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First Year
Literature
What is Poetry ?
1. Poetry is a form of literary art which uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of
language to evoke meanings.
Types of Poetry
1. Descriptive poetry is the name given to a class of literature that belongs mainly
to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. From the earliest times, all poetry
not objectively lyrical was apt to indulge in ornament which might be named
descriptive.
2. Reflective Poetry contain some explicit or implicit generalisation about life, by
the poet. Simply put, it is a mere reflection of the state of mind of the poet put
forth in a poetic manner
3. Narrative poetry gives a verbal representation, in verse, of a sequence
of connected events, it propels characters through a plot. It is always told
by a narrator. Narrative poems might tell of a love story
(like Tennyson's Maud), the story of a father and son
(like Wordsworth's Michael) or the deeds of a hero or heroine (like Walter
Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel).
4. A lyric Poetry is a comparatively short, non-narrative poem in which a single
speaker presents a state of mind or an emotional state. Lyric poetry retains some
of the elements of song which is said to be its origin: For Greek writers the lyric
was a song accompanied by the lyre.

Subcategories of the lyric are, for example elegy, ode, sonnet and dramatic
monologue and most occasional poetry:

Poetic Devices :
1. Rhyme: This is the one device most commonly associated with poetry by the
general public. Words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings
sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it, are said
to rhyme. Example: time, slime, mime

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2. Rhythm is the pattern of stresses within a line of verse. All spoken word has a
rhythm formed by stressed and unstressed syllables
3. Alliteration: Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near
each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines. A somewhat looser definition is
that it is the use of the same consonant in any part of adjacent words. Example:
fast and furious Example: Peter and Andrew patted the pony at Ascot
4. Assonance: Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on
the same or adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are accented, or
stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that are unaccented. Example: He‘s a
bruisin‘ loser
5. Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each verse or line
in poetry. In other words, it is the structure the end words of a verse or line that a
poet needs to create when writing a poem.
6. Irony: A contradictory statement or situation to reveal a reality different from
what appears to be true. Example: Wow, thanks for expensive gift...let‘s see: did
it come with a Fun Meal or the Burger King equivalent?
7. Paradox: A statement in which a seeming contradiction may reveal an
unexpected truth. Example: The hurrier I go the behinder I get.
8. Personification: Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object,
animal, or abstract idea. Example: The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.
9. Simile: A direct comparison of two unlike things using ―like‖ or ―as.‖ Example:
He‘s as dumb as an ox. Example: Her eyes are like comets.
10. Imagery: The use of vivid language to generate ideas and/or evoke mental
images, not only of the visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well
Examples: • Sight: Smoke mysteriously puffed out from the clown‘s ears.
• Sound: Tom placed his ear tightly against the wall; he could hear a faint but
distinct thump thump thump.
• Touch: The burlap wall covering scraped against the little boy‘s cheek.
• Taste: A salty tear ran across onto her lips.
• Smell: Cinnamon! That‘s what wafted into his nostrils

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11. Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is
the other or does the action of the other. Example: He‘s a zero. Example: Her
fingers danced across the keyboard

"Cargoes" by John Masefield

General Meaning:
The poet describes the various cargoes that have been carried by ships in three
different ages.
Detailed Meaning:
The poet begins by describing two of the biggest and most beautiful ships. The first is
"quinquireme" that came from Nineveh: Capital city of the ancient empire of Assyria.
Nineveh was on the east bank of the Tigris River in present-day Iraq. It is described as
being land of gold "Ophir". "Quinquireme" transported ivory, sandalwood, and
cedarwood, it also carried strange animals, fine woods as well as sweet wine.
The second ship is a "stately Spanish galleon" with its cargoes of precious stones; gems,
spices, and gold coins that enriched the lives of the royalty and the nobility. Both
mentioned ships are pictured to move in bright sun shine.
Whereas the third one "British coaster" is quite different. It belongs to modern times and
is small and dirty. It is on a short journey across the English channel in bad weather. Its
cargoes are cheap and useful; commercial steamships with coal and wood to heat the
homes of the masses or to fire the furnaces of factories, manufacturing the tools and
other products of a technically advanced civilization. They also carried materials to
construct railroads for the transport of goods on land.

The poet's intention:

The poet wants to say that what ships carry reflects the culture, government, lifestyle,
and technology of civilizations over the centuries. He wants to show us the differences
between the past and the present. In the past, the goods were beautiful, rare and
comparatively useless; whereas, in the present the goods are ugly, common and useful.

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The description of three different kinds of ships implies that modern times are less
beautiful than former times.

Sound devices; Use of Alliteration

Alliteration occurs frequently to enhance the appeal of the poem to the ear. The most
obvious examples of this figure of speech include the following:
Line 1:....Quinquireme
Line 2:....home to haven
Line 5:....Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine
Line 6:....Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus
Line 11...Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack
Line 12...Mad March
Line 13...Cargo of Tyne coal
Line 14...Road-rails
Line 15...tin trays

Structural devices:
1. Contras
A direct comparison is made between an ancient and modern time. The ancient world
is shown as sensual, given to exotic pleasures. Its boats are propelled by human power
over modest distances. In contrast, the world of ancient time is magnificent and heroic.
Its wind-driven ships cross vast oceans and bring cargoes that are beautiful and wealthy:
gems and gold that are worth a great deal. In both stanzas, the ships are bringing their
wonderful things back home for the enjoyment of those who live there. While the
modern world is realistic and murky. It focuses on the griminess and suffocation of
modern civilization. The spray swept ship is loaded with materials designed to pollute
the earth with noise and smoke. Its cargoes to be used in various industrial processes
indicates not just more unpleasantness, but also something more poisonous and deadly.
2. Illustration:
The poem generally consists of three pictures each of which represents the poet's view
of different ages. The poet wants to show that past time is refined and gracious and
modern time is neglected.

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Imagery
The last three lines of the first two stanzas present concrete images of cargo from
distant lands—for example, ivory, peacocks, sandalwood, white wine, emeralds, and
cinnamon—that facilitate luxurious living. Lines 3-5 of the last stanza, on the other
hand, present examples of commonplace practical products from nearby locales to
maintain the mundane life of the masses.

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The General Meaning:
The poet talks about Ozymandias who was such a powerful, arrogant who oppressed
his people, but nothing of his power remains but broken statue.
The Detailed Meaning:
The poet says that he was passing and met a traveler from "an antique land" who told
him that he had seen two great "trunkless legs" made out of stones, standing in the
desert. Near them was a shattered, massive head which was partly buried in the sand.
The face of the statue reflects the character of "Ozymandias". He was an arrogant,
powerful, proud, selfish, cruel and insulting king. He oppressed his people, regardless of
their suffering. He thought he would be remembered and fear forever. The poet praises
the sculptor who was so clever artist for his ability to engrave and "mock" the features of
this "cold command" and thus, immortalize him through art.
The word "mock" implies two meanings; first it means imitate or copy the features of
the king, it also means make fun on the dreams of the king of being immortal and feared
forever.
The "pedestal" gives us a moral lesson; namely, the vanity of human wishes. The proud
kind ironically named himself "king of kings," but now he is no more than a defeated
figure. Ozymandias was a great, powerful king, yet nothing remains of him but broken
statue and around the decaying ruin of the statue, nothing remains, only the ―lone and
level sands,‖ which stretch out around it.

