Using Symbols and Icons in Poems of Ali Al-Fazani (A Libyan Contemporary Poet)

During the 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, due to political and social factors as well as the tyranny and censorship prevailing in the Libyan society, Libyan poets turned to icons to express their emotions and ideas. Ali Al-Fazani, a Libyan iconist poet, used symbols and icons to show his viewpoints and ideas regarding social and political issues. These symbols are categorized in five different groups including religious (Jesus Christ, Joseph, and Cain), traditional (Sindbad, and Shahrzad, the story teller), mythical (Sizief), heroic (Che Guara), and natural. In Al-Fazani’s poems, Jesus Christ is the symbol of pain and self-sacrifice, Joseph is the sign of resistance and self persistence towards chastity, Cain is the symbol of insolence and insurrection, Sizief is the icon of human pain and inability to opposed power, Shahrzad is the sign of knowledge and love, Sindbad is the icon of travel and ambition, and Che Guara is the icon of revolutionary warrior. The study of this symbolic language shows Al-Fazani’s low desire to apply positive symbols which are associated with hope. Instead, the dominance often belongs to linguistic elements that have negative connotations. The renowned symbolic meanings are sometimes avoided, and the poet resorts to de-familiarization of symbols. In this study, we have analyzed all the signs and symbols in Al-Fazani’s collection of poems according to a descriptive-analytical approach.