Sublime Love in M. Mezyed’s Eros Sings in My Memory: A Critical Study

Abstract

This critical study deals with the Sublime Love in Munir Mezyed's Collectoin: Eros Sings in My Memory (ESMM) (2014) through 'metaphors of Love' employed. It starts with 'the Sublime' in terms of Longinus; and then traces it throughout the poet's 'created' mythopoeia which, from the outset, blends the Classic 'Eros', and the 'Oriental gods of Creation' together; out of such a 'blending', a 'New Eros' presides over the Ex Nihilo Pre-Creation 'Chaos'. To achieve its aim, the study excavates how 'metaphors' of Love are accommodated to the poet's final message in denying contemporary violence and incongruities from meeting with his 'Habibti'. So, it embarks on I.A. Richard's view of 'Metaphor' as a starting-point before 'following-up', in ESMM, 'metaphors of Love' to pin down where the poet's mythopoeia, Sublimity of Love and the relevant metaphors run side by side. Thus, the Study lists the Semantic domains the metaphors of Love 'derive' from in order to have a panoramic view of the wide perspective of the metaphors used. The Study, also, detects radical changes the poet makes in adapting the sources to his mythopoeia; also it tries to unearth deep layers of meanings and techniques- innate in the ESMM mythopoeia- that are deliberately concealed by the poet as he abides by the requirements of (the Sublime), both in theory and practice! The conclusion is that the 'New Eros' whose role is revealed through the 'metaphors of Love', is in a position to embody that both the 'Sublimity' (in thought, in the use of figures and in diction), on the one hand, and the 'Love' felt by Eros/the Lover, on the other hand, brilliantly enough, go in an unnoticed way, and with an unprecedented passion for the 'Beloved' in person. Also, the study concludes that the New Eros extends similar passion for all 'Humanity' through fostering a radical human thinking aspiring for the 'Oneness' of all peoples under the slogan of 'Eros/Love' that repudiates any 'Clash of Civilization'. Hence, 'the Sublime Love' has got a social function unraveling a 'down-to-earth' purpose behind the poet's use of the related metaphors in a mythopoeia framework.