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The poet's intention:

The poet assures us that man is a mortal being and after death only his good deeds
remain. Inevitability of death is a fact that every human being should believe in.
Sense devices:
1. Metaphor: in the eighth line "The hand that mocked them…". The poet describes
the broken statue as well as the character of Ozymandias . The word "them"
metaphorically refers to those passions like contempt, arrogance, oppression..etc.
"The hand that mocked them" means the hands that imitated them and "the heart
that fed" is the heart of the king which used to feed on those passions.
2. Contrast: the great statue of the king is clearly contrasted to the vast and empty
desert around it.
3. Paradox: in the second line, the two contradictory words "Mighty" and "despair"
are put together
Structural devices:
Illustration: the poet illustrates the vanity of human wishes that means too high
opinion of one's body. The description of the statue of the powerful king which is no
longer but a ruin. It is a moral lesson that man should not be proud.
Sound devices:
1. Assonance: which means the repetition of vowels within the words of certain
lines of poetry like "tell" and "well"
2. Alliteration: which means the repetition of sound at frequent intervals
/t/ in "two" and "trunkless" , /s/ in "stand" and "sand" , /k/ in "cold" , "command" , /h/ in
"heart" , and "hand".
An Example of Descriptive Poetry
There's been a Death by Emily Dickinson
General Meaning

. This whole poem takes place in the course of one short day, while the speaker sits by
the window and watches the goings-on at his neighbor's house across the way. The
house itself screams death. There's no doubt about what's gone down here.

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Detailed Meaning

The neighbors come and go. The doctor confirms death and leaves. A window is thrown
open and a mattress is thrown out. Kids are curious, but also unnerved by signs of the
death. The minister makes his grand entrance and quickly takes control of everything.
It's handled. The hat maker and the undertaker are next in the series; both do their jobs.
Soon, we're told, there will be the funeral process with all the usual formalities. All of
this news is as easy to see and understand as reading a sign or having an intuition born
from small town living

Intention

Although our hearts as "broken," we sweep them up and put them away, because we
shall want to use them/it one day again --- in eternity. It takes the some stale image of
the "broken heart" and uses it in a new and interesting way.

Devices

End rhyme

Emily Dickinson employs end rhyme in this poem. An example of end rhyme in the
poem is in its very first stanza:

There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House,

As lately as Today —

I know it, by the numb look

Such Houses have — alway —

Notice that to achieve end rhyme in this stanza, Dickinson dropped the ―s‖ from the last
word of the final line of the stanza. It‘s natural to want to read this line as ―always‖.
Dropping the ‗s‖ achieves the goal of end rhyme and gives this particular stanza a
finality – just like a cadence does in a music composition.

Alliteration

An example of Alliteration in the poem is in stanza two:

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The Doctor — drives away —

The consonant ―d‖ is repeated in fast succession in this short line. Alliteration adds a
musical quality to a line as the consonants seem to effortlessly and elegantly roll of the
tongue as the poem is read.

Tone

The tone of ―There‘s been a Death in the Opposite House‖ conveys the reflective,
thoughtful thinking of the narrator of the poem. Tone is ―the poet‘s attitude toward
his/her subject or readers.‘s Literature Page -Poetic Devices & Literary Terms Use In
Poetry Analysis)

Emily Dickinson‘s attitude towards the subject and reader is one of respect and of
wanting to show readers what really occurs when there is a death in a neighborhood.
Nonetheless, she does impart one thought of negativity when she talks of the
undertaker/funeral home operator as ―Of the Appalling Trade.‖ This shows her attitude
toward this aspect of her subject

Atmosphere/Mood

The atmosphere of the poem is a touch downcast. Emily Dickinson is highlighting how a
certain pall descends on a community when of its members dies – no matter what the
age of the person. The community is experiencing a loss, and essentially, will never
really be the same. The community will move on, cognizant that one of its own is gone.
This will always be in the backs of the minds of people who in the future go by the
house of the person who died.

Simile

Simile is a comparison of two things that are unalike. An example of simile in

Dickinson‘s poem is in the second stanza third line:

A Window opens like a Pod

The poet is comparing a window to a Pod and the comparison word here is ―like‖.

An Example of Reflective Poetry

An Irish Airman Foresees his Death by W.B. Yeats .

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General Meaning

The speaker, an Irish airman fighting in World War I, declares that he knows he will die
fighting among the clouds. He says that he does not hate those he fights, nor love those
he guards.

Form

This short sixteen-line poem has a very simple structure: lines metered in iambic
tetrameter, and four grouped ―quatrains‖ of alternating rhymes:
ABABCDCDEFEFGHGH, or four repetitions of the basic ABAB scheme utilizing
different rhymes.

Detailed Meaning

The Poet's country is ―Kiltartan‘s Cross,‖ his countrymen ―Kiltartan‘s poor.‖ He

says that no outcome in the war will make their lives worse or better than before the war
began. He says that he did not decide to fight because of a law or a sense of duty, nor
because of ―public men‖ or ―cheering crowds.‖ Rather, ―a lonely impulse of delight‖
drove him to ―this tumult in the clouds.‖ He says that he weighed his life in his mind,
and found that ―The years to come seemed waste of breath, / A waste of breath the years
behind.‖

This simple poem is one of Yeats‘s most explicit statements about the First World War,
and illustrates both his active political consciousness (―Those I fight I do not hate, /
Those I guard I do not love‖) and his increasing propensity for a kind of hard-edged
mystical rapture (the airman was driven to the clouds by ―A lonely impulse of delight‖).
The poem, which, like flying, emphasizes balance, essentially enacts a kind of
accounting, whereby the airman lists every factor weighing upon his situation and his
vision of death, and rejects every possible factor he believes to be false: he does not hate
or love his enemies or his allies, his country will neither be benefited nor hurt by any
outcome of the war, he does not fight for political or moral motives but because of his

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―impulse of delight‖; his past life seems a waste, his future life seems that it would be a
waste, and his death will balance his life. Complementing this kind of tragic arithmetic
is the neatly balanced structure of the poem, with its cycles of alternating rhymes and its
clipped, stoical meter.

Intention

Yeats‘s second purpose is to explore the futility of war and the waste of human life that
results. The airman balances his past life and his future, and decides that they are equally
wasteful.

