Abstract:

Ancient Arabic poetry was characterized by an artistic phenomenon called standing on the ruins, and it spread strikingly to the point that it became the kiss of the eyes of writers and critics in the fields of Arabic literature. And the Arabic poetry loaned by writers of West Africa, in which the primitive precedents emerged tall. The African poet stood over the ruins of his beloved, the remains of her homes, and wept, evoking memories from this standpoint, this work seeks to monitor the precedents of the tales contained in the poetry of this region by presenting some examples from it and to know its features, manifestations, and meanings in this poetry. And the explanation of the psychological and social reasons that the poets of the region summed up in their emotional experiences, which were reflected in their primitive introductions. The importance of this research is because it is one of the studies that help to know writers of West Africa, and the extent of their interest in Arabic language sciences, especially the art of poetry. It also reveals the extent of their mastery and their ability to compose poetry in Classical Arabic. About the research limits, the study was limited spatially to the West African region (Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Nigeria, and Gambia) and from the time perspective of the poets of the nineteenth century. I have relied in this research on the descriptive-analytical method, which aims to collect poems related to the topic of ruins in West African poetry, and then analyze them by explaining their significance and characteristics. Through the analytical reading of selected models of Arab-African poetry, this study concluded that the poetry of al-Atlal in the West African region has contained many traditional formulas inherited from the beginning of the preludes. Such as “قفوا”, “عوجوا”, “لمن الظعن”, and “لمن الطلول”, asking questions about the home, and speaking to it in the manner of calling, saluting, and others. It was found that the poets of the region, in addition to their adherence to the inherited method in the formative form represented in the initiation formulas, began to replace them with formulas of a religious nature such as the initiation with the basmalah and praise of God and then prayer and greetings to His Messenger, before embarking on the heart of the subject. They also replaced standing on ruins with real things that fit their culture and environment, such as standing on shrines and on the sea. They also left mentioning the names mentioned in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry from Suad, Hind, Mayya, Layla, etc., and replaced them with names from the women of their social environment, such as Zainab, Maryam, Eve, and others. Noticeable that the general meanings found in the al-Atlal preludes, such as mentioning standing on the house, or asking about it, or mentioning the name of the owner of the house or someone acting on his behalf, or the place of the house or the time of the parking, or the animals that left its family, or the eternity of rain and wind, or Addressing her, asking her, greeting her, or praying for her, and other different meanings mentioned by critics such as Al-Amidi are all found in West African poetry. Noted through this study that the introductions may differ in terms of the number of poetic verses, but these verses are often few. Poets make it an indispensable prelude, to reach their goals. It is also worth noting that it is not necessary that the poets of the region who sang this type of poetry have lived the experience or left them by their girlfriends, but it is an artistic tradition that has found acceptance among many poets. Evident through the study that these introductions in Arabic poetry from West Africa came to represent a response to the creative need of poets, and a reason to develop their poetic talent. It is a necessary artistic style of the poetic supplies.

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