SUFI POETRY IN SOMALI

(Chris Devlin) #1
people; the man who comes to your homestead no

longer has to struggle


(Text 19/10)
This stylistic device which involves a degree of personi-
fication lies on the fringe of what can be regarded as


imagery. Similar borderline phenomena are the personi-


fications of the letters of the Arabic alphabet in Text 5
and 22.
It may be of interest to note that in Somali secular
oral literature abstract notions (e.g. Truth, Deceit and


244.

Pride) are often personified and occur as dramatic personae


in fables.


IV

Conspectus of Images


All the images which are used In the collection of poems


presented in this thesis are given in the following table.
I have classified the images into a number of subjects, such
as the images of rain, vegetation, domestic animals etc.,
so as to give some indication as to their sources. From
this table, we can clearly see that the imagery with which


the Somali Sufi poets illuminate and embellish the Islamic


themes of their poems is predominantly taken from the Somali
environment and traditional culture.
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