An Example of Narrative Poetry

“Lord Randal” poet unknown
Narrative poetry: poems which tell a story. They tend to be longer than other types of
poetry but it is comparatively easy to recognize the poet‘s intention.
The General Meaning: the poet tells the story of Lord Randal who is poisoned by his
beloved.
The Detailed Meaning: the poem depends on question and answer between Lord
Randal and his mother. At first his mother asks her son where he spent his time. His
answer is that he was hunting and that he is tired. He wants his bed to be prepared
because he doesn‘t feel well. Then she asks him about who prepared his dinner and what
kind of food has he had, the answer was ―his sweet heart‖ prepared boiled eels for him.
Suspected that her son might be hurt by his food, The mother asks him about his blood
hounds because they are supposed to eat the Lord‘s leftover food. He answers that they
are swelled and died. The mother concludes that her son has been poisoned. Lord Randal
agrees and assures that he is sick at heart because he is poisoned by his beloved. He is
bitterly betrayed by his Lady.
The poem is divided into stanzas, each one contains a question and an answer. The poet
repeats the question in every stanza to confirm that the mother is eager to know what is
happening to her son. We also informed that the Lord is handsome and young through
the repetition of the line ―my handsome young man‖.
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Moreover, we know that the Lord is very tired and is dying through the repeating of the
words ―would lie down‖
Questions and answers
Q1/ Do you think that the story is well told? What part does repetition play in the
telling of it?
The story in this poem is not well- told because the narrator or the poet doesn‘t provide
us enough or complete details about the incidents. The mother immediately begins
asking her son about type of his food and the person who prepared the dinner, and after
being informed that his dogs are died she concludes that he is poisoned. Through
repeating the same description of the Lord in all stanzas, we are informed that he seems
to be such a handsome, attractive man, and his mother is fearful of something that
remains mystery. The Lord also repeats the same requests and complain, he is tired and
need his bed prepared to have rest which indicates that he is not well.
Q2/ In what way is the last line meant to surprise us?
In the last stanza, the Lord suddenly acknowledges that he is sick at heart that means his
beloved has poisoned him.
Q3/ Discuss the rhythm and scheme in the poem.
The rhythm of the poem is slow so as to match the events of a dying man who seems
weak and tired.

Full Fathom Five by William Shakespeare

The Lyric: a short poem like a song which is usually the expression of a mood or a
feeling.
The General Meaning: the poet presents a song that a spirit sings to Ferdinand, the
Prince of Naples to mitigate his sorrow over his father‘s death.
The Detailed Meaning: the poem occurs in Shakespeare‘s play, The Tempest, Act I,
Scene 2. The spirit Ariel sings this song to Ferdinand, Prince of Naples, who mistakenly
thinks his father is drowned. Ariel is telling Ferdinand that his father lies full thirty feet
below the surface of the sea. His bones have been changed into piece of coral. His eyes

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have been transformed into pearls. Every part of his body that was supposed to decay
has been changed into something rich and strange, but something belonging to the sea or
connected with it. The spirit assures the prince that his father acquires a new body that is
no more related to our world. Then it adds that sea nymphs who live in the sea are
ringing his bell every hour.
Death is quite meaningful in this poem. No part of the dead body has decayed. The
bones are made of the coral, and eyes are changed into pearls. According to the poem
what happened to human body after death is subject to the idea of transformation rather
than decay and annihilation.
In this poem ―Ding-dong‖ is the example of onomatopoeia. It imitates the sound of the
bell and makes the readers feel that he is listening to the bell.
Poetic devices
Alliteration; repetition of an initial first sound in two or more words of a line in this
poem. In the first line of the poem ―full fathom five thy father lies‖ the sound ‗f‘ has
been repeated four times. It reminds us of the flow of the sea. Similarly, ―suffer a sea
change‖, ―Hark! now I hear them‖ are other examples of alliteration.
Assonance; the repetition of the vowel sounds in stressed syllables; ―five….lies‖,
―nymphs….ring‖ are the examples of assonance in this poem. All these rhetorical
devices have enhanced the musical quality of the song.
Onomatopoeia; in line eight ―Ding-dong‖ imitates the sound of the bell. It is usually the
sound of the bell which is run slowly for the death of Ferdinand‘s father. The nasal song
‗ng‘ produces lingering, vibrant effects and the harsh sound /d/ reminds us of ‗death‘.
The Poet’s Intention: the poet confirms that nothing in this world can vanish or
disappear rather, everything meets with change may that be in the form of dead or decay,
rich or strange, good or bad, positive or negative. Change is inevitable.
The Sonnet
The sonnet: a poem of fourteen lines which follows a very strict rhyme pattern. It is
usually divided into two parts: the octave (the first eight lines) and the sestet (the last six
lines). The octave and sestet are separated by a break in thought: a general statement
made in the octave is illustrated in the sestet. Sonnets are difficult because a great deal of
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meaning is conveyed in a few lines. Writers of sonnets are sometimes called

"sonneteers"
There are three main types of Sonnet
The Shakespearean sonnet: though this type of sonnet is also divided into octave and
sestet, it has a much simpler rhyme pattern. It is really a poem consisting of three stanzas
each of four lines in length (theses are called quatrains). The pattern is as follows: a-b-a-
b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f-g-g.

Miltonic sonnets: this has the same rhyme scheme as Petrarchan sonnet but differs in
one important respect: there is no break in thought between the octave and sestet. The
rhyme scheme is (a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a-c-d-e-c-d-e).

The Petrarchan sonnet: this is the strictest of the three types since only two rhymes are
permitted in the octave and not more than three in the sestet. The octave is rhymed a-b-
b-a-a-b-b-a and the sestet c-d-e-c-d-e (if three rhymes are used and c-d-c-d-c-d (if two
rhymes are used)

An Example of Sonnet
“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” by John Keats
The General Meaning: the poem represents a Petrarchan sonnet in which John Keats
wants to compare everlasting poetry of earth to the enjoyable voice of small insects.
The Detailed Meaning: this poem represents a comparison between poetry and the
voice of insects to show that both are simple and brings delight.
In the octave we have hot summer day with the birds hiding from the sun in some
cooling trees. A happy voice of grasshopper is heard moving from hedge to another. So,
the poet metaphorically compares the funny voice of this insect to the happiness of life.
It would spend its time happily, when it feels tired it would rest beneath some pleasant
weed.
In the sestet, Keats repeats his idea that the poetry of earth is never dead (metaphor)
through which he emphasizes the idea of delight and warmth it gives. This time it is
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winter evening and it is cold (a contrast to what we have in the octave), a voice of
cricket suddenly comes from the stove to spread warmth. This sound, for someone who
is drowsy, resembles the sound of the Grasshopper transferring from hedge to hedge in
the summer noon.
The poet’s intention: through giving two examples of insects, Keats wants to
immortalize the idea of poetry on earth. The poetry is the voice of the insects.
Questions and answers
Q1/ In what way does the sestet differ from the octave?
In the Octave which is eight lines of poetry, the poet talks about summer, the season of
activity and liveliness when all the creatures enjoy their time and practice their activities.
The sestet which is six lines comes after the octave. The poet talks about winter, the cold
season when activities are held, yet those simple creatures in the earth invest warm
moments to deliver happy tunes, asserting that poetry of earth never ending.
Q2/ What is the main contrast in the poem?
The main contrast in the poem is between winter and summer, between coldness and
warmth and between activity and in activity. The atmosphere in the octave differs from
the atmosphere in the sestet.
Q3/ Discuss the effectiveness of metaphors in the poem
The most important metaphor in the poem is the comparison between the poetry of the
earth and the voice of certain insects. The poet wants to say that poetry of the earth never
dies just like the voice of the insects. The poet also uses images that indicate warmth and
coldness to reinforce his intention.

Drama

Oedipus the King

The Plot
A plague has stricken Thebes. The citizens gather outside the palace of their king,
Oedipus, asking him to take action. Oedipus replies that he already sent his brother-in-
law, Creon, to the oracle at Delphi to learn how to help the city. Creon returns with a
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message from the oracle: the plague will end when the murderer of Laius, former king of
Thebes, is caught and expelled; the murderer is within the city. Oedipus questions Creon
about the murder of Laius, who was killed by thieves on his way to consult an oracle.
Only one of his fellow travelers escaped alive. Oedipus promises to solve the mystery of
Laius‘s death, vowing to curse and drive out the murderer.

Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind prophet, and asks him what he knows about the
murder. Tiresias responds cryptically, lamenting his ability to see the truth when the
truth brings nothing but pain. At first he refuses to tell Oedipus what he knows. Oedipus
curses and insults the old man, going so far as to accuse him of the murder. These taunts
provoke Tiresias into revealing that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Oedipus naturally
refuses to believe Tiresias‘s accusation. He accuses Creon and Tiresias of conspiring
against his life, and charges Tiresias with insanity. He asks why Tiresias did nothing
when Thebes suffered under a plague once before. At that time, a Sphinx held the city
captive and refused to leave until someone answered her riddle. Oedipus brags that he
alone was able to solve the puzzle. Tiresias defends his skills as a prophet, noting that
Oedipus‘s parents found him trustworthy. At this mention of his parents, Oedipus, who
grew up in the distant city of Corinth, asks how Tiresias knew his parents. But Tiresias
answers enigmatically. Then, before leaving the stage, Tiresias puts forth one last riddle,
saying that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own
children, and the son of his own wife.

After Tiresias leaves, Oedipus threatens Creon with death or exile for conspiring with
the prophet. Oedipus‘s wife, Jocasta (also the widow of King Laius), enters and asks
why the men shout at one another. Oedipus explains to Jocasta that the prophet has
charged him with Laius‘s murder, and Jocasta replies that all prophecies are false. As
proof, she notes that the Delphic oracle once told Laius he would be murdered by his
son, when in fact his son was cast out of Thebes as a baby, and Laius was murdered by a
band of thieves. Her description of Laius‘s murder, however, sounds familiar to
Oedipus, and he asks further questions. Jocasta tells him that Laius was killed at a three-
way crossroads, just before Oedipus arrived in Thebes. Oedipus, stunned, tells his wife
that he may be the one who murdered Laius. He tells Jocasta that, long ago, when he
was the prince of Corinth, he overheard someone mention at a banquet that he was not
really the son of the king and queen. He therefore traveled to the oracle of Delphi, who
did not answer him but did tell him he would murder his father and sleep with his
mother. Hearing this, Oedipus fled his home, never to return. It was then, on the journey
that would take him to Thebes, that Oedipus was confronted and harassed by a group of

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travelers, whom he killed in self-defense. This skirmish occurred at the very crossroads
where Laius was killed.

Oedipus sends for the man who survived the attack, a shepherd, in the hope that he will
not be identified as the murderer. Outside the palace, a messenger approaches Jocasta
and tells her that he has come from Corinth to inform Oedipus that his father, Polybus, is
dead, and that Corinth has asked Oedipus to come and rule there in his place. Jocasta
rejoices, convinced that Polybus‘s death from natural causes has disproved the prophecy
that Oedipus would murder his father. At Jocasta‘s summons, Oedipus comes outside,
hears the news, and rejoices with her. He now feels much more inclined to agree with
the queen in deeming prophecies worthless and viewing chance as the principle
governing the world. But while Oedipus finds great comfort in the fact that one-half of
the prophecy has been disproved, he still fears the other half—the half that claimed he
would sleep with his mother.

The messenger remarks that Oedipus need not worry, because Polybus and his wife,
Merope, are not Oedipus‘s biological parents. The messenger, a shepherd by profession,
knows firsthand that Oedipus came to Corinth as an orphan. One day long ago, he was
tending his sheep when another shepherd approached him carrying a baby, its ankles
pinned together. The messenger took the baby to the royal family of Corinth, and they
raised him as their own. That baby was Oedipus. Oedipus asks who the other shepherd
was, and the messenger answers that he was a servant of Laius.

Oedipus asks that this shepherd be brought forth to testify, but Jocasta, beginning to
suspect the truth, begs her husband not to seek more information. She runs back into the
palace. The shepherd then enters. Oedipus interrogates him, asking who gave him the
baby. The shepherd refuses to disclose anything, and Oedipus threatens him with torture.
Finally, he answers that the child came from the house of Laius. Questioned further, he
answers that the baby was in fact the child of Laius himself, and that it was Jocasta who
gave him the infant, ordering him to kill it, as it had been prophesied that the child
would kill his parents. But the shepherd pitied the child, and decided that the prophecy
could be avoided just as well if the child were to grow up in a foreign city, far from his
true parents. The shepherd therefore passed the boy on to the shepherd in Corinth.

Realizing who he is and who his parents are, Oedipus screams that he sees the truth and
flees back into the palace. The shepherd and the messenger slowly exit the stage. A
second messenger enters and describes scenes of suffering. Jocasta has hanged herself,
and Oedipus, finding her dead, has pulled the pins from her robe and stabbed out his
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own eyes. Oedipus now emerges from the palace, bleeding and begging to be exiled. He
asks Creon to send him away from Thebes and to look after his daughters, Antigone and
Ismene. Creon, covetous of royal power, is all too happy to oblige.

Main Characters

Oedipus - The protagonist of Oedipus the King and Oedipus at

Colonus. Oedipus becomes king of Thebes before the action of Oedipus the
King begins. He is renowned for his intelligence and his ability to solve riddles—
he saved the city of Thebes and was made its king by solving the riddle of the
Sphinx, the supernatural being that had held the city captive. Yet Oedipus is
stubbornly blind to the truth about himself. His name’s literal meaning (“swollen
foot”) is the clue to his identity—he was taken from the house of Laius as a baby
and left in the mountains with his feet bound together. On his way to Thebes, he
killed his biological father, not knowing who he was, and proceeded to marry
Jocasta, his biological mother.
Jocasta - Oedipus’s wife and mother, and Creon’s sister. Jocasta appears only
in the final scenes of Oedipus the King. In her first words, she attempts to make
peace between Oedipus and Creon, pleading with Oedipus not to banish Creon.
She is comforting to her husband and calmly tries to urge him to reject Tiresias’s
terrifying prophecies as false. Jocasta solves the riddle of Oedipus’s identity
before Oedipus does, and she expresses her love for her son and husband in
her desire to protect him from this knowledge.
Antigone - Child of Oedipus and Jocasta, and therefore both Oedipus’s
daughter and his sister. Antigone appears briefly at the end of Oedipus the
King, when she says goodbye to her father as Creon prepares to banish
Oedipus. She appears at greater length in Oedipus at Colonus, leading and
caring for her old, blind father in his exile. But Antigone comes into her own
in Antigone. As that play’s protagonist, she demonstrates a courage and clarity
of sight unparalleled by any other character in the three Theban plays. Whereas
other characters—Oedipus, Creon, Polynices—are reluctant to acknowledge the
consequences of their actions, Antigone is unabashed in her conviction that she
has done right.
Creon - Oedipus’s brother-in-law, Creon appears more than any other
character in the three plays combined. In him more than anyone else we see the
gradual rise and fall of one man’s power. Early in Oedipus the King, Creon
claims to have no desire for kingship. Yet, when he has the opportunity to grasp
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power at the end of that play, Creon seems quite eager. We learn in Oedipus at
Colonus that he is willing to fight with his nephews for this power, and
in Antigone Creon rules Thebes with a stubborn blindness that is similar to
Oedipus’s rule. But Creon never has our sympathy in the way Oedipus does,
because he is bossy and bureaucratic, intent on assertin

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The Power of Unwritten Law

After defeating Polynices and taking the throne of Thebes, Creon commands that
Polynices be left to rot unburied, his flesh eaten by dogs and birds, creating an
―obscenity‖ for everyone to see (Antigone, 231). Creon thinks that he is justified in his
treatment of Polynices because the latter was a traitor, an enemy of the state, and the
security of the state makes all of human life—including family life and religion—
possible. Therefore, to Creon‘s way of thinking, the good of the state comes before all
other duties and values. However, the subsequent events of the play demonstrate that
some duties are more fundamental than the state and its laws. The duty to bury the dead
is part of what it means to be human, not part of what it means to be a citizen. That is
why Polynices‘ rotting body is an ―obscenity‖ rather than a crime. Moral duties—such
as the duties owed to the dead—make up the body of unwritten law and tradition, the
law to which Antigone appeals.

