International Journal of Language & Literature

The Principle of Pleasure as a Compensation for Existential Alienation. A Reading in Ṭarafa’s Poem (MuʻAllaqa) and Prufrock by the English Poet T.S. Eliot.
Dr. Mohammad Hamad, Dr. Salah Mahajna

Abstract
In spite of differences that characterize the nations, in terms of time and place, there remain humanitarian orientations that affect the behavior and views, in similar life situations. The Arab poet who lived in the pre- Islamic period, versus the English poet who lived in the 20th century, is dissimilar in life style, Thinking and styles of using the language. However, despite this great discrepancy, it would be possible to say, that they have things in common, like a lineation and rejection of society, feeling of stress, and repulsion existing between individual and community. This article assumes that the poetic ego of the two situations: the Arabic pre- Islamic and the modern English, have adopted the principle of pleasure to compensate the psychological alienation, and the feeling of seclusion and repulsion. It attempts to reconcile with itself, instead of disintegration with the external reality. Our question in this article: To what extent, in the Arabic and English situations, the poetic ego succeeded in creating reconciliation with the self, through the principle of pleasure? And what are the components of the special pleasure in each situation?

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijll.v7n1a1