ADUNIS AND THE NEW POETRY 233which the poet experiences in his civilization, in his nation and inside him-
self:It therefore issues from a metaphysical sensibility which feels things in a
revelatory manner suitable to their essence and true nature for these cannot
be apprehended by reason and logic but by imagination and dreams. From
this point of view New Poetry is the metaphysics of human existence (p. 10).Not even the romantics whose view of poetry was serious enough made
such large claims for poetry as these. Because of its metaphysical preoccupa-
tions New Poetry dismisses what is purely accidental, and rises above realism,
which in Adunis's words brings poetry closer to ordinary prose in which
'words are used in their familiar sense' and is therefore contrary to the func-
tion of true poetry which 'empties words of their old and opaque weight and
charges them with a new and unaccustomed significance'. Adunis deplores
the limitations of most modern Arabic poetry which attempts to do no more
than express the personal feelings or psychological problems of the poet,
whereas the New poet aims at expressing feelings which are at once subjec-
tive and objective, personal and universal (pp. 12—13).
Because it is 'a vision and a revelation' New. Poetry is 'obscure, hesitant
and illogical. It is therefore inevitable that it rises above formal requirements
because it needs greater freedom, greater mystery and prophecy' (p. 15). The
music of New Poetry arises not from 'a harmony between external parts and
formal patterns', as we find in traditional metres, but from 'an inner har-
mony'. 'The poet is not a person who has something to express but the one
'who creates his things in a new way' (p. 19). If New Poetry goes beyond
phenomena and is an immediate apprehension of inner truth, words must
be deflected from their ordinary sense which can only lead to a familiar com-
mon vision: in New Poetry language is 'made to say what it has not been
taught to say', and in this case poetry becomes a rebellion against language.
New Poetry is 'a kind of magic'. New Poetry reveals our modern life, in its
absurdity and dislocation: hence the absence of logical sequence and com-
parisons, the occurrence of apparently pointless imagery, the merging of
images and symbols into one another. 'The truth is that it is not necessary to
fully understand poetry in order to enjoy it' (p. 24).
These statements amply illustrate the profound influence of modern
French poetry and thinking about poetry on Adunis, but they do not bring
out clearly enough the full extent of his passionate concern for the cause of
contemporary Arab society and culture. The social and cultural implications
of his New Poetry, and of his views on poetry — which we may remind our-
selves were regarded as applicable to the whole movement of New Poetry