understandings.
The Noble Savage ‫من االنترنت لفهم هذا المصطلح‬
The Noble Savage is a stock character who represents an uncorrupted, idealized human
living in a primitive state, that was untouched by civilization.
Noble savage, in literature, is an idealized concept of an uncivilized man, who symbolizes
the innate goodness of one not exposed to the corrupting influences of civilization.This
character symbolizes innate goodness, moral superiority, and a harmonious existence with
nature.
The Noble Savage notion has been both celebrated and criticized.
It can reinforce stereotypes and exoticize non-Western cultures.
Some argue that admiration of the Other as noble may still perpetuate dominant
hierarchies.
In simple terms, the Noble Savage is a character who represents an idealized human living in
a natural, unspoiled state. This character is often portrayed as morally good, harmonious with
nature, and free from the complexities of civilization. However, the concept has both positive
and negative aspects and has been debated by philosophers and writers.
Characteristics of Nobel Savage:
Uncorrupted: The Noble Savage is unspoiled by the complexities and vices of civilization.
Harmony with Nature: They live in balance with the natural world.
Innate Goodness: Their morality is based on intuition rather than religious doctrine.
Lack of Social Hierarchy: Socioeconomic differences don't matter; everyone is equal.
) ‫من هنا يبدء الشرح من المحاضرة اليومية (من محاضرة أستاذ مصطفى‬
What is Africa to me:
Copper sun or scarlet sea,
Jungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men, or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
When the birds of Eden sang?
One three centuries removed
From the scenes his fathers loved,
Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,
What is Africa to me?

At the beginning of the poem, the poet prides about his origins and glorifies his
African origins, as the poet is American from African origins (a black African). He
did not see Africa, which he considered it his roots and the country of his ancestors.
Black African Americans represented a minority in USA, so they created their own
movement in art and literature to represent their culture and proof their cultural
identity.
This type of art and literature contains negative and positive aspects at the same
time and is a mixture between the two cultures, the culture of the African roots
and the culture of the new homeland "America" so they are in the middle in
(Betweeness).
Therefore, at the beginning of the poem, we clearly see a tone of boasting and
glorifying his African origins, as the poet describes Africa as a beautiful, charming,
land and wonderful country and celebrates it as if it were the Heaven of Eden, as a
kind of proof of cultural identity, but at the end of the poem this tone differs by
indicating that they integrated and mixed with the culture of the dominant
American society and fused with the new society with new culture (Hybrid).
"So I lie who all day long"
Therefore, we see the poet’s contradiction in the poem. At one times he relies on
his heavy heritage and cultural identity, and at other times he says that he is lying
to himself, as he now lives in America and integrates and mixed with them and will
be like them (turning point, switch point), as the poet refers to the transformation
of their nationalism into American nationalism, and also to the transformation of
their religion into Christianity.
The poet depicts their Case, the Case of black Africans, like the Case of Jesus Christ,
as they suffered, oppressed, and were killed just like the suffering and oppression
of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the poet depicted that Christ should be black man like them not white
because he lived the same suffering as they lived and was tortured as they were
tortured and killed as they were killed.
from the psychological side, the poet has internal conflict, internal contradiction
and suffering as he suffers from a clash of cultures (the culture of African roots and
ancestors) with the dominant American culture, the Minorities with Majorities.
This has led to a psychological conflict within him.
In the second stanza, the poet describes Africa, which he has not visited and
imagines it as something that lives with him and feels inside him, things that haunt
him and the sound that he tries to deny, but it remains stuck inside him and control
his feelings because it represents his origins, roots, and cultural identity.
"So I lie, who always hear"
He does not want to hear those voices that haunt him, and he closes his ears in
order to avoid hearing that voices. He does not want to hear the injustice upon
black people, the sound of their suffering, and how they were subjected to torture,
racism, and slavery.
We see the poet's contradiction and how he is in (Betweeness) a contradiction that
the poet lives within himself, as he is stuck between his African origins and being
an American citizen, so it is the suffering of belonging. They are afflicted with the
curse of blackness.
"with the dark blood dammed within" = the curse of blackness "black blood" the
African root and identity.
"Dear distress, and joy allied" = in Betweeness
"where they surge and foam and fret" = paradoxical image, suffering.
We find this paradoxical image in the literature of minorities as they lived with the
dominant majority society "American", as the minorities try to prove their cultural
identity, and on the other hand, show the tone of suffering and internal conflict
and their suffering from slavery and racism, which will finally lead them to
integration and mixed with American society, where the poet indicates that he will
become an American citizen like them and his culture melts with their culture, so
that they can coexist and live together in society, even they abandon their religion
and change their religion into the Christian religion, and this turning point is in
order for them to be accepted by American society this is the idea of (noble Savage)
where he feels that he is less than them and feels inferior because his African
origins, so they merge with the culture Americans in order to feel that they are
equal to them with nationalism. It is an example of an identity conflict.
The poet invoked images of animals in the poem, as animals reflect African culture,
and the land of Africa is famous with a lot of animals and is characterized by the
diversity of animals, as this is considered their cultural heritage. The poet depicts
those sounds (animal sounds) as he hears them inside himself and he is in pain and
in an internal conflict because now he is in a contradiction (betweeness). Now he is
becoming more and more transformed day after day into American culture, the idea
of (Third space) and the idea of (hybridity).
"Doff the lovely coats you wear" = Third space and Hybridity
"Doff this new exuberance" = Third space and Hybridity
It is representing the idea of the “hybridity” as the poet gradually sheds his skin,
abandons his origin, and becomes turning into a new culture like the American
people (Noble Savage) to acceptable and living between them.
So I lie, who find no peace
Night or day, no slight release
From the unremittant beat
Made by cruel padded feet
Walking through my body’s street.
Here the poet brings up the internal conflict within himself, inside the Black African-
American and their feeling that they are slaves and suffering from racism. The poet
explains how his roots and his ancestors became slaves in America, where they
came to the land of America to as workers in agriculture and factories, but they
were tied up and they were treated as slaves and they suffered from racial racism,
slavery, and class and ethnic differences. The poet clarify That he wants to release
his feelings because they were suffering from injustice and inequality.
So I lie, who never quite
Safely sleep from rain at night—
I can never rest at all
When the rain begins to fall;
Like a soul gone mad with pain

