The Symbolism of Grief and Complaint in the Elegiac Poets of the Umayyad Era

(A Semiotic Study)

Abstract

This study examines the symbolism of grief and lamentation in Umayyad elegiac poetry from a semiotic perspective, seeking to reveal the semantic, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions embodied in the signs and symbols of elegiac discourse. The study proceeds from the premise that elegy in the Umayyad period was not merely a direct expression of sorrow and mourning for the deceased; rather, it constituted a system of signs through which experiences of loss and absence were transformed into a poetic structure rich in meaning. The study examines selected poetic models representing the diversity of the elegiac experience, particularly the elegies of Jarir, Layla al-Akhyaliyya’s elegy for Tawba ibn al-Humayyir, and Malik ibn al-Rayb’s self-elegy.

The first section focuses on the symbolism of grief and its manifestations through the analysis of tears, departure, the grave, night, place, and memory as signs that express loss and symbolically restore the presence of the deceased in the poet’s memory. It also examines Jarir’s elegies for his wife Khalida and for al-Farazdaq, highlighting the movement of grief from the individual to the collective level and the transformation of the deceased into a symbol of social and cultural values through images such as the “pillar” and the “tongue.” The second section addresses the symbolism of lamentation and its mechanisms, examining vocative expressions, questions, wishes, exclamations, estrangement, absence, the grave, the sword, and the spear as signs of helplessness, loneliness, and separation. The study particularly demonstrates that Malik ibn al-Rayb’s self-elegy represents a distinctive model in which estrangement, nostalgia, fear of death, and memories of family and homeland intersect.

The study concludes that grief in Umayyad elegiac poetry develops from an internal psychological state into an interconnected network of poetic signs that collectively construct meaning. Lamentation functions as a discourse through which the poet attempts to resist the absence and silence imposed by death. The study also demonstrates that place, tears, the grave, departure, time, the sword, and the spear perform symbolic functions that extend beyond their literal meanings.