The Willingness to Ignore the Truth

When Oedipus and Jocasta begin to get close to the truth about Laius‘s murder,
in Oedipus the King, Oedipus fastens onto a detail in the hope of exonerating himself.
Jocasta says that she was told that Laius was killed by ―strangers,‖ whereas Oedipus
knows that he acted alone when he killed a man in similar circumstances. This is an
extraordinary moment because it calls into question the entire truth-seeking process
Oedipus believes himself to be undertaking. Both Oedipus and Jocasta act as though the
servant‘s story, once spoken, is irrefutable history. Neither can face the possibility of
what it would mean if the servant were wrong. This is perhaps why Jocasta feels she can
tell Oedipus of the prophecy that her son would kill his father, and Oedipus can tell her
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about the similar prophecy given him by an oracle (867–875), and neither feels
compelled to remark on the coincidence; or why Oedipus can hear the story of Jocasta
binding her child‘s ankles (780–781) and not think of his own swollen feet. While the
information in these speeches is largely intended to make the audience painfully aware
of the tragic irony, it also emphasizes just how desperately Oedipus and Jocasta do not
want to speak the obvious truth: they look at the circumstances and details of everyday
life and pretend not to see them.

The Limits of Free Will

Prophecy is a central part of Oedipus the King. The play begins with Creon‘s return
from the oracle at Delphi, where he has learned that the plague will be lifted if Thebes
banishes the man who killed Laius. Tiresias prophesies the capture of one who is both
father and brother to his own children. Oedipus tells Jocasta of a prophecy he heard as a
youth, that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, and Jocasta tells Oedipus
of a similar prophecy given to Laius, that her son would grow up to kill his father.
Oedipus and Jocasta debate the extent to which prophecies should be trusted at all, and
when all of the prophecies come true, it appears that one of Sophocles‘ aims is to justify
the powers of the gods and prophets, which had recently come under attack in fifth-
century B. C. Athens.

Sophocles‘ audience would, of course, have known the story of Oedipus, which only
increases the sense of complete inevitability about how the play would end. It is difficult
to say how justly one can accuse Oedipus of being ―blind‖ or foolish when he seems to
have no choice about fulfilling the prophecy: he is sent away from Thebes as a baby and
by a remarkable coincidence saved and raised as a prince in Corinth. Hearing that he is
fated to kill his father, he flees Corinth and, by a still more remarkable coincidence, ends
up back in Thebes, now king and husband in his actual father‘s place. Oedipus seems
only to desire to flee his fate, but his fate continually catches up with him. Many people
have tried to argue that Oedipus brings about his catastrophe because of a ―tragic flaw,‖
but nobody has managed to create a consensus about what Oedipus‘s flaw actually is.
Perhaps his story is meant to show that error and disaster can happen to anyone, that
human beings are relatively powerless before fate or the gods, and that a cautious
humility is the best attitude toward life.

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Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop
and inform the text’s major themes.
Suicide

Almost every character who dies in the three Theban plays does so at his or her own
hand (or own will, as is the case in Oedipus at Colonus). Jocasta hangs herself
in Oedipus the King and Antigone hangs herself in Antigone. Eurydice and Haemon stab
themselves at the end of Antigone. Oedipus inflicts horrible violence on himself at the
end of his first play, and willingly goes to his own mysterious death at the end of his
second. Polynices and Eteocles die in battle with one another, and it could be argued that
Polynices‘ death at least is self-inflicted in that he has heard his father‘s curse and knows
that his cause is doomed. Incest motivates or indirectly brings about all of the deaths in
these plays.

Sight and Blindness

References to eyesight and vision, both literal and metaphorical, are very frequent in all
three of the Theban plays. Quite often, the image of clear vision is used as a metaphor
for knowledge and insight. In fact, this metaphor is so much a part of the Greek way of
thinking that it is almost not a metaphor at all, just as in modern English: to say ―I see
the truth‖ or ―I see the way things are‖ is a perfectly ordinary use of language. However,
the references to eyesight and insight in these plays form a meaningful pattern in
combination with the references to literal and metaphorical blindness. Oedipus is famed
for his clear-sightedness and quick comprehension, but he discovers that he has been
blind to the truth for many years, and then he blinds himself so as not to have to look on
his own children/siblings. Creon is prone to a similar blindness to the truth
in Antigone. Though blind, the aging Oedipus finally acquires a limited prophetic vision.
Tiresias is blind, yet he sees farther than others. Overall, the plays seem to say that
human beings can demonstrate remarkable powers of intellectual penetration and
insight, and that they have a great capacity for knowledge, but that even the smartest
human being is liable to error, that the human capability for knowledge is ultimately
quite limited and unreliable.

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Graves and Tombs

The plots of Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus both revolve around burials, and beliefs
about burial are important in Oedipus the King as well. Polynices is kept above ground
after his death, denied a grave, and his rotting body offends the gods, his relatives, and
ancient traditions. Antigone is entombed alive, to the horror of everyone who watches.
At the end of Oedipus the King, Oedipus cannot remain in Thebes or be buried within its
territory, because his very person is polluted and offensive to the sight of gods and men.
Nevertheless, his choice, in Oedipus at Colonus, to be buried at Colonus confers a great
and mystical gift on all of Athens, promising that nation victory over future attackers. In
Ancient Greece, traitors and people who murder their own relatives could not be buried
within their city‘s territory, but their relatives still had an obligation to bury them. As
one of the basic, inescapable duties that people owe their relatives, burials represent the
obligations that come from kinship, as well as the conflicts that can arise between one‘s
duty to family and to the city-state.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts.
Oedipus’s Swollen Foot

Oedipus gets his name, as the Corinthian messenger tells us in Oedipus the King, from
the fact that he was left in the mountains with his ankles pinned together. Jocasta
explains that Laius abandoned him in this state on a barren mountain shortly after he was
born. The injury leaves Oedipus with a vivid scar for the rest of his life. Oedipus‘s injury
symbolizes the way in which fate has marked him and set him apart. It also symbolizes
the way his movements have been confined and constrained since birth, by Apollo‘s
prophecy to Laius.

The Three-way Crossroads

In Oedipus the King, Jocasta says that Laius was slain at a place where three roads meet.
This crossroads is referred to a number of times during the play, and it symbolizes the
crucial moment, long before the events of the play, when Oedipus began to fulfill the
dreadful prophecy that he would murder his father and marry his mother. A crossroads is
a place where a choice has to be made, so crossroads usually symbolize moments where
decisions will have important consequences but where different choices are still
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possible. In Oedipus the King, the crossroads is part of the distant past, dimly
remembered, and Oedipus was not aware at the time that he was making a fateful
decision. In this play, the crossroads symbolizes fate and the awesome power of
prophecy rather than freedom and choice.

