Folk Songs and How ʾAmal Dunqul Uses Them in His Poetry

Abstract

This study deals with the use of folk songs in two poems by the Egyptian poet ʾAmal Dunqul (1940-1983), ʾiJāza ʿlā Shāṭiʾ al-Baḥr (A Seaside Vacation) and the Al-ḥidād Yalīqu bi Qaṭr Al-nadā (A Mourning Becomes Qaṭr Al-nadā), The study reveals the cultural heritage and references from which ʾAmal Dunqul draws in his poetry. It further examines the reasons and motives that prompted the poet to employ these sources. The study shows that ʾAmal Dunqul, who came from the village, reveals his unfamiliarity with city life and the various psychological, social and political shocks it inflicts on him. He sees that the poet’s life in the city is full of anxieties and is very black; he sees that he is suffering living there. Dunqul compares his status to that of others. He feels attuned to the spirit of the nation, and he believes that he belongs to it. He uses Egyptian folk songs and reflects on their content to criticize the prevailing political, social and economic conditions. Since he dreams of a more beautiful future, he believes that poetry should be a voice of opposition and resistance to the state of reality. Poetry, for him, expresses the rejection of the humiliation heaped upon us. Dunqul leverages his cultural heritage to increase peoples’ national identity. He quotes Egyptian folk songs and roundelays, including them in his poetry after changing their context to decry the country’s political and moral corruption, and the loss of Egypt’s firm and moral political leadership. His poems express his sadness and grief because of the political and moral corruption on the one hand, and the infirmity of presidents on the other.