It is a Metaphor, represents the condition of the black Africa people in America and
how they are living in (Betweeness) and suffer from the internal conflict inside
them. It shows the idea of (the hybridity) of the Minority culture that has immersed
itself and melted in the Dominant culture the Majority and has become something
hybridity.
Quaint, outlandish heathen gods
Black men fashion out of rods,
The poet depicts themselves (The African) as strangers in this society the new
society(USA) , he is a stranger in American land (The Suffering of Belongings).
My conversion came high-priced;
I belong to Jesus Christ,
Preacher of humility;
Heathen gods are naught to me.
This is representing an example the idea of (the Noble Savage), a turning point in
their culture and even a shift in their religion, where they changed to Christianity
in order to be accepted and integrate with American society and become American
citizens, as the poet refers to them abandoning the worship of Paganism that his
ancestors (the Africans) had previously worshiped.
Where previously, as minorities, they felt alienated as strangers among the
majorities the dominant American society, and they did not feel cultural
integration until they became like them and worshiped like their Christian
religion.
Here is also a criticism where the poet points out that they converted their religion
not for the sake of religion and not because they considered Christianity is the
correct religion, but for the sake of social and cultural integration in order to be
socially accepted and live as equals with the Americans. This is an example of
(Noble Savage).

Lamb of God, although I speak

With my mouth thus, in my heart
Do I play a double part.
Ever at Thy glowing altar
Must my heart grow sick and falter,
Wishing He I served were black
The concept of (double consciousness) Double consciousness describes the feeling
that you have more than one social identity, which makes it difficult to develop a
sense of self. It is a concept that W.E.B. Du Bois first introduced in his book, "The
Souls of Black Folk", written in 1903.
In the concept of double consciousness, the poet represents when a person
appears something but inside him is something else, where he speaks with his
tongue about something but in his heart is something else.
The first person to use this term was a theorist of African origin named Du Bois,
who was the first to theorize the idea of Double consciousness.
Where the poet explains that he says one thing on his tongue, but inside him is
something else, as he speaks as an American citizen and worships as they worship
(Christianity), but inside him is something else, which is his African origins and
roots, as he is African by nature, but now he has become an American citizen, and
this puts him in the middle in (betweeness) In internal conflict between the culture
of African roots and the dominant American culture, because they have now
milted within it and become like them in order to be accepted.
This leads us to the idea of (The Third Space), where the first space is his African
roots, being (originally black African), the second space is the dominant American
culture, and the third space is the reality of what it is their condition now
(betweeness) and the cultural integration and fusion which the black African
minorities are living in with the dominant culture, this produced a new hybridity
culture a new space which is (The third space).
Lord, I fashion dark gods, too,
Daring even to give You
Dark despairing features where,

The idea of "Black blood", the poet hopes that the person whom they follow his
religion, the Prophet Jesus Christ, would be (a black man) like them, Not White,
but black like African Negros as they carry the same Case like Jesus Christ as the
same cause of suffering and injustice of Jesus Christ, and the people who killed
Christ in the past is the same people are torturing them and killing them today. This
represents criticism as black people suffer from racism, racial discrimination, and
slavery by the White American society.

American literature is a mixture is a (Melting pot), The term "melting pot" came
into general usage in the United States after it was used as a metaphor describing
a fusion of nationalities, cultures and ethnicities in Israel Zangwill's 1908 play of
the same name (The Melting pot). A melting pot is a monoculture metaphor for a
heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements
"melting together" with a common culture, through the influx of foreign elements
(Immigration from different regions into America) with different cultural
backgrounds. It can create a harmonious hybridized society known as cultural
amalgamation. In the United States, the term (Melting pot) is often used to describe
the cultural integration of immigrants to the country.
As the American art, with all its types, painting, music, and literature, is the
melting of several diverse cultures (such as African, Asian, Mexican, and European
culture), all of them melted into a new culture, which is American culture. This
term was coined by a playwright who gave this description of American literature
and argued that it is a mixture of several civilizations within the new civilization,
which is American (American Mosaic).
All day long and all night through,
One thing only must I do:
Quench my pride and cool my blood,
The poet brings up his roots by referring to (black blood). It is a kind of post-colonial
literature, as the writer from the third space does not completely neglect his roots
and origins, nor is he completely against the new culture. Therefore, he combines
the two cultures "mixed", whereby cultural fusion and melting of cultures with each
other is as if it were (melting pot) This creates a kind of mixture culture.
 ‫ملخص لكل القصيدة باختصار‬
In summary, the poet shows a contradiction in his poem, and this contradiction
reflects the same contradiction experienced by African-American blacks, as they
suffer in an internal conflict because their origins, roots, and cultural identity as
Minorities, have merged with American culture and created them as a hybridity
culture in a New space " New culture", it is the Third space.
They changed their culture, their way of speaking, and even a turning point in their
religion (to Christianity) in order to be accepted (Noble Savage) in American
society as the Minority African culture fused with the dominant American culture.
However, they suffered from double consciousness, where they spoke things while
inside them were other things. They appeared to be formed from the new
American culture, but they Within them and in their hearts there is a Nostalgia for
their roots and heritage, which led to an internal conflict within black Africans (a
crisis of belonging) it is a type of nostalgia for the culture of the past, their land and
their original cultural heritage (Africa).
This is the case for all Minorities in America under the dominant culture, as some
critics have argued that American literature in particular and all types of art in
general, are Mixed (multiple containers) with all types of art (music, drawing,
literature and so on) as the American cultures are a mixture of several cultures
(European, African, Mexican, and Chinese) All of them merged into a new hybridity
culture that created the Third space.
)‫ اللي ردنلياه أستاذ مصطفى بالمحاضرة حول (مقالة ربط القصيدة مع قصيدة تي اس اليوت ويست الند‬.. ‫من هنا‬
COUNTEE CULLEN'S "HERITAGE": A BLACK "WASTE LAND" by DAVID K. KIRBY.
Heritage can be seen as Parallel story of waste land by T.S. Eliot. it deals with the
same basic dilemma as the Eliot poem in terms of modern individual aware of his
reach heritage yet stranded in a sterile, conformist culture (the American one) and
because it shares with that poem some similar imagery of suffering.
It is of significance that the persona spends his days recumbent, dreaming of the
sights and sounds of his native country. that makes a parallelized caught between
two culture.
his African Heritage pre-occupies him yet he must conform to the dictates of the
white culture (Dominant culture).
Quaint, outlandish heathen gods
Black men fashion out of rods,
Clay, and brittle bits of stone,
In a likeness like their own.
these lines show the sacrifice of person that he has made to be accepted for the
sake of the white culture and over the black gods of Africa.
"Wishing He I served were black,"
"The Black Christ", The Biblical Christ is referred to as a "man of sorrows," and
certainly the black, by nature of his status in a white culture, is a man of sorrows in
a secular sense.
Lord, I fashion dark gods, too,
Daring even to give You
Dark despairing features where,
To show the practice of the lost religion of his forefathers and equally unable to
worship the white man's Christ, the persona has taken the significant features of
the two public modes of worship and has made from thema private variety.
All day long and all night through,
One thing only must I do:
Quench my pride and cool my blood,
Lest I perish in the flood.
the flood of pride will burst forth and overwhelm him, washing away the props of
whatever stability he may have acquired.
In the least way realized
They and I are civilized.
similarity between "Heritage" and "The Waste Land" is apparent, both poems
deal with the gap that exists between contemporary man, who is sensitive to his
cultural heritage.
in addition, both poems refer to the idea of a sterile society.
Modernist poets and many writers had spoken about the subject of (the sterility of
spirituality) and the complexities of belonging and identity, which is why it is called
(A Black Waste Land), where the idea of (Dryness) in T. S. Eliot’s poem means
spiritual dryness and identity crisis in the shadow of the sterile materialistic society
that lacks spirituality and values.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