Antigone’s Entombment

Creon condemns Antigone to a horrifying fate: being walled alive inside a tomb. He
intends to leave her with just enough food so that neither he nor the citizens of Thebes
will have her blood on their hands when she finally dies. Her imprisonment in a tomb
symbolizes the fact that her loyalties and feelings lie with the dead—her brothers and
her father—rather than with the living, such as Haemon or Ismene. But her
imprisonment is also a symbol of Creon‘s lack of judgment and his affronts to the gods.
Tiresias points out that Creon commits a horrible sin by lodging a living human being
inside a grave, as he keeps a rotting body in daylight. Creon‘s actions against Antigone
and against Polynices‘ body show him attempting to invert the order of nature, defying
the gods by asserting his own control over their territories.

‫قصة المسرحية باللغة العربية‬

. ٌٞ‫ٌ ىينبرت ٍ٘ف٘مي‬ٝ‫ اىقل‬ّٜ‫ّ٘ب‬ٞ‫ اى‬ٜ‫ي‬ٞ‫ ٍِ األكة اىزَض‬ٛ

‫ (ٍؼجل‬ٚ‫ فنٕت ىَؼجل كىف‬،‫ْغت‬ٝ ٌ‫جخ ٗقل ريٗط ٗى‬ٞ‫ً٘" ٍينب ىط‬ٝ‫ مبُ اىَيل "ال‬. ‫جخ‬ٞ‫ْخ ص‬ٝ‫ ٍل‬ٜ‫خ ف‬ٞ‫رلٗه أؽلاس اىََوؽ‬
َ‫ٔ اىؼوافخ ثْج٘ءح ( وًبىءة العرافت هضخلقاة هي اإلل‬ٞ‫ؼوف ؽال ىَشنيزٔ فغبءد إى‬ٞ‫َزطيؼُ٘ ٍْٔ اىْج٘ءاد ) ى‬ٝ ّٚ‫ّ٘ب‬ٝ
ٔ‫ً٘ ىٖنٓ اىْج٘ءح ٗهؽو ىَْيىٔ ٕٗغو اٍوأر‬ٝ‫ فبّيػظ ال‬،ٍٔ‫زيٗط ٍِ أ‬ٝٗ ٓ‫قزو أثب‬ٝ ‫ْغت ٗىلا ٍ٘ف‬ٍٞ ّٔ‫ أ‬،)‫أبىللىى‬
ٚ‫ رَذ ٗالكرٖب ٗأػط‬ٚ‫ْغت صٌ ٍوح ثفؼو مّ٘ٔ ٍقَ٘ها ؽَيذ ىٗعزٔ فبّيػظ ىق٘فٔ ٍِ اىْج٘ءح ٗاّزظو ؽز‬ٝ‫ ال‬ٚ‫ؽز‬
ٔ‫ز‬ََٞ‫فَو ٍو ر‬ٝ ‫(ٕٗنا‬ ٍٔٞ‫ل ثبألغاله ٍِ قل‬ٞ‫ اىغجو ٕٗ٘ ٍق‬ٚ‫ صٌ مٕت ثٔ اىؾبهً إى‬،ٔ‫قزي‬ٝ ٚ‫اىطفو ىؾبهٍٔ ىن‬
‫َ٘د‬ٞ‫ اىغجو ى‬ٜ‫ٔ ف‬ٞ‫يق‬ٝ ُ‫َخ ا ىَظفل ثبالغاله أٗ األهعو اىَز٘هٍٔ ) ٗثلال ٍِ أ‬ٝ‫خ اىقل‬ّٞ‫ّ٘ب‬ٞ‫ ٍؼْبٕب ثبى‬ٜ‫ت اىز‬ٝ‫ثأٗك‬
.‫ ٕنا اىغجو‬ٜ‫ قبثئ ف‬ٚ‫رومٔ ىواػ‬
‫ً٘ ثأّٔ قل رقيض‬ٝ‫ ٗأػزقل ال‬،ٓ‫ب‬ٝ‫ْغجبُ ٗأػطبٌٕ أ‬ٝ‫ اىطفو ٗأفنٓ ىَيل ٍٗينخ م٘هّضخ فَٖب ال‬ٚ‫ ػي‬ٚ‫ٗىقل أشفق اىواػ‬
.‫ٍِ أثْٔ ٍِٗ اىْج٘ءح‬
‫ٔ ػالٍخ ٍِ األطفبك‬ٍٞ‫ ٗظو ىغوػ قل‬،‫بفؼب‬ٝ ‫ شت ٗأطجؼ‬ٚ‫ اىطفو ٍغ اىَيل ٗاىَينخ ٗٓ ٗ ٍؼزقل ثأٌّٖ أث٘آ ؽز‬ٚ‫ٗروث‬
‫ت ٗهؽو‬ٝ‫ٌ اثِ ٍيل م٘هّزٌ ٗاىَينخ فبّيػظ أٗك‬ٞ‫ً٘ مبُ ٍغ أطؾبثٔ فشنن٘ٓ أّٔ ى‬ٝ ‫ ٗماد‬. ‫لا‬ٞ‫ٖب ٗى‬ٞ‫ ٍيَو ف‬ٜ‫اىز‬
‫ فجٖذ‬،) ‫ٔ اىْج٘ءح ( صخقخل أباك و حخزوج هي أهل‬ٞ‫ فغبءد اى‬،‫ىٖخ‬ٟ‫و ا‬ٞ‫َزش‬ٞ‫ فوط ى‬. ‫ الٍزطالع األٍو‬ٚ‫فو ىلىف‬ٟ‫ٕ٘ ا‬
ٓ‫قزو أثب‬ٝ ُ‫ْغ٘ ٍِ أ‬ٝ ٚ‫وٌٕ أثب ٗأٍب ؽز‬ٞ‫ؼوف غ‬ٝ‫ِ ال‬ٝ‫ت ٗهؽو ػِ ثيلٓ ٗروك أث٘آ اىَيل ٗأٍٔ اىَينخ اىن‬ٝ‫أٗك‬
