Many images of sea, sea waves and ships is repeated in al-Jahili poetry; sometimes,
such images are formulated partially in one single line of verse or as a quick flicker, if not
such those detailed or circumlocutory images; other times, they occur
as comprehensive
images that embody the poet's collective literary experience, upon which textual symbols
are structured in the form of oppositional or substitutive functions and suggestions.
This piece of research concludes that such maritime images take place in three
contexts: either in the howdahs' or riding camels journeys in which the image of the shiphowdah
or ship-camel appears; or, in love poetry, in which the image of the pearl woman
appears. Or, they may occur while disclosing the poetical self when highly indulged in
rhetoric, semantics and oration, not to mention vainglory, generosity and hospitality
speeches.
In brief, this research attempts to explain the relationship of such images to the
structure of the al-Jahili poem, the poetical self, the human temperament, and his
psychological and cultural horizons.
This paper seeks to present a conception of the sea and its effective role in the
contemporary Syrian short story through a study of the works of a number of short story
tellers who travelled at sea in search for mysteries of life to gain an unders
tanding of the
universe and explore the suffering of coastal residents. This conception is manifested in the
short story writings by Abul Kader Rabe'a, Muhsen Yousef, Muhammad Smeer Jua'ra and
others.
The sea in the short story represents human concerns and the interdependent
relationship between man and the sea. Each writer in his own way moves as a result of
suffering from the private concerns to the national concerns. This is the center of Muhsen
Yousef's stories through a heroic resistance and bitter struggles with the powers of evil
aliened with internal powers that have attempted to control the nation's coasts. The Arab
resistant triumphs over the powers of evil in a heroic epic and forces the powers to
withdraw in defeat.