 ‫ واللون األحمر مهم بس مو حفظ حرفيا‬, ‫ باللون األصفر حفظ‬, ‫الشرح من المحاضرة اليومية‬
From the Dark Tower
BY COUNTEE CULLEN 1903 –1946
(To Charles S. Johnson)
We shall not always plant while others reap
The golden increment of bursting fruit,
Not always countenance, abject and mute,
That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;
Not everlastingly while others sleep
Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,
Not always bend to some more subtle brute;
We were not made eternally to weep.

The night whose sable breast relieves the stark,

White stars is no less lovely being dark,
And there are buds that cannot bloom at all
In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall;
So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds,
And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.
The form of poetry is like the traditional sonnet (stanza), where the poet wants to
be known as a poet and not only as a black Negro person. The poet belongs to the
Harlem Renaissance movement, which is an artistic movement that includes
various types of art, music, drawing, singing, and literature, where they present
their art in order to prove their cultural identity (African-American culture) and so
their traditions.
In the Harlem Renaissance movement, there are two groups: a group that attacks
the culture of American whites and, against them, directs harsh criticism at them
and glorifies their African origins. And another group integrates and mixed with
them and tries to prove their new cultural identity that fused with white culture,
but with a less harsh tone and indicates that they have begun to live as brothers in
one society.
This is the literature of Minorities, where minorities want to prove their cultural
identity integrated with the dominant culture with the majority American culture,
such as the African, Asian, and Arab minorities who were living among the dominant
American majority.
We shall not always plant while others reap
The golden increment of bursting fruit,
At the beginning of the poem, the poet explains the idea of the Minority condition
of black Africans in American society, where the idea of racism, and the ethnic and
racist discrimination that black Africans experience in America, and the poet
wonders that how long will we continue to work and produce and others reap the
benefits? Reference to the Black- African exploitation by the White American
society, as they treated them as slaves, as tools for amassing wealth not as human
being, it is clearly racism.
(lesser men) is a nickname given by whites to blacks kind of (Racism), describing
them as similar to men (semi-man) in order to reduce their value. This shows the
racial racism that black African American minorities suffered from it in the
dominant white American majority society. This description leads us to a link with a
poem by Kipling "the white man's Burden"
"half devil and half child"
The poet belittled the Filipino people, describing them as barbarians and monsters who are
not normal as humans, and they are Not men, but (semi-men).
This connection between the two poems shows how the whites deal with other people from
different races. Once from the tongue of the white themselves and the other from the
tongue of Minority those whom were oppressed and suffered under the control of the
American dominant society.
"That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap"

The poet indicates that they must be united, join hands, be brothers, and they must
help each other in order to rise, create their glory, and prove their cultural identity.
"Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,
Not always bend to some more subtle brute;
We were not made eternally to weep."
The poet believes in prophecy about the future, as he believes that blacks people in
the future will have a high status in society and the situation will not remain as it is,
as the poet indicates that they were not created to remain subservient or to be
slaves, so that we do not continue to cry and weeping and feel inferior to others.
the poet calls for waken, renaissance, work, and call for action to prove identity,
to change their situation and to get a higher position in society, and calling for
them not to remain the least valuable class in society (inferior), but rather to
become (superior). Also This is the poet’s prophecy about the future of African-
American blacks, and this is what actually happened now days.
We must not remain followers to them, and we must take our own action in order
to export our culture and cultural identity. This is the attitude of most African-
American poets belonging to the Harlem Renaissance movement that stared in the
New York City – Harlem Manhattan, in 1920s also named "New Negro
Movement".
“The night whose sable breast relieves the stark,
White stars is no lesser lovely being dark,”
Bright stars in the dark sky refers to black & white people. the beauty of the bright
stars won’t be obvious without the dark background. This image represents the
idea that black people should live with white people as brothers, one
complementing the other, like the white star that does not shine without the black
background of the sky, the idea of integration and harmony as the poet wants to
clarify the idea that they are equal to whites in rights and equal to them in the same
Importance and the same value.
And there are buds that cannot bloom at all
In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall;
So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds,
And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.
The poet presents a poetic image of flowers that do not appear in the morning and
only appear at night, it is reference to (blackness) and the idea of (black power),
where the poet wants to convey an idea, by the description of that just as God
created a rose that blooms and shines in the morning, there is also a rose that
blooms, grows, and blooms at night, it means we are equal Black and white as God
create the White people and so the Black people as being a Black is not a sin, so
we should live in the same community without racism. Also another image, which
is the image of agonizing seeds, as the poet means that one day they will grow and
become prosperous. the poet believes in a prophecy, so It is the poet’s prophecy
about the future of African Negroes, which is that the situation will not remain as
it is, as it is a clear reference to the black African as they will be equal to whites and
be effective in society. This is the poet’s prophecy about the future of blacks which
is that the situation will not remain as it is, and that black Africans will have great
importance in the future and a higher position in society, and they will prove
themselves and their cultural identity as higher people in society, do not remain
the lower. Also the idea of equality instead of racism as the poet means that we
are both black and white are citizen with equal rights and no one less than the other.
We find that this issue of proving cultural identity is a topic repeated by Minorities
writers under the control of the dominant Majority in America, such as Arab
Minorities as well, for example the Arabic American poet Naomi Shihab in her poem
"my father and the Fig Tree" and many others poems.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

