Jesus Christ as a Symbolic Figure in Modern Arabic Poetry

Abstract

One of the important movements in literature is symbolism. As a literary movement, it is defined as an allusive expression of the mind and spirit of the poet within the framework of a number of symbols. This movement, which we find many examples in the classical Arabic literature, has reappeared as a result of the introduction of Arabs to the European literature. The reflection of symbolism, which first appeared in the European literature with Charles Baudelarie, reached its peak with the Tammuzi movement in the Arab literature. The idea of reaching the depth of meaning arising both from the tense political environment in the Arab society and the phenomenon of allusiveness in poetry has led many poets to participate in this literary movement. The most important element of symbolism is the figure. Undoubtedy, one of the symbolic figures of the modern period in this context is Jesus Christ. The symbol of Christ has been constantly mentioned by Jebra Ibrahim Jebra and Jibran Khalil Jibran in prose, and by the pioneers of the modern poetry such as Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, Khalil Hawi, Mahmoud Darvish, Izz ad-Din al-Musanara, Amal Dunqul and Abdul Wahhab al-Bayati in poetry. Both Muslim and Christian poets have tried to explain the meaning they want to express with some symbols such as mercy, hope, resistance, leader, affliction, identification and expatriate within the framework of Christ.