ٍَِ ‫غوٕب هعو ثلافيٖب هعو‬ٝ ‫ صالس شؼت ّبىػزٔ ػوثخ‬ٙ‫ٖب م‬ٞ‫ق إى‬ٝ‫ اىطو‬ٜ‫ ٗف‬. ‫جخ‬ٞ‫ ط‬ٚ‫ ٗهؽو إى‬،ٍٔ‫زيٗط أ‬ٝٗ
ٔ‫ اىؼوثخ ضوثٔ ثبىَ٘ط فزؼبهك ٍؼ‬ٜ‫ق فَب مبُ إال أُ اىوعو ف‬ٝ‫ اىطو‬ٜ‫ِ هعو ٗؽوأٍ ف‬ٞ‫ْٔ ٗث‬ٞ‫ٗشجذ ٍشبكح ث‬
. ‫جخ‬ٞ‫ ط‬ٚ‫قٔ إى‬ٝ‫ ٗٗاطو طو‬،‫ؼب‬َٞ‫قزيٌٖ ع‬ٝ ُ‫ت ٗأٍزطبع أ‬ٝ‫أٗك‬
ٍِ ‫ أٗ ٍفْنٌ ) ٍز٘ؽشخ رَأه ٍؤاه غبٍضب ٗرقزو‬ٚ‫ق ٕ٘ىخ (أث٘ اىٖ٘ه أّض‬ٝ‫جخ مبّذ رَنِ اىطو‬ٞ‫ٗقجو كف٘ىٔ ط‬
‫ أهثغ‬ٚ‫ اىظجبػ ػي‬ٜ‫ ف‬ٚ‫َش‬ٝ ٛ‫ ٍأهرٔ ّفٌ اىَؤاه ٍِ اىن‬ٚ‫ ٗػْلٍب أر‬،‫ األهع اىقواة‬ٜ‫غ ف‬ٞ‫ؼغي ػِ اىغ٘اة ٗرش‬ٝ
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‫ٗف‪ ٜ‬اىظٖو ػي‪ ٚ‬أصْبُ ٗف‪ ٚ‬اىََبء ػي‪ ٚ‬صالس؟ ٗمبُ ع٘اة أٗك‪ٝ‬ت اىشٖ‪ٞ‬و اإلَّبُ ف‪ ٜ‬اىجلا‪ٝ‬خ طفال ‪ٝ‬ؾج٘ صٌ شبثب‬
‫‪ٝ‬بفؼب ػي‪ ٚ‬قلٍ‪ ٔٞ‬صٌ ‪ٖٝ‬وً ف‪َٞ‬ش‪ ٚ‬ػي‪ ٚ‬ػظب ثغبّت قلٍ‪ٗ ٔٞ‬اّٖبهد اىٖ٘ىخ ىَؼوفزٔ ؽو اىيغي اىوٕ‪ٞ‬ت‪ٗ ،‬أىقذ ثْفَٖب‬
‫ٍٗبرذ‪ٗ ،‬فوػ اىشؼت ىوؽ‪ٞ‬يٖب ٗرقيظٌٖ ٍْٖب‪ٗ ،‬عبء اىقجو ثَ٘د ٍي‪ٞ‬نٌٖ ف‪ ٜ‬طو‪ٝ‬ق م‪ ٙ‬صالس شؼت فأفنٗا أٗك‪ٝ‬ت‬
‫ّٗظج٘ٓ ٍينب ػي‪ٗ ٌٖٞ‬ىٗع٘ٓ ٍِ أهٍيخ اىَيل اىَبثق ‪.‬‬
‫ٗثؼلٍب ر٘ى‪ ٚ‬أٗك‪ٝ‬ت ؽنٌ ط‪ٞ‬جخ أّغت ٍْٖب ‪ 4‬أٗالك ٗىل‪ٗ ِٝ‬ثْز‪ٗ ،ِٞ‬ثؼل ٍض‪ٍْ٘ ٚ‬اد ٍِ اػزالئٔ اىؼوُ ؽلس‬
‫طبػُ٘ أطبة اىؾوس ٗاىَْو ٗاٍزألد األهع ثبىغضش ٍٗبكد اىف٘ض‪ٗ ٚ‬اىلٍبه فجؼش أٗك‪ٝ‬ت ثنو‪ ُ٘ٝ‬أف٘ ىٗعزٔ‬
‫الٍزطالع ّج٘ءح كىف‪ ٚ‬ثقظ٘ص ٕنا اىطبػُ٘ فأ‪ٗ ٙ‬ثبء ‪ْٝ‬زظ ٍِ فطأ ٍب رغبٓ ا‪ٟ‬ىٖخ‪ٗ ،‬ػبك مو‪ ُ٘ٝ‬ى‪ٞ‬جيغ أٗك‪ٝ‬ت أُ‬
‫ٍجت اىطبػُ٘ ٗع٘ك قبرو اىَيل ال‪ ً٘ٝ‬ثبىَل‪ْٝ‬خ‪ ،‬فأفن أٗك‪ٝ‬ت ‪٘ٝ‬ػل ٗ‪ٝ‬زٖلك ٗ‪ٝ‬ظت ىؼْبرٔ ػي‪ ٓ ٚ‬ما اىقبرو ؽز‪ ٚ‬ى٘‬
‫مبُ ‪َٝ‬نِ ث‪ٞ‬زٔ ٗٗػل إٔو اىَل‪ْٝ‬خ ثبٍزقظبء فجو قبرو اىَيل ى‪ٞ‬ضغ ؽلا ىٖنا اىطبػُ٘ اىقبرو‪ٗ ،‬اقزوػ ػي‪ ٔٞ‬ػي‪ٞ‬خ اىقً٘‬
‫أُ ‪ٝ‬أر٘ا ثؼواف أػَ‪ ٚ‬أٍَ روٍ‪ٞ‬بً ى‪ٞ‬نشف ىٌٖ ٍِ ٕ٘ قبرو اىَيل‪ٗ ،‬ثبىفؼو أر‪ٗ ٚ‬أفن ‪ْٝ‬بقشٔ أٗك‪ٝ‬ت (ف‪ٍ ٜ‬قط٘ػخ‬
‫ّبكهح ثََوؽ‪ٞ‬خ أٗك‪ٝ‬ت ٍينب مو ؽو ف هٍي ٗإٍقبط ٍٗؼْ‪ٕٗ ٚ‬لف ) ٗ‪َٝ‬أىٔ ى‪ٞ‬ؼوف ٗىنِ اىؼواف ‪ٝ‬زٖوة ثيجبقخ‬
‫ٗممبء ٗىنْٔ ّظؾٔ أال ‪ٝ‬ظت ىؼْبرٔ ػي‪ ٚ‬اىقبرو فبرَٖٔ أٗك‪ٝ‬ت ثبىغٖو ٍٗبمبُ إال أُ قبه ىٔ أّٔ أػَ‪ ٚ‬فوك اىؼواف‬
‫أّٔ أػَ‪ ٚ‬اىجظو ٗى‪ ٌٞ‬أػَ‪ ٚ‬اىجظ‪ٞ‬وح‪ٗ ،‬رْجأ ىٔ أّٔ ػْلٍب ‪ٝ‬لهك ٍِ أثبٓ ٍِٗ أٍٔ ٍ‪ٞ‬جظو اىؾق‪ٞ‬قخ ا ىغبئجخ ٗأفجوٓ أّٔ‬
‫قبرو اىَيل ٗألُ أٗك‪ٝ‬ت كائَب ‪ٝ‬قزبه ثنمبئٔ ٗصقزٔ ثْفَٔ فَب مبُ ػي‪ ٔٞ‬إال أّٔ رظ٘ه أّٔ ‪٘ٝ‬عل ٍؤاٍوح ث‪ ِٞ‬اىؼواف‬
‫ٗث‪ ِٞ‬مو‪ ُ٘ٝ‬أؿ ىٗعزٔ فأٍو ثؾجََٖب‪.‬‬