 ‫ والذي باالحمر مهم جدا كفهم وليس حفظ حرفيا‬, ‫ الذي باالصفر مهم كفكرة وأيضا حفظ حرفيا‬, ‫الشرح من المحاضرة اليومية الستاذ مصطفى‬
“New Orleans” by Joy Harjo

This is the south. I look for evidence

of other Creeks, for remnants of voices, Commented [R1]: Following violent resistance
or for tobacco brown bones to come wandering to the encroachment of white settlers by
down Conti Street, Royal, or Decatur. some Creeks, President Andrew Jackson
Near the French Market I see a blue horse began a process of government-sponsored
caught frozen in stone in the middle of removal of Creek people that continued until
1837. Many Creeks were taken by ship to
a square. Brought in by the Spanish on
New Orleans and then overland to
an endless ocean voyage he became mad Oklahoma. On their way west, the Creeks
and crazy. They caught him in blue endured heavy rain and extreme cold. Other
rock, said Creeks boarded ships in New Orleans and
don’t talk. were taken up the Mississippi River. On
this journey, one steamboat was stuck by
I know it wasn’t just a horse another ship, and approximately 300
that went crazy. Creeks died. Between 1827 and the end of
the removal in 1837, more than 23,000
Nearby is a shop with ivory and knives. Creeks emigrated from the Southeast.
There are red rocks. The man behind the
counter has no idea that he is inside
magic stones. He should find out before (Creeks: members of a specific tribe)
they destroy him. These things
Commented [R2]: Creeks: a specific
have memory,
indigenous tribe.
you know.

I have a memory.
It swims deep in blood,
a delta in the skin. It swims out of Oklahoma,
deep the Mississippi River. It carries my
feet to these places: the French Quarter,
stale rooms, the sun behind thick and moist
clouds, and I hear boats hauling themselves up
and down the river.

My spirit comes here to drink.

My spirit comes here to drink.
Blood is the undercurrent.

There are voices buried in the Mississippi mud.

There are ancestors and future children
buried beneath the currents stirred up by
pleasure boats going up and down.
There are stories here made of memory.

I remember DeSoto. He is buried somewhere in

this river, his bones sunk like the golden
treasure he traveled half the earth to find,
came looking for gold cities, for shining streets Commented [R3]:
of beaten gold to dance on with silk ladies. A Spanish conquistador who explored
Mississippi
He should have stayed home.
(Creeks knew of him for miles
before he came into town.
Dreamed of silver blades line 45
and crosses.)
And knew he was one of the ones who yearned
for something his heart wasn’t big enough
to handle.

(And DeSoto thought it was gold.)

The Creeks lived in earth towns,

not gold,
spun children, not gold.

That’s not what DeSoto thought he wanted to see.

The Creeks knew it, and drowned him in
the Mississippi River
so he wouldn’t have to drown himself.

Maybe his body is what I am looking for

as evidence. To know in another way
that my memory is alive.
But he must have got away, somehow,
because I have seen New Orleans,
the lace and silk buildings,
trolley cars on beaten silver paths, line 64
graves that rise up out of soft earth in the rain,
shops that sell black mammy dolls
holding white babies.

And I know I have seen DeSoto,

having a drink on Bourbon Street,
mad and crazy
dancing with a woman as gold
as the river bottom.

1. Identify examples of color imagery in the poem. What effect does this imagery create? Give text evidence
in your answer.

2. In line 64 (bolded), the speaker refers to “beaten silver paths.” To what does this image refer, and how is
it connected to the “silver blades and crosses” (bolded) in lines 45-46?

3. What does DeSoto represent to the speaker? What particular words or images reveal the most about the
speaker’s feelings toward DeSoto?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

In this poem, the poet (woman poet) directly criticizes the European colonial project and also
indirectly criticizes the Native people themselves, how they easily integrated with colonialists and
controlled them.
This poet usually writes in the style of tall stories. Sometimes, She used the method of narration
through the character (Flaneur) and wrote a lot about memories of the South in order to prove their
cultural identity, like most minority writers in America. The poet has used imageries as a poetic style
as (frame story) in most of her poems. For example, she presented in her poems Many images about
animals. Most American writers and poets the Native American poets and Minorities poets wrote
with this poetic image about animals. The poet represents a tribe from the South Creeks (Creeks: a
specific indigenous tribe) They belong to the Native American. Also the place she was talking about
is (Mississippi), and how is the journey of many Native Americans from Mississippi to New Orleans,
it is a modern history of that journey or moving of Native people from different places to the cities
of America, such as their movement from Mississippi river to New Jersey, and New Orleans where
they descended from different tribes.
The poetic image of animals is not a reference to real animals. For example, the horse is depicted as
frozen, referring to the similarity between them (the Native) and animals, as an animal such as a
horse with high value, which represents equestrianism and which is characterized by action, has
now become frozen, without action, without real values (valueless). Usually, Animals use as
metaphor like the horse for glorification, but here metaphors are used for criticism.
A second important poetic image, where the poet depicts a black woman holding white children,
and the poet indicates that the mother has become without real spiritual value and is merely a
device or a machine for bringing children, as the woman has been transformed under the capitalist
system as if she were just a machine and tool for giving children.
The poem contains the idea of colonialism, as she represented the character of Desoto, the Spanish
military leader who occupied and colonized many lands, for wealth and Gold, as he represents the
symbol of colonialism.

