Symbolic use of animals in Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati’s poems

Introduction: Some critics believe that Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati was the only poet with poetic innovations. After Badr Shakir al-Sayyab passed away prematurely and Nazik al-Malaika resorted to ancient poetry forms, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati, who believed in innovation, did his best to utilize innovative poetic devices (Abuahmad, 1991). Moreover, he was superior to the other two poets in terms of the extensive use of symbols and their various meanings and functions (Abd Awda, 2006). He enriched his poems by resorting to his extensive knowledge of Arabic and world literature. He utilized different symbols, especially animals, to express many political, social, and emotional concepts in his poems. Given that he was a fighting, revolutionary and freedom-loving poet, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati exploited symbols to talk about revolution-related subjects, e.g. love for revolution and perseverance to gain victory. He used animals to entitle some of his elegies. Thus, it seems that he has transformed animal-based symbols into one of the main branches of symbolism.
The present paper aims to study the use of animals in Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati’s poems. The primary objective is exploring the poet’s motivation in using various animal-related symbols in his poems. The following are the research questions:

How are animal-related symbols connected to the themes of Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati’s poems?
How have animals been used in creating images by the poet?

Literature review: Numerous books, theses and papers have been written based on al- Abd al-Wahhab Bayati’s poems. For instance, “Symbolization in the poetry of al-Abd al-Wahhab Bayati” is the title of a thesis completed by Hassan Abd Awda in 2006. Also, the book entitled “al-Abd al-Wahhab Bayati, his life and poetry: a critical study” by Nahedah Fawzi (2004) is about al-Bayati’s poetry. In this book, the author explores various poetic schools (including symbolism) in al-Bayati’s poets. Moreover, two of the papers written about al-Bayati’s poetry include “Obsessed with alienation and travel” written by Nahedah Fawzi (2010) and “Outstanding myths in Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati’s poetry” authored by Ali Najafi Iwaki (2010). To date, no substantial research has been published about the symbolic use of animals in al-Bayati’s poems. There are only a few reports that have superficially examined symbolism in his poetry.
 
Symbolic use of animals in al-Bayati’s poetry: Since Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati spent a considerable part of his life in exile or on trip, homesickness became a dominant theme in his poems. To express this emotion, he has used animal symbols like pigeon and chamois, which are always on the move. His symbols do not always refer to the same thing. In fact, sometimes the same symbol is used in different places to refer to totally opposite issues, indicating the poet’s distress. Utilizing different, and sometimes opposite, symbols has given a lot of variety to his poetic images. One of the most important reasons for symbolic use of animals in his poetic images is stimulating audience’s feelings with bitter humor. In some cases, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati takes advantage of different symbols in various forms, which apparently are not related to each other. Nonetheless, when the referents of these symbols are discovered and interpreted in light of the poetic context, clear cohesion is drawn between the used symbols. For example, in the elegy entitled “al-Qurban”, which was composed for Pablo Neruda, the Chilean revolutionary and freedom-loving poet, three symbols, namely butterfly, chamois and gazelle, are simultaneously and frequently used to express the zeal for freedom. One of the special symbols used by Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati is deer, which connotes a mystic code known as Aisha. His objective in using this symbol is to draw an analogy between the oppression of this code and that of a deer hunted by the predator. He introduces deer as the symbol for his superb love, i.e. mystic love. He claims that, like mystics, he has found this deer hunted by the predator in his poetic discovery and intuition.
Conclusion: Various and frequent symbolic use of animals in al-Bayati’s poetry has linked his poems to everyday life. Through artistic illustration, he has turned social unrest into tangible issues. He has selected particular animals to express any kind of pain or sorrow. Wolves and hyenas embody the cruelty of the wicked. Displaced pigeons and sparrows represent the oppression of defenseless people. The innocent deer in the desert symbolize his legendary love for a dream called Aisha. The frequent symbolic use of animals in al-Baati’s poetry (approximately 90 species of animals’ names have been used 900 times in his poems) has given meaning and variety to his works and made his poems sound like the surrounding environment.