Intertextuality, Adaptation or Plagiarism: Al-Sayyab’s “Diwanu Shi’r” and Spenser’s “Amoretti I”
Haitham Kamil Eidan Al-Zubbdaidi
University of Baghdad, College of Arts
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25130/Lang.8.8.16
Keywords: Spenser, al-Sayyab, intertextuality, plagiarism, comparative literature
Abstract
No matter what the impact of Spenser’s sonnet, “Amoretti I”, on Badr Shakir al-Sayyab’s poem “Diwanu Shi’r” [A Book of Verse] may be named, it is textually and thematically evident that the latter poem has derived much from the former. The affinities between the two poems transcend the simple allusion, metaphor or intertextuality to reasonably assume that al-Sayyab, who is well-versed in English poetry, has re-worked Spenser’s sonnet and dressed it in a classical Arabic form. The present study seeks to investigate al-Sayyab’s indebtedness to Spenser, the major English 16th century poet, and here lies the significance of the study as it explores an area in the poetic formation of al-Sayyab which has never been investigated before. For this end, it explores the similarities in themes, images and subject matter between the aforementioned poems, showing whether this indebtedness is a matter of intertextuality, influence, adaptation or plagiarism.
References
Al-Abtta, Mahmoud.(1965) Badr Shakir al-Sayyab wal Harakatu al-Mu'asira fil Iraq (Badr Shakir al-Sayyab and the Contemporary Movement in Iraq). Baghdad: Dar al-Ma'rif,.
Al-Azmeh, Nazir.(2004) Bader Shaker al-Sayyab and Edith Sitwell: A Comparative Study. Virgina : Aladin Printing House,..
Ali, Lamia H.(2021) "Al-Sayyab as a Poet and Translator: T. S. Eliot and Edith Sitwell as a Case Study: A Comparative Study." Midadu al-Adab 11.25 : 30-51. Electronic. 28 February 2024. <https://midad-aladab.org/index.php/midadaladab/article/view/457/420>.
Allush, Naji.(2005) "Introduction." Diwan Shi'r Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (Badr Shakir al-Sayyab's Poetuc Works). Ed. Naji Allush. Vol. 1. Beirut: Dar al-Awada,. 2 vols..
Aloos, Munaf H.(2017) "Foreign Culture and its Impact on B. S. al-Sayyab's Poetry: An Analytic Comparative Literature." Journal of Arabic Language and its Arts 1.26 : 431-58. Electronic. 22 February 2024. .
Al-Sayyab, Badr Shakir.(2005) Diwan Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. Vol. 1. Beirut: Dar Al-Awda,. 2 vols..
Ayasrah, Mohamed and Nazri Latiff.(2019) "Intertextuality Between T. S Eliot and Al Sayyab’s Poetry." International Journal of English Linguistics 9.3: 78-84. Online. 22 February 2024.
Balata, Eisa.(1971) Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: Hayatuhu wa Shi'ruhu (Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: His Life and Poetry). Beirut: Dar al-Nahar.
Blick, Fred.(2008) "Spenser's Amoretti and Elizabeth Boyle: Her Names Immortalized." Spenser Studies 23 (2008): 308-317.
Cummings, Peter M.(2024) "Spenser's Amoretti as an Allegory of Love." Texas Studies in Literature and Language 12. No. 2 (1970): 163-179. Electronic . 29 February 2024. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/40754092>.
Gohar, Saddik M. "Toward a Dialogue with the West: The use of Eliot's Modernism in Al-Sayyab's City Poetry." Comparative Civilizations Review 56.56 (2007): 40-55. Online. 22 February 2024. .
Jargy, Simon. Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: Al-Rajul wa Al-Sha'r (Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: The Man and the Poet). Beirut : Adhwaa Publications, 1966.
Khidr, Shireen M. A.(2019) "Love and Death Dichotomy between Edith Sitwell and Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: A Comparative Study." College of Arts Papers 8.3 : 857-96. Electronic. 20 February 2024. <https://sjam.journals.ekb.eg/article_128012>.
Lever, J. W. The Elizabethan Love Sonnet. London: Methuen & Co., 1956. Print.
Lu'lu'ah, Abdul-Wahid. (2024)"Al-Sayyab versus Eliot and Sitwell's Poetry." Al-Quds Al-Arabi (2018). Online. 28 February. <https://www.alquds.co.uk/%EF%BB%BF%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%91%D8%A7%D8%A8.
Naser, Adhraa A.(2016) "Western Modernism Translated and Retranslated in Iraqi Poetry: Al-Sayyab between Eliot and Sitwell." International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4.2 11-34..
Neimneh, Shadi and Zainab Qaisi.(2024) "The Poetry of B. S. Al-Sayyab: Myth and the Influence of T. S. Eliot." International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities 9.1 (2015): 178-92. Online. 22 February. <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275519701_The_Poetry_of_BS_Al-Sayyab_Myth_and_the_Influence_of_TS_Eliot>.
Prescott, Anne Lake. (2011)"Spenser's Shorter Poems." The Cambridge Companion to Spenser. Ed. Andrew Hadfield. New York : Cambridge University Press.
Sadoon, Mohammed.(2020) Al-Stratigiyyatu al-Shi'reeyatu inda Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab (The Poetic Strategy of Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab). Alger: Khayal Publishing House.
Spenser, Edmund.(1997) Edmund Spenser's Amoretti and Epithalamion: A Critical Edition. Ed. Kenneth J. Larsen. Arizona: MRTS, 1997.
Tawfik, Hassan.(1997) Shi'r Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: Dirasatun Fanniyya and Fikriyya (Badr Shakir al-Sayyab’s Poetry: Artistic and Ideological Study). Amman: Usama House for Publishing and Distribution.