"of other Creeks, for remnants of voices"

At The beginning of the poem, she talks about the south, as the south, for the poet, is her
Memories and traditions, Nostalgia for the south, as it refers to the place of the Creeks tribe, most
of whom were killed or displaced from their original places by the hand of colonialism. They treat
them as slaves (racism) It is criticism for colonialism.

Near the French Market I see a blue horse

caught frozen in stone in the middle of
a square.

The poet imagines herself as if she entered a certain market preceded by the France word
(European colonialism). She saw in the market a blue horse, as the horse should be represented a
great value to them, but the poet depicted the horse as frozen (The Native people), as it had become
worthless and useless, not like the previous time, where there was spiritual, and cultural value. this
is the idea of colonialism that restricted them, restricted the Native people, as the poet imagines as
if there is an area in which there is a horse frozen without value because it is now under the control
of the colonizers, and this is a metaphor for the situation of the Native people under the control of
the European colonizers who colonized the land of the Native people and killed them and treated
them as slavery. It is the idea of the decline of spiritual values.

Brought in by the Spanish on

an endless ocean voyage he became mad
and crazy. They caught him in blue
rock, said
don’t talk.

This spiritual decay and vanishing which they were subjected is due to the European
(Spanish) occupation that restricted them and killed them, the idea of “madness”, since the
colonists like (De Soto) were crazy about wealth and gold and were always searching for
it and killing people in order to obtain it, as the poet says to whom like De Soto that you
came and colonized us and killed us for the sake of gold, but we do not have the gold that
is in your imagination and dreams, and the poet says that they are now restricted and
cannot speak under the control of the European colonizers.

Nearby is a shop with ivory and knives.

There are red rocks.

Here is a reference to the bloodshed which the colonists brought and how they used those
tools to kill the indigenous people, as the (ivory) represents the Europeans colonizers, and
the red stone represents the Native people of the land of America, representing their
traditions, and historical heritage.
(ivory) represents the European settlers and (red stone) represents the customs of the
Native people.
European settlers are inbred violence while The native people were created with peace.
This shows the contradiction between the two (Duality) between the culture of the violent
occupier (European settlers) and the culture of the peaceful ones The native one, the
people were occupied.

The man behind the

counter has no idea that he is inside
magic stones. He should find out before
they destroy him. These things
have memory,
you know.
The poet imagines that the man in the market who sells that stone does not know the true
value of that stone, which represents the culture of the Native people and represents a
spiritual and traditional value that contains their Memories and cultural identity. Where
the poet refers to (Memory), which is not only a memory of Native traditions, but also a
memory of the South in Mississippi River, and it is clearly a nostalgia and memory of their
Native land "the South". The poet always writes about memories, which are the memories
of the South, in most of her poems. For her, it is not only a beautiful natural landscape,
but rather represents memories of their customs, traditions, and cultural identity. It is
a type of "Regional literature" that appeared in America related to the South, where the poet
reviews the traditions of that region that she writes about, where they want to distinguish
themselves and prove their cultural identity, like the style of the American writer
Langston Hughes.

a delta in the skin. It swims out of Oklahoma,

deep the Mississippi River. It carries my
feet to these places: the French Quarter,
stale rooms, the sun behind thick and moist
clouds, and I hear boats hauling themselves up
and down the river.

The poet brings up the idea of racism and slavery to which the Native people were subjected by
the European colonialists, and how they transported them from different places, from the
Mississippi River to the New Orleans region, and how they all drowned, referring to the sinking of
the ship that was carrying a large number of Native people, Other Creeks boarded ships in New
Orleans and were taken up the Mississippi River. On this journey, one steamboat was stuck by
another ship, and approximately 300 Creeks died. which is believed that accident was occurred
intentionally by the American government in order to kill them. where they killed them in the sea.
My spirit comes here to drink.
My spirit comes here to drink.
Blood is the undercurrent.

Here the repetition is not only to attract attention, but also to show that they had spiritual value, and
how they (The Native) have now become dead under the European colonialism.

There are voices buried in the Mississippi mud.

There are ancestors and future children
buried beneath the currents stirred up by
pleasure boats going up and down.
There are stories here made of memory.

Here, the poet invokes the idea of the Binary between the master and the slaves, the ruler
and the convict, the white European colonialists who occupied and colonized the land
of the Native people and killed them, in addition, they treated them with racism and
slavery. The poet represents her southern ancestors, the Native people, and the poet brings
back the idea of the Memory of the South, as a researcher and explorer of the cultural
identity of the South.

I remember DeSoto. He is buried somewhere in

this river, his bones sunk like the golden
treasure he traveled half the earth to find,
came looking for gold cities, for shining streets
of beaten gold to dance on with silk ladies.

The character of De Soto, the European-Spanish military leader who was the leader of the
process of occupying many areas in American Lands and is also known as the “fortune
hunter.” He traversed the entire world from far land in order to search of gold and killed
many of the Native people and enslaved them. It is as if the poet says that you are the one
who seek wealth and gold and are killing us for the sake of gold, you will not find any of gold
because we do not have these material things and these material things do not mean
anything to us. She also depicts how when they occupied them, killed them, took the women
as slaves, and used them as tools for sexual matters as "machine". The idea is not only the
character of De Sato himself, but all the occupiers carry the same colonial ideology and
exploit people and use them as slaves, they were searching for resources, and seek wealth
from various kinds, and gold is one example of it. De Soto was "delusion" to possess gold
and to dance with elegant Ladies.

"He should have stayed home.

