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The aim of this paper is to show how the real spaces of history and war are transformed into symbolic ones by means of artistic media in the poetry collection My Rivers by Faruk Šehić. In spatial and temporal dynamics, Faruk Šehić questions the topic of wars of the 20th century - from the First and Second World War to the war in the period from 1992 to 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the poetic feeling of the world, woven into the songs of the narrative form, the lyrical subject speaks with the voice of an individual who is aware of the layers of historical experience, identifying with the figures of the lost generation and spatially fixating on three geographical points, the European rivers - Loire, Spree and Drina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Siculo-Norman king, Roger II (1095–1154), created a courtly culture that used art, architecture, and literature to reflect the symbolic and cultural values of the states that ringed the Mediterranean. An essential vehicle for Roger's cosmopolitan dialogue was the performance of court poetry that was broadly inclusive of the poetic conventions of the Latin, Greek, and Arabic-speaking worlds. Poetic performance at Palermo created an integrative dialogue of cultural valuation that crossed political as well as linguistic boundaries. While such acts of statesmanship might seem quaint to modern eyes, the potential of Siculo-Norman cosmopolitanism becomes more intriguing when we reflect on the current reality of failed states (Northern Africa), continuous conflicts (Israel), and fissured unions (EU) that ring the Mediterranean today. Roger's diplomatic use of poetry offers a refreshing alternative to the broken dialogue that exists in contemporary interstate relations in the Mediterranean. This paper illustrates that diplomatic poetic exchange has the ability to create cross-cultural commensurability in ways that modern cosmopolitan practices rooted in international law cannot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 1958, Rafael Alberti received an anonymous letter sent from a prison in Spain. In June 1959 his answer "Carta a los presos de España" ("Letter to the Prisoners in Spain") was published. A reading of these two letters, exchanged when the poet was exiled in Argentina, reveal intentions that surpass the idea of intimacy expected of this genre. This paper aims to read these letters from a wider perspective, one that takes into account both the limits to the action of the poet and poetry and also, the historical context in the 50's and the 60's, a period in which we cannot ignore the role played by intellectuals confined in Spanish prisons, the movement for amnesty for political prisoners in Spain and Portugal and the ideological tensions resulting from the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Aristotle's understanding of the contributions of perceptual and rational cognition to the composition and reception of poetry. An initial outline of Aristotle's cognitive psychology shows that Aristotelian perception is sufficiently powerful to sustain very rich, complex patterns of behaviour in human as well as non-human animals, and examines the interaction between perception (cognition of the particular and the 'that') and the distinctive capacity for reason (which makes possible cognition of the universal and the 'why') in human behaviour. The rest of the paper applies this framework to a number of problems in the Poetics: (i) If Aristotelian tekhnê is defined as a productive disposition involving reason, how can poetic tekhnê be manifested in the work of poets who work by non-rational habit or talent? (ii) Why does Aristotle believe that the pleasure taken in imitation qua imitation involves rational inference? (iii) What does Aristotle mean when he contrasts history (concerned with the particular) and poetry (concerned with the universal)? (iv) How is Aristotle's insistence on universality and rationality in the construction of poetic plots to be reconciled with his willingness to tolerate irrationalities and implausibilities? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ancient literati of China often exchanged poems they composed themselves as a sign of friendship. In this way, poetry records historical events as well as corroborates them. In the late Ming dynasty, Jesuit missionaries came to China to preach Christianity, becoming friends with scholar-officials in the process. Giulio Aleni (1582-1649), an Italian Jesuit missionary, came to Fujian Province at the end of 1624 and preached there for twenty-five y ears. He won the support and friendship of the Fujian literati, who responded to his preaching by writing poems in his honor. These poems, dedicated to him by scholar-officials in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, are compiled in Gift Poems from Fujian Literati 《閩中諸公贈詩》 . This paper investigates the reasons behind the gift poems; their historical background; their underlying messages; the effects of Christianity reflected in the poems; the interaction between the literati and Aleni; and the literati's recognition and approbation of Christianity. The study also reveals the historical context in which Aleni spread Christianity in Fujian during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between the Southern Society (Nanshe, 南社), an important literary group in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican China, and the Chinese lyrical tradition. The Southern Society should be regarded as a community united by common feelings and affections. The members' writings, especially their classic poetry, give structure to the intellectuals' feelings during a period of political turmoil. The lyricism of the Southern Society represents a specific kind of historical philosophy about Chinese modernity, and it can help us understand the literary milieu and cultural politics of a period of transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The claim of this paper is that the work of the Irish poet Brendan Kennelly offers a unique and creative exploration of some significant experiences of life in contemporary Ireland; these experiences include the effects of religious, educational and political influences on social and personal freedom and limitation, the paradoxical assumption of conservative and restrictive aims and methods by a newly established independent state, and the conflict between the private and complex experience of the individual and the publicly and historically accepted portrayal of Irish life. This aspect of Kennelly’s poetry is examined with reference to philosophical and psychoanalytic thought, and, in particular, the work of Freud and Nietzsche. Through a close reading of selected poems and prose extracts, the author asserts that Kennelly’s poetry enables an insightful analysis of concepts and experiences that are relevant and challenging to the individual in contemporary Ireland; however, the author also argues that such concepts and challenges are not exclusive to the Irish experience, but may be recognized and acknowledged across the contemporary Western world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on research on masculinities to examine poetry as a socially and culturally gendered genre. Situated in the context of the current 'crisis' around boys' underachievement in school, attention is drawn to the problematic understanding of poetry as an unsuitable genre for boys. Attention is further drawn to the way in which poetry, when offered up to boys, is often imbued with traditional and outdated definitions of masculinity. We illustrate the extent to which hegemonic versions of masculinity are implicated in discourses about poetry as an unsuitable genre for boys. This is accomplished by undertaking a critical analysis of various sources such as Odean's (1998) Great Book for Boys, and Scieszka's (2005) Guys Write for Guys Read, as well as Iggulden and Iggulden's (2006) The Dangerous Book for Boys. Historical perspectives which highlight the role of sexologists in forging an association between poetry and effeminacy are also used to illuminate the legacy associated with the treatment of poetry somehow discordant with dominant understandings about boys' developing masculinity. In this way, we provide a richer understanding of poetry and its discursive relationship to masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greek writer Michel Mitsakis (1863–1916) rapidly became known for the dynamic nature of his work, but also for his most singular behavior. His text on a village idiot and on the psychiatric hospital in Corfu are major literary works. After a first hospitalization for “dementia praecox” in 1896, after that date he hardly ever wrote in his native language. On the contrary, between 1900 and 1911, he wrote several poems in French scribbled in the margins of a volume of the Iliad, or on pieces of paper which he left on journalists’ desks. These poems are of great literary importance. The implication of the psychopathological process in Michel Mitsakis’s work is also of major interest. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]