The tragic sense in Andalusian poetry

Abstract

Anyone who reads Andalusian poetry and listens to it with a sensitive ear, receiving the nuances of its poets' emotions and feelings with a keen appreciation of its beauty, understands that the source of this poetry was not always those stable souls that deeply resonated with what this land had known throughout various periods of its history before the end of the fourth Islamic century. Its scenes were not just of joys and celebrations staged in the courts of princes and kings, nor merely the gatherings and gardens of Al-Andalus overflowing with splendor. Rather, during these periods, there were also factors that served as sources of wounds and pains that inflamed and ignited souls with their fiery sparks. Examining closely the challenging circumstances faced by the Andalusian poet at that time, we find that the roots of these sorrows and their causes were mostly connected to political factors. Whether involving personalities who engaged in poetry and ventured into political life, intertwined with its flame, or relating to other figures whose association with poetry was more indirect, their places in literary life overflowed with roles appreciated by their readers. However, they were not exempted from the perplexing political situations they found themselves in, either by choice or lack of sympathy, aligning with any of the disputants in its arena, either as a devotee or with political empathy.