(Creeks knew of him for miles
before he came into town.
Dreamed of silver blades line 45
and crosses.)
And knew he was one of the ones who yearned
for something his heart wasn’t big enough
to handle. "
"And DeSoto thought it was gold."
"That’s not what DeSoto thought he wanted to see.
The Creeks knew it, and drowned him in
the Mississippi River
so he wouldn’t have to drown himself. "
When the colonists came to their land as dreamers, they traveled a long distance from far
lands and came to search for wealth and gold. They were (materialistic) people. They
tortured them, killed them, and treated them as slaves, but they did not find anything in their
land, as they did not possess gold and were not like them interested in gold. This did not
please colonial people like De Sato. They did not like seeing the land devoid of gold, only
people and children in this land. They treated them as slaves, killed them, exploited them,
used their women for their sexual desires, and treated women as slaves.

" To know in another way

that my memory is alive. "

This poem is based on memory, the Memory of the South, as everything about the past remains
present in their memory and culture identity.
trolley cars on beaten silver paths, line 64
graves that rise up out of soft earth in the rain,
shops that sell black mammy dolls
holding white babies.

Out of use, the people of New Orleans beaten by use, only able to take them to far places. The
native did not resist the invaders, but they were helping them, harmonious relationship.
This is the opposite of the image that represents what people were looking for, such as
the colonial military commander (De Soto), who was searching for gold and did not find
any of the gold for which he killed them. This is also an image of indirect criticism of the
Native Americans themselves, as they are easily controlled by the occupier and how
They became merge with the colonialists who tortured them and treated them as slaves.
How women were used for sexual purposes by white colonizers and women became
pregnant with white children and holding them. How did Native women give birth of
children for the occupying people the white!!!

shops that sell black mammy dolls

holding white babies.

And I know I have seen DeSoto,

having a drink on Bourbon Street,
mad and crazy
dancing with a woman as gold
as the river bottom.
... ‫ هذا كلش مهم وبي أشياء ردنلياهم أستاذ مصطفى بالمحاضرة‬read it carefully
(Black Mammy dolls) are Native women used as a free labor for white people and they are
became only valued for their ability to have children like (machine for Sexual matters and for
bring babies) as a tools not as a human, without rights.
We see in the poem many economic elements, such as many markets. This is a kind of indirect
criticism of the Native population, as the poet wants to give the idea of criticism through how
this society that suffered from occupation, colonialism, racism, and slavery from the colonizers
is now interacting with the economy of the colonial project as a kind of Accepting the
occupation, this type of integration, acceptance and submission was criticized by the poet
indirectly.
Therefore, this poem once directly criticized the colonial project, criticizing the practice of racism
and slavery and how they killed them for the sake of wealth and gold.
And also, once again, an indirect criticism of the Native people themselves, in terms of how
they accepted that colonialism and integrated with them!!!. Where the poet depicts how the
colonized person dances with a native woman, how do you accept to be slaves and dance with
them so easily!! The poet criticized the harmonious relationship between the colonizer and
the Native people the people were Colonized to the extent that they celebrate together and
dance!!, so this is a criticism of the Native population themselves. The native did not resist the
invaders, but they were helping them, with harmonious relationship.

‫الشاعرة باختصار تتحدث عن الجنوب وعن السكان األصليين المريكا‬

‫القصيدة فيها نقد للمشروع األوربي االستعماري وكيف عاملوهم المستعمرين االوربيين كعبيد وكيف قتلوهم لذللك حيث فيها نقد‬
.‫وكيف عاملوا النساء كمجرد وسيلة لرغباتهم وكجهاز النجاب األطفال‬. ‫لعنصرية االوربيين المستعمرين االوربيين‬
.‫ حيث قبلوا باالستعمار بسهولة واندمجوا معهم وتناغموا مع المشروع االستعماري‬, ‫وفيها نقد أيضا للنيتف انفسهم‬
.‫استخدمت الشاعرة صورة الحيوان مثل الحصان الذي اصبح االن بال قيمة ليس مثل السابق حيث اصبح االن مجمد‬

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬.. ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

 ‫الملخص من المحاضرات اليومية‬
My Father and the Fig Tree by -Naomi Shihab Nye

For other fruits, my father was indifferent.

He'd point at the cherry trees and say,
"See those? I wish they were figs."
In the evening he sat by my beds
weaving folktales like vivid little scarves.
They always involved a figtree.
Even when it didn't fit, he'd stick it in.
Once Joha1 was walking down the road
and he saw a fig tree.
Or, he tied his camel to a fig tree and went to sleep.
Or, later when they caught and arrested him,
his pockets were full of figs.

At age six I ate a dried fig and shrugged.

"That's not what I'm talking about! he said,
"I'm talking about a fig straight from the earth –
gift of Allah! -- on a branch so heavy
it touches the ground.
I'm talking about picking the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig
in the world and putting it in my mouth."
(Here he'd stop and close his eyes.)

Years passed, we lived in many houses,

none had figtrees.
We had lima beans, zucchini, parsley, beets.
"Plant one!" my mother said.
but my father never did.
He tended garden half-heartedly, forgot to water,
let the okra get too big.
"What a dreamer he is. Look how many
things he starts and doesn't finish."

The last time he moved, I got a phone call,

My father, in Arabic, chanting a song
I'd never heard. "What's that?"
He took me out back to the new yard.
There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas,
a tree with the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig in the world.
"It's a figtree song!" he said,
plucking his fruits like ripe tokens,
emblems, assurance
of a world that was always his own.
 It is one of the types of Minority literature in America (Minority poetry) in America
from (Arab-American poets) American poets who are of Arab origin, as they appeared in
Three Waves (Three groups)
The first wave (the first group): They were poets of the Arab diaspora, who founded their own
school (The Pen League ) (Al-Rabitat Al-Qalamiyya) in the north of Amarica. Most of them
were Christian Arabs, Lebanese, like Gibran Khalil Gibran, as they imitated European poets
(follow the Romanticism style) in the same style, such as the poetry collection written by
Gibran Khalil Gibran (The Prophecy), the same style of English poetry (Transcendentalism)
by Emerson, Poets of Arab diaspora they imitated the European poetic character and style so that
their literature and their poetry would be accepted in America. They wanted to prove
themselves in America in order to integrate culturally within American society. There is another
group within the first Wave who isolated themselves and formed their own society without
integration with others.