‫ٗعبء ألٗك‪ٝ‬ت هٍ٘ه ٍِ م٘هّضخ ‪ٝ‬ؾَو ىٔ فجو ٍفوؽب ٗآفوا ٍؾيّب اىَؾيُ ٍ٘د أث‪ٗ ٔٞ‬اىَفوػ أّٔ ٍ‪ٞ‬ز٘ى‪ ٚ‬اىؼوُ‬
‫ٍِ ثؼلٓ ٗثبىطجغ أٗك‪ٝ‬ت ‪ٝ‬زنمو األٍط٘هح فقش‪ ٚ‬أُ ‪ْٝ‬فن اىغيء ا‪ٟ‬فو ٍْٖب ثؼلٍب اطَئِ ٗإَب أّٔ ىٌ ‪ٝ‬قزو أثبٓ‬
‫اىَٕ٘‪ ٚ‬فطَأّزٔ ىٗعزٔ أُ اىْج٘ءاد رننة ٗرقلع‪ ،‬فيقل عبءد ىٖب ٗىيٗعٖب ٍيل ط‪ٞ‬جخ ّفٌ اىْج٘ءح ٗروم٘ا اثٌْٖ‬
‫‪َ٘ٝ‬د ف‪ ٜ‬اىغجبه ٍِ ّج٘ءح مبمثخ فبٍزفَو اىوٍ٘ه ىَبما ‪ٝ‬ـ ش‪ ٚ‬أٗك‪ٝ‬ت ٍِ اىؼ٘كح ىن٘هّضخ فيَب أفجوٓ طَأّٔ ثأُ‬
‫اىَيل ٗاىَينخ ى‪َ٘ٞ‬ا أثبٓ ٗأٍٔ ألّٔ ٗث‪ٞ‬لٓ أفنٓ ٍِ هاػ‪ٍ ٍِ ٚ‬ل‪ْٝ‬خ ط‪ٞ‬جخ ٗأػطبٓ ىَٖب ٗى‪ٞ‬لا ألَّٖب ؽوٍب ٍِ اإلّغبة‪،‬‬
‫(أٍٔ) ّٗظبئؾٖب ٗىنِ ؽجٔ ىيَؼوفخ ٗىيؾق‪ٞ‬قخ عؼئ ‪ٝ‬أر‪ٜ‬‬ ‫فبٍزقظ‪ ٚ‬أٗك‪ٝ‬ت فجو اىواػ‪ ٚ‬هغٌ رؾن‪ٝ‬واد ىٗعزٔ‬
‫ثبىوٍ٘ه‪ٗ ،‬ىقل ؽبٗه األف‪ٞ‬و أال ‪ٝ‬قجوٓ إال أّٔ ٗثؼل ضغظ أفجوٓ أّٔ ثبىفؼو أػط‪ ٚ‬طفال ٗى‪ٞ‬لا م‪ ٙ‬قلً ٍز٘هٍخ ىوعو‬
‫ٍِ م٘هّضخ ٗىٌ ‪ْٝ‬فن مالً ال‪ ً٘ٝ‬ثأُ ‪ٝ‬قزئ ٗاٍزفَو ػِ اىطو‪ٝ‬ق اىن‪ٍ ٛ‬بد ف‪ ٔٞ‬ال‪ ً٘ٝ‬فنبُ اىطو‪ٝ‬ق م‪ ٙ‬صالس شؼت‬
‫ْٕٗب ظٖود اىؾق‪ٞ‬قخ ىقل قزو أٗك‪ٝ‬ت عبٕال أثبٓ ٗريٗط ٍِ أً ٓ ثو ٗأّغت ٍْٖب ٗاّٖبه رَبٍب‪ٗ ،‬مٕت الٍزطالع أٍو‬
‫ىٗعزٔ أٗ أٍٔ ف٘علٕب اّزؾود ؽ‪ٞ‬ش ٗعل اىؾجو ٍب ىاه ‪ٝ‬لٗه ثبىغضخ اىٖبٍلح‪ ،‬فنٕت ٍَوػب ى‪ٞ‬فل اىؾجو ٍِ أػي‪ٚ‬‬
‫ىزَقظ اىغضخ‪ ،‬فأفن كثً٘ ٍِ فَزبّٖب ػي‪ ٚ‬األهع‪ ،‬فظبه ‪ٝ‬قيغ اىَشبثل اىنٕج‪ٞ‬خ اىز‪ ٜ‬رزقنٕب اىَينخ ى‪ ْٔٝ‬ىشؼوٕب‬
‫ى‪ٞ‬لفؼٌٖ إى‪ ٚ‬ػ‪ٝ ٕ٘ٗ ْٔٞ‬ظ‪ٞ‬ؼ أّٔ ىِ ‪ٝ‬و‪ ٙ‬شقبءٓ ٗعوائَٔ صٌ ‪ٝ‬ؾلس ػ‪ ْٔٞ‬قبئال " ‪:‬صخظالى في الظلوت فال حرياى هي‬
‫ماى يجب أال حرياٍ‪ ،‬والحعرفاى هي الأريد أى أعرف بعد اليىم‪ ،‬حخً الحري الشوش الوقدصت إًضاًا دًضا فعل أمثر‬
‫الجرائن بشاعت"‪ٗ ،‬ف‪ٍ٘ ٜ‬قف ٍؤصو ٍبىذ اىلٍبء ػي‪ ٚ‬ىؾ‪ٞ‬زٔ اىج‪ٞ‬ضب ء ٗثييذ ٗعٖٔ ٕٗ٘ ‪ٝ‬يؼِ ٍ٘ء ؽظٔ ٗعٖئ اىقبرو‬
‫ّٗف‪ّ ٚ‬فَٔ ٍِ األهع ؽز‪ْٝ ٚ‬زٖ‪ ٚ‬اى٘ثبء‪ٗ ،‬ػبُ طو‪ٝ‬لا ٍِ األهع ٗاىََبء ‪.‬‬
‫اىؾق‪ٞ‬قخ اىز‪ّ ٜٕ ٜ‬قطخ رؾ٘ه ف‪ ٜ‬ؽ‪ٞ‬بح اىشبة أٗك‪ٝ‬جً٘ اىن‪ ٛ‬قبه " ‪:‬واحضرحاٍ‪ ..‬واحضرحاٍ‪ ..‬لقد أصخباى مل شي ‪ ..‬أيها‬
‫الضىء لعلي أراك اآلى للورٍ األخيرة ‪ ..‬لقد أ صبح الٌاس جويعا يعلوىى ‪ ..‬لقد ماى هحظىرا أى أولد لوي ولدث لَ ‪..‬‬
‫وأى أحيا هع هي أحيا هعَ‪..‬وقد قخلج هي لن يني لي أى أقخلَ ‪".‬‬
‫ثؼل ٕنا اىَشٖل اىَفغغ ‪ٝ‬طيت أٗك‪ٝ‬ت ٍِ طل‪ٝ‬قخ مو‪ ُ٘ٝ‬أُ ‪ٝ‬ؼزْ‪ ٜ‬ثجْز‪ٞ‬خ ثؼل أُ ‪ْٝ‬ف‪ ،ٚ‬مَب طيت ٍْٔ أُ ر٘ضغ اىَينخ‬
‫ف‪ ٜ‬قجو ٍْبٍت ٗف‪ ٜ‬األف‪ٞ‬و ‪ٝ‬طيت ٍِ طل‪ٝ‬قخ أُ ‪ٝ‬قنفخ ثؼ‪ٞ‬لا ؽ‪ٞ‬ش ال‪ٝ‬وآ أؽل ثؼل اى‪. ً٘ٞ‬‬

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