Myth and Popular Heritage in Walid Seif Poetry

This research discusses the myth and folklore in the poetry of Walid Seif sheding light on the legendary and folkloric symbols employed by waleed Seif in his three Divans: Poems in the Conquest Era, Tattoo on the Arm of Khadra, and Epic of the Palestinians as well as his two poems: The Search for Abdallah Albarii and Relove. Concerning the folklore, I made brief description on: folkloric proverb, tale, song; customs and habits, costumes as well as folkloric words. Then I studied their employment in Waleed Seif’s poetry where I extracted the poetic samples that contained these symbols then I analyzed and connected them with the original folkloric texts and showed the intentions of Waleed Seif’s employment of these symbols. I did the same with the folkloric symbols clarifying the reason behind using them by Waleed Seif. Some of these symbols include: The Symbols of Ishtar, The Legendary of the Phoenix, Azurees, and the Bride of the Sea. I, then, moved to the artistic aspect where I tracked the consequences of employing the folklore and the myth on the structure of the Waleed’s poems focusing on language, rhythm, dramatic structure, art image, repetition, and ellipsis. Finally, my research came to the following conclusions: The inspiration of the folklore and the myth in Waleed’s writings is neither haphazard or superficial; on the contrary, it reflects a high level of knowledge in various fields. As such, each word written by Waleed has its effects and in many cases, it carries many meanings. His usage for the folklore is not a mere habit or a decoration for his poems. However, this employment is used insightfully. Moreover, Waleed Seif’s poetry represents a Palestinian folkloric document which exhibits a lot of folkloric traditions and customs rarely found in our modern times and may have been perished.