Salah Abdel Sabour 1931 1981 Biography Salah Abdel-Sabour is indeed a pioneer of the modern Arabic poetry.

. He was Egypt's pioneer of the taf'ila, a poetic method central to the "free poetry" movement of the late 1940s and 1950s, in which the poet applies traditional rhymed metres to lines of indeterminate length instead of filling the predetermined metric grid of a canonical poem. Together with Badr Shaker Assayab & Nazek Al Malaika in Iraq, Abdel Moti Hegazy in Egypt and other Arab poets, they laid the foundation of a new school of Arabic poetry. They formulated their own experience in new authentic, creative patterns. Although this trend remained modernist all through, it maintained an intimate attitude towards national heritage original Arabic taste. Born in May 1931, Salah Abdel-Sabour showed an interest in literature in his early life. He started writing verses at the age of 13. As a secondary school student, he showed a noticeable interest in languages, literature and politics. He also took part in demonstrations against British occupation, and in 1949 he was arrested at the age of 18. Abdel-Sabour obtained a B.A. in Arabic Language from Cairo University in 1951. In his early youth, In his early youth, he tried to find, for literature, a new significance beyond rhetoric eloquent expression, attempting to approach other realms of arts such as music and painting. He co-edited "Al Thaqafa" (Culture) magazine, until January 1953, where he wrote several poems and short stories. In 1954, Abdel-Sabour had his poem Melancholy published in Al-Adab (Letters) magazine. In 1957, his first collection of poems People in my Country was published, shooting the poet into fame. In 1961, his second collection "I am saying to you" was published, and his third "Dreams of an Ancient Knight" in 1964. According to most of his critics, including those in disagreement with him, these poems reached highest peaks never achieved by modern poetry. Abdel Sabours poetic diction has several sources, some of which

were derived from sophism, the Holy Quran, the Bible as well as philosophical, historical or folkloric origins. Abdel-Sabour's literature was not confined to poetry, but extended to poetic drama. Within a period of ten years, he had five poetic plays published. The first was The Tragedy of Al-Hallaj (1965), for which he was granted the State Incentive Award for Theatre in 1966. In addition to poetry and poetic drama, the great poet also practiced critical writing. In literary studies, he tackled many intellectual and art issues in a broad human context. He paid special attention to contemporary Egyptian thought. He also contributed in writing critical essays for Rosa Al-Youssef and Sabah El-Kheir Magazines and Al-Ahram newspaper. Abdel Sabour was a follower of the free art which viewed art as an expression of unbridled imaginativeness and true, vehement emotions, within a highly romantic context. He believed that genuine poetry could be written only through absolute self-communion; he remained faithful to his own principles all his life until his death on August 14, 1981. A Journey into the Night Salah Abdel-Sabour was T. S. Eliot's closest counterpart in the history of Arabic literature. Like Eliot, his initial departure from the poetic canon was conditioned by a yearning for architecture that compelled him, in time, to seek out a classicism of his own. His work, which revolved around the definition of poetry as "the sound of a human being speaking," invariably communicated an image of existential despair as he juggled feelings of defeat, death, disillusion and dissolution. Abdel Sabour was influenced by poet critic Elliott. This influence is clear in Abdel Sabour's poem "Journey into the Night" which is composed a collection of psychological images which form the poem as a whole. The poem consists of six sections each with an independent title. This architectural structure is reminiscent of Eliot's "The Waste Land".

Also reminiscent of Eliot's "The Waste Land", is Abdel Sabour's use of cinematic presentation of the poem using the method of "montage" to compile footage single uncorrelated scenes into a unified entity. However, Abdel Sabour's poem does not mimic Eliot's "The Waste Land", but takes the formation of technical sections, and expresses its own haunting concerns, cultural heritage and different local material. It reflects the feelings of alienation and loss the Arab world suffered as a result of the political, social, economic and cultural conditions fostered by long colonization followed by the 1948 war. It draws prominent pictures attesting to the alienation of the Arab people who were destructed by disasters and oppression. It also reflects a sadness stemming from the poet's estrangement and loss. The first section of the poem, titled "Sea of Lamentation" is addressed to the poet's "girl friend". His use of this word girlfriend is in part a rebellion against the usual words used in traditional poetry to describe women such as: darling, my beloved, and my love & in part a reflection of the need for a new form of man - woman relation characterized by shared humanity, realistic warmth, and common responsibility towards each other & life. Friendship here includes Love in the sense common to traditional Arabic poetry & more; true friendship of heart and mind, common approach & shared life. The poet describes the night to his girl friend as a night of isolation & estrangement: For Abdel Sabour, the night signifies darkness, misery, worries and hollow solace. Through the night, the poet reflects the triviality of things and powerlessness to dispel that permanently renewed restlessness

 , " - "" " " ." ". "" "." " The suffering of the night is a sense of inevitable end pronounced by the expression of farewell, synonymous with alienation and death. The group of friends, who were playing chess, break up their get-together with a promise to meet the next day to finish the game. The game of chess is a game of life and death where killing the king is no longer a game but an imaginary compensation for their estrangement & loss. Thus, the best of them is proud that he is a dangerous player. The end of the chess game with the death of the King symbolizing the death of the day. Thus, the estranged poet remains alone & indifferent to the voices of the strangers in the street, even if the theme of their conversation is women & wine in winter nights "" "" ".... " .

