Dissecting the Elegy for a Woman of No Importance in Revolt Against the Sun The Selected Poetry of Nāzik al-Malā’ikah, tr. Emily Drumsta
On Elegy and Women’s Poetry
Malā’ikah’s themes of darkness, night, pain, death, and suffering bridges the interests of British and Arab Romantics with gendered elements present in pre-modern Arabic women’s poetry; association of women to elegy (rithā) is arguably the most significant, an element dating way back to the pre-Islamic (Jāhiliyyah) Period.
Explanations for historical association of women to elegy in Arabic poetry speculated by scholars include rituals where noblewomen were allowed to deliver speeches after the passing of kinsmen in pre-Islamic tribal society.
Marlé Hammond however argues that the association was due to how women’s elegy succeeded in the aesthetic realm throughout the history of pre-modern Arabic literature where elegy was beyond functional or served more than mirroring the representations of their kinsmen.
In her work ‘Beyond Elegy: Classical Arabic Women’s Poetry in Context’, Hammond argues that Arab women’s classical poetry does not essentially differ from that of men’s. Rather, women’s literary expression in elegy represents a choice that suits sexual and cultural identities.
On the Elegy for a Woman of No Importance
While elegies are usually written for renowned individuals, Malā’ikah wrote about an overlooked woman who was not mourned for. Through the use of elegy as medium for conveying themes of human value, the working class and the struggle to survive; this speaks volumes on the importance of voice for those neglected in works of “high-art”, and / or culturally significant genres.
A genre that once served as means of noblewomen acknowledging kinsmen had now been used for a woman acknowledging another regardless of the latter being “of no importance” signals to the shift in sociocultural and gender narrative.
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