The second Wave (the second group): Most of them are Arab Muslims, after World War II,
and after the turbulent political conditions, the Palestinian situation, and the Israeli
occupation of Palestine, where many Arab Muslim poets immigrated to America. We see the
features of politics poets in the poems of the poets of the second wave, and they focus on the
Arabic culture, as they were on Contact with Arab culture, unlike the poets of the first wave.

The third Wave (the third group): Post-modern poets, they are similar to the second wave. In
this Wave, they were not only Muslims, but Arabs of various sects. There are writers and poets
with a high level of education, including professors and academics, as they believed in
Multiculturalism. They were in the middle (in betweenness) and did not neglect their culture
and at the same time, they were not more connected with it. They wrote many literary works to
bring their culture to export their Arabic culture within American culture, as American literature
is (Milton Pot) a pot containing many diverse cultures, they believe in (Neo-liberalism), as they
wanted to prove their cultural identity within the American Mosaic. For much of the
Minority culture is integrated under the umbrella of the Majority American culture.

One of the poets of the third wave is Naomi Shihab, an Arab American poet of Palestinian origin
(her father is Arab Palestinian, her mother is American). She followed the style of cultural
pluralism (Multiculturalism) as a poetic style in her works, she presented a style characterized
by the concept of cultural pluralism and cultural integration. She has a novel in which Arab
culture is also presented through language, using Arabic phrases in English literature such as
(Siti and Hajji) as a type of export of Arab cultural identity in the West to prove Arab cultural
identity.
Naomi Shihab was celebrating that she is (multicultural), as she has an American mother of
German origin and an American of Arab origin, and she was celebrating multiculturalism.

There are also poets within the third group, but they did not follow the style of cultural pluralism
and cultural integration, but rather, on the contrary, they do not believe in that idea, such as the
Syrian writer Mohja Kahf, who wrote in a tone of resistance towards America and did not
believe in the idea of cultural integration, such as the poetry collection that she wrote entitled
(Emails from Scheherazade) and mostly, Her poems are titled (Hijab Scene), as she appears to
be a strong, self-reliant independent woman and shows the tone of revolution and resistance.
It presented a different Scheherazade from the traditional Scheherazade. It presented a
strong, modern Scheherazade who uses a computer in the style of a modern woman. Sheherazade,
presented by Mohja Kahf, was not writing letters, but rather writing bombs, as she was writing
in the spirit of resistance and not cultural integration.

The most important themes of Arab American poets are identity crisis, nostalgia for the
past, race, feminism, and cultural traditions.

Minority poets in America share the themes of identity crisis, Proof of identity, nostalgia for
their roots, and their sense of injustice under the dominance of the American majority, as their
definition of literature is that literature is an art that reflects the reality, the real life.
Therefore, Arab-American poets want to export their culture, fill their space, and explain their
culture to others, as the Arab writers in America reflect the image of Arab culture, it is kind of
saying (we are here, we talk about our culture, and we know our culture more than others
who write about our culture). Some of them also tried to export their culture through the
language, where they exported some of the Arabic words to the English language, like
Naomi Shihab, where she wrote the phrases (Allah) , (Siti) and (Joha) with the same Arabic
dialect written in English forms.

Translated literature also appeared, as some of them wrote in their mother tongue and translated
it into English.
...................................................................................................................................................

My Father and the Fig Tree by

The title of the poem contains symbolism and a poetic image that expresses Arab cultural identity,
as the fig tree reflects the Palestinian Arab land and reflects nostalgia for Arab roots.

For other fruits, my father was indifferent.

He'd point at the cherry trees and say,
"See those? I wish they were figs."

In this stanza (the cherry), which represents the American land and reflects the American identity, and
her father prefers the fig tree, which represents their land, origins, roots, and Arab-Palestinian culture.

In the evening he sat by my beds

weaving folktales like vivid little scarves.
They always involved a figtree.
Even when it didn't fit, he'd stick it in.
Once Joha was walking down the road
and he saw a fig tree.
Or, he tied his camel to a fig tree and went to sleep.
Or, later when they caught and arrested him,
his pockets were full of figs.

Here, also, the Arab culture is exported through a story from the ancient Arab traditions (Juha). It is a
kind of (Frame Story), which is a second and different story within the story to give the idea of
Arab identity and to give the idea of wisdom and a moral message. It is also a story that represents
Arab customs , tradition and culture.

At age six I ate a dried fig and shrugged.

"That's not what I'm talking about! he said,
"I'm talking about a fig straight from the earth –
gift of Allah! -- on a branch so heavy
it touches the ground.
I'm talking about picking the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig
in the world and putting it in my mouth."
(Here he'd stop and close his eyes.)

Here, is the idea of generational elements, that her father is from a different
generation from the past generation and the girl is from a different
generation from the new generation that does not know or understand the
value and significance of the fresh figs (figs of the past). This new
generation does not taste the taste of the figs of the past. Here the poet gives
a scene of a conversation between her (the daughter) and her father. It was
as if her father was telling her that he wanted the same figs that existed
in their land in the past, the natural, fresh figs. It was a kind of nostalgia
for the past and adherence to their roots, the figs that represented their
cultural identity.
Here also is the idea of abundance, goodness, and nature (the idea of
greatness and goodness), as the natural fig tree is the one that contains
goodness and blessing, not the dried fig. Here, also, is an indication that the
new fig is dry and devoid of spirituality, unlike the old the natural fig.
Years passed, we lived in many houses,
none had figtrees.
We had lima beans, zucchini, parsley, beets.
"Plant one!" my mother said.
but my father never did.
He tended garden half-heartedly, forgot to water,
let the okra get too big.
"What a dreamer he is. Look how many
things he starts and doesn't finish."

They see several homes in America, but none of them feel like their home. They do not feel a
sense of belonging there, as they belong to the Palestinian Arab home their origin home. Where
her father felt that he was living in instability in (misplacedness and displacedness).