Thus, Abdel-Sabour turns the night into a symbol of alienation and loss. Even desired pleasures, such as women and wine, only bring hollow laughter that evaporate as quickly as dreams. The dialogue between friends as they leave for the night, the game of chess and the three strangers in the street accurately reflect this estrangement. The poet's adoption of the narrative construction through his poem enriches the image with a "plot" becoming an element in the movement and eventual completion of the unified entity of the poem. This is clear in the second section A Small Song. One manifestation of Abdel Sabour's poetry is his use of the "symbolic image", which plays an active role in A Journey into the Night. The most distinguishing element of symbolic image is its simple vocabulary that integrates into the poetic structure beyond reality yet suggesting it at the same time. The second section A Small Song portrays two images of contradictory symbols reflecting the reality of class distinction, the poor class is deprived of their humanity, and the rich authoritarian class lives on the blood of the weak. The little sad story stresses loss & sadness then its end with the poet's declaration of his sadness to his girl friend foreshadows the third section; Mountain Trip. This section symbolizes Abdel Sabour's fear of dying before accomplishing his dream. It reveals the

terrorized misgivings of the poet, making the unknown visitor a masked villain. His face is that of an owl inviting us to our inevitable fate; death associated with darkness. Thus, all potential for joy is eliminated, taking away even the joy of anticipating a picnic on the mountain, smelling mountain breeze & celebrating life in purity. Abdel Sabour uses theatrical art tradition in image-building through a dialogue between Sinbad & his friends in the fourth section "Sinbad". Folklore left a clear impact on Abdel Sabour's poetry, especially tales of "One Thousand and One Nights," from which he derived the character of "Sinbad". Abdel Sabour was the first to use the symbol of Sinbad in contemporary Arabic poetry. In Journey into the Night he says: )( : Sinbad here is not that hero driven to explore the sea, he is the poet telling his friends the tale of Sindbad the Sailor hoping to move them to rebel and break free from restrictions. They display a weakness & powerlessness & do nothing. Sinbad couldn't inspire them with desire for change. This is a reference to vanquished reality that prefers stability and consistency. People find it sufficient to hear about the heroes and characters without wanting to simulate or be influenced by them. Abdel Sabour used the journey of Sinbad as an objective correlative to the poet's journey towards artistic creation which he imagines as a

journey through the unknown to discover new facts of self and life. Sinbad embodies a journey to find the shining vibrant word. The poet and/ or Sinbad cannot stop looking for adventure and creativity , Creativity is the realization of his existence , and if Sinbad stopped seeking adventure, he dies Abdel Sabour starts to weave a new legend from that of the Sinbad's legend consistent with his aspiration for a new dawn where hope is regenerated again, for when creativity is fulfill as such, it becomes the new birth of the creator and the repeated regeneration of life itself . This is the value around which revolves the fifth section, Second Birth. It implies a return of hope with the return of dawn ending the night that so tormented the poet. Here, the poet celebrates the presence of life with loud rituals full of laughter & happiness of renewed fertile nature. Seas, give up their shells & pearls, clouds rain, women give birth, children play, & lovers stroll along the river. The section ends with the narrator again reminding his friend of the mountain trip she promised him in their last meeting like a nostalgic stroll back to freedom . The sixth & final section "Forever" breaks this nostalgia by a reminder of death that comes back with the game of chess, with the death of the sheep, and the absence of the day, and return to loneliness, and then we come back to the beginning of the journey; to finish the game the next day and the day after tomorrow and the day after it. The friends will go on meeting forever to finish the game of chess. " " ."" " " " " . The meaning of destiny is stressed by this conclusion, with the eternal repetition of the cycle of life and death or a succession of day and night. The chess becomes a game of destiny

which is not governed by a man who becomes some a part of the game, not even knowing how it'll end. Thus, stops at its eternity & becomes a tool in its phases which are repeated endlessly. Therefore, one cannot contemplate this conclusion to the poem without remembering its images: " " " " " . It is a journey that is repeated like a game of chess that is repeated till the end of existence.