The Political dimensions in Ahmed Matar's poetry: an analytical study

Abstract

The Iraqi poet Ahmed Matar is considered one of the pioneers of contemporary Arabic political poetry, as he built a great world in the hearts of lovers of Arabic poetry with a distinctive style that focuses on political satire. He addressed the political issues that the Arab people in general and the Iraqi people in particular suffer from, and made them the most important focus of his poetry. It is no wonder that he became a clear enemy of the rulers of the Arab world. Ahmed Matar is unique among his contemporaries with the strength of his words. the intensity of his positions, and his commitment to the principles of freedom and independence. He became vulnerable to hostility from the rulers until he was forced to leave his hometown after being chased by the rulers. He began his life in Kuwait~ and worked in Al- Qabas newspaper. But the tragedy repeated itself, as his poetry provoked the rulers against him until he and his close friend Naji Al-Ali were exiled from Kuwait, so they resided in London. In London, Naji Al-Ali was assassinated. From that day on, Ahmed Matar began to isolate himself from the people and the media. The researcher relied on descriptive and analytical method and collected the information and necessary data from various sources and references. He looked at various sources, including books, newspapers, magazines, biogs, and websites. The researcher chatted with people who had close relation with the poet through social media and collected data about the poet's biography, background, motives, and writings. The researcher reviewed Ahmed Matar's poetry recorded in various collections, analyzed it, and discussed it with experts from scholars and academicians inside and outside of Kerala. During these processes, the researcher extracted the most important political issues that the poet addressed in his verses and summarized the most important features of the poet's styles. Objectives: 1. Identifying the stages of development of political poetry 2. Learn about the life of Ahmed Matar, the political poet who lives in exile in London 3. Learn about the political issues addressed by the poet Ahmed Matar 4. Identify the extent to which the poet benefits from political satire in his poetry S. Exploring the poet's most important styles of political satair Important Research Findings: 1. Features of_political poetry appeared in Arabic literature since the pre-Islamic era and flourished due to the presence of political parties and their poetic battles in the Umayyad and Abbasid eras. 2. The Palestinian issue and the struggle against the occupation played a decisive role in revitalizing political poetry in the modem era. Political poetry dealt with various political issues such as: tyranny, lack of freedom and chaos in the current era. 3. The environment in which the poet Ahmed Matar grew up influenced the formulation of his imagination and creativity. The political persecution that the poet faced by the regime and his life in exile had a profound impact on the formation of his personality and his poetic experience. 4. Although there are many accounts and groups on social media in his name or in the name of' Latfitat' that discuss issues of freedom and democracy, he denied the existence of any account of him on social media. 5. The poet succeeded in educating his readers about the evils of tyranny and the virtues of democracy, and in describing the suffering of the people under the rule of tyrants. The poet convinced his readers about the suffering of his people from the lack of freedom, especially from lack of freedom of expression. 6. The poet reveals the lack of sincerity of the Arab leaders in finding a solution for the issue of Palestinians. His poetry focuses on criticizing Arab leaders more than enumerating the tragedies of the Palestinians. The poet claims that Arab leaders are being hypocritical regarding the issue out of fear of U.S.A. 7. The poet satirizes the Arab people for their silence against tyranny and chaos. He expresses his concern about the silence of poets, scholars, writers, and the media on the issues and miseries of the people. 8. The poet employed various types of irony, and various styles of storytelling, dialogue, will, riddle, intertextuality, and symbols of people, animals, plants, inanimate objects, signs, and points in his poetry.