A Comparative Study of the Phenomenon of War in Shawqi’s and Bahar’s Poetry

Abstract

This article aims at examining how the phenomenon of "war" is reflected as a social harm in the poetry of Bahar and Shawqi, two eminent contemporary Persian and Arab poets, in a descriptive-analytical study, relying on the American school of comparative literature. The theoretical framework includes the main questions, the identification of the significance of the subject, the review of literature, and a biography of the two mentioned poets. The purpose of this research is to reach a new understanding of political, social, and cultural similarities and differences between the two countries of Iran and Egypt in the times of the Iranian Constitutional revolution and the Arabic renaissance. Some of the findings were as follows: a) Advice on the avoidance of warmongering is observed in their poetry. b)The way the phenomenon of is reflected in their poetry is, to a large extent, under the influence of their environment, culture, race, and geography. c) The consequences of war are almost the same from both poets’ points of view.

Keywords

• war
• contemporary persian and arabic poetry
• comparative literature
• shawqi
• bahar