The Treatment of Nature in the Classical and Modern Arabic Poetry: A Stylistic Study

Abstract

This study is a descriptive-analytical investigation of the depiction of nature in classical and modern Arabic poetry. It focuses on analyzing the similar themes and concepts used by Arabic poets of different ages. The study adopts some theoretical and practical approaches of Russian Formalism that focus on studying the textual literary devices of texts. It concentrates on showing the images of nature in Arabic poetry by analyzing its images, structures, metaphors, similes, and themes. The sample of the study is some Arabic pre-Islamic, classical, and modern poems by Imru al-Qais, Turfah Ibn al-Abed, Al-Bohtory, Abu-Tammam, Khalil Mutran, Nizar Qabbani, and Ahmad Shawqi. This study considers nature as a thematic contemplation that every poet depicts similarly. This investigation lies in its purpose to provide a stylistic study focusing on Arabic poets’ response to nature in its beautiful images in a stylistic method. This study concludes that Arabic poets tackle nature as a symbol of pleasure, peace, and enjoyment. It presents that despite the temporal, special, traditional, and linguistic differences, these Arabic poets share many similar attitudes toward nature. In the end, Nature is portrayed symbolically as a motif to live and adapt happily in life.