Dramatizing Modern American and Arabic Poetry A Study in Selected Poems by Kenneth Koch and Yousif Al-Sayegh

Abstract

The interrelatedness of drama and poetry introduces one of the most exceptionally robust examples of trans-genre literature. It is further characterized by a deep-rooted tradition that dates back to ancient Greek and Roman drama, as well as a sense of circumstantial and ad hoc necessity-driven, age-oriented adaptability. The present paper assumes that this well-established sensitive relation of poetry and drama rests upon some circumstantial time-specific cultural forces or motivators that impact the ebb and flow, the expansion-contraction movements which are directly related to the temporal necessities and requirements of the textual and contextual poetic discourse. To this end, and to verify the accuracy of these assumptions, the paper limits itself to some representative examples from the oeuvres of two representative poets of the dramatic poetic tradition in modern American and Arabic poetry, namely Kenneth Koch (1925-2002) and Yousif al-Sayegh (1933-2006).

Keywords

• Dramatic poetry, Modern Arabic poetry, Modern American poetry, Comparative literature, Yousif al-Sayegh, Kenneth Koch