The Influence of the Discovery of Oil on the Poetry of a Selection of Modern Blind Poets from the Gulf Region

Abstract

This Thesis looks up the dimensions of the oil age and oil impact on the works of blind poets from Arab Gulf countries with specific reference to al-Sālimī, al-Shabīb, and Ibn Ḥusayn. The Thesis covers the period from 1867 till 2014 and includes three important historical contexts that are both closely aligned to one another and crucial to the Gulf’s modern history, i.e. the pre-oil age, the onset of the oil age and the post-oil age. By dividing the scope of the Thesis into three key phases and distributing three blind poets as representatives of each phase, this Thesis will initially examine the impact of blindness on the poetic production of the selected blind poets from two perspectives: psychological and Sensory. The aim of such examination is to test and guarantee their unique ability to use imagery as efficiently as sighted poets despite being blind. After that, this Thesis will analyse the impact of the Gulf’s environment on shaping imagery in the poets’ works by adopting a semiotic methodology. In addition, it will shed light on the psychological reception of blind poets regarding the oil age and investigate its echo and signs on their work. Finally, the Thesis will adopt a historical methodology of tracing the impact of oil on the poetic style, language, content and topics of poetic production in the Gulf as of the pre-oil era, the oil era itself and the post oil era. This methodology will uncover the role that oil played in changing the Gulf’s poetry through tracing the transformations of poetic style and content during each historical phase.