Her father is a dreamer and unrealistic (he lives in dreams) as he hopes to plant Palestinian
Arab figs on American land, and the reality is deferent it is impossible to plant Arab figs on
American land and the idea that America has become occupied by materialism and that it is
impossible to see a garden of fig tree in The American land like the one which her father dreams
of, as this land is not their origin land and not the land of fig tree and it is full of materialism.
This leads us to an important connection, where there is another dreamer man, Colon Shaw,
in the poem (For the union dead by Robert Lowell), where he also sought the dream of creating
equality between black Negroes and whites and for them to live in peace and justice, but he got
nothing as there was Racism in American society, injustice continues, and the dream is not
fulfilled.
Both of them were unrealistic dreamers and did not achieve their dreams under the
prevailing materialism in America.
The last time he moved, I got a phone call,
My father, in Arabic, chanting a song
I'd never heard. "What's that?"
He took me out back to the new yard.

Her father was on the phone with her and was singing an Arabic song to her that reflects Arab
customs and culture as a form of nostalgia for the past and as a form of recommendation not
to forget our roots and cultural identity (identity crisis).

There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas,

a tree with the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig in the world.
"It's a figtree song!" he said,
plucking his fruits like ripe tokens,
emblems, assurance
of a world that was always his own.

the metaphorical layer immediately draws attention to the significance of the fig tree. Fig trees
are often laden with symbolism in various cultures and literary traditions. They can represent
abundance or nourishment, but here it represents fertility and homeland. By calling it a "figtree
song," the speaker suggests that there's something inherently musical or harmonious about the
scene or experience they're describing. Tokens are memory of her homeland.

Here is homesickness and (feeling alienated) where the father was in (Home Sick condition), the
(Token) Here is an image of something else, something more realistic in Dallas, where he did
not find anything to complete his identity and it was a symbol.

The idea of planting the Arabic fig tree on American land is typically (the third space)

In this poem we see the idea of (the third space), where the father dreams of seeing the Palestinian
Arab fig tree planted in a garden on American land.

In post-modern literature, intertextuality has prevailed in literature and goes beyond even the
written text. (Intertextuality with things) is a symbolism for something else. It may be a specific
thing, such as a building that reflects a symbolism for something else, or a specific food that
reflects a culture and cultural identity. A specific image may be a language and representation.
The topic is bigger than the image itself and carries deep messages.

Most of Shihab’s poems contain a father. Naomi Shihab presented the image of a friendly,
compassionate father and her good relationship with him. This differs from the image of the
father presented by Sylvia Platt, the cruel, ill-fated father (bad image of father) and her bad
relationship with him as she hated him and described him as a Nazi.

The poet Naomi Shihab presented another poem entitled (Arabic Coffee), in which she sits with
her father and her father tells her stories, where Arabic coffee represents not only a drink, but
rather an Arab cultural and social identity. It is a kind of proof of cultural identity and
nostalgia for the past.
The themes of Minorities in America share the same topics, common themes such as the
identity crisis, nostalgia for the past, and exile, such as the themes of black African-American
poets and their writing against racism and give the topic of their identity such as (Black is power,
Black is beauty) in the Harem Renaissance in New York, and this appeared in all types of art of
them, not just poetry. But also music, drawing and all other types of art. Also, the Native
America and their writings that reflected the injustice and racism they were subjected and the
genocide carried out by the Europeans against the American Native people. Arab Americans
also share similar themes of identity crisis, Racism, injustice, nostalgia for the past and the
attempt to prove cultural identity. This type of literature reached its peak in the fifties of the
twentieth century. It is a type of literary revolution in various kinds of writings, one of them is
poetry.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬... ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

 The Second Coming
BY WILLIA M BUT LER YEAT S

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Most of the WILLIAM BUTLER 's writings contain a sense of Irishness. William Butler is a poet
of Irish origin. His poetry belongs to (post-World War I literature) and landmark of Modernity.
After World War I, he was affected by World War I and the horrors of war and how many people
were killed. This poem, along with T. S. Eliot's poem (Love Song) and the poem (The Waste
Land), are considered landmarks of modern poetry as an example of modernism, as they share
the idea of how people have culturally moved away from the center, and the loss of spirituality
and values among people in the modern era, and there is no center to which they belong.
The poet William Butler presented the Irish poetic image when he wrote a book called (Vision)
that contains much of the history of the Irish and the mythology of the Irish, their traditions
and customs.
Also in this poem there is an Irish sense. For example, he presented an Irish poetic image, which
is (Gyre), which means that in the belief of the Irish, a great event occurs every two thousand
years, such as the birth of Christ. On the other hand, he wants to give the idea of pessimism
prophecy about what is coming, under The destruction of the World War.
They were waiting for another great event another coming, waiting for the “savior,” but the
poet means that they are in this bad situation after two thousand years, the opposite will
happen. The “savior” will not come, but the bad and the destructive will come (anti-Christ).
The poem contains a call to the kind of spirituality and a sense of loss of spirituality. This poem
can also be linked with the idea of the poem (Dover Beach) by Matthew Arnold, as it contains
a criticism of the ugly face of the industrial revolution and the ugly face of knowledge and the
scientific revolution, as it led people to move away from faith and people moving away from
spirituality. The poet presents A pessimistic image without hope, as the whole world was in
chaos ( in Anarchy) and in a state of cultural and social collapse, and society was without a
center and heading towards the worst, in this point there is a contrast to TS Eliot’s poem, which
contains a kind of hope after the dark tunnel.
The poet wonders how the best people began to lose their faith. Even the clergy lost insight
into faith and lost spirituality. So what about the rest of the people!!?? It is a pessimistic poetic
image of the situation after the World War.
(Spiritus Mundi) Here the methodological meaning is a reference to the second coming,
which is a negative and bad coming, not like the first coming.
A gaze blank of this creature provides evidence of how hopeless the situation is.
In the poem, the poet employed a different Christian narrative (upside down) by presenting
the image of the opposite in an inverted manner, where the poet depicts an ugly creature, an
ugly animal, crawling (Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? ) in the place of Christ’s
birth (Bethlehem) in order to do the opposite of what Christ did, in order to spread destruction.
It is a pessimistic prophecy of the future, where What is coming is not good, but what is coming
is negative and bad.
the second coming presents a black vision of the future of humankind, where morality is now
turning into a nightmare (decline of morality).

the second coming raises the question of sowing the planting of the seeds of their own
destruction. we are who bring the destruction for ourselves.

‫ زميلكم محمد فالح‬.. ‫نسألكم الدعاء‬