Elements of modernism in al-Sayyab’s second phase of artistic creation

Abstract EN

The present study attempts to investigate some of the poems that appeared in Badr Shakir al- Sayyab’s second phase in a modernist mode.

The research follows a number of poems that the Iraqi poet produced after the Second World War.

The study focuses on three elements in modernism proposed by Childs (2000): myth, symbolism, and war.

The current article shows that Al-Sayyab incorporates political issues with his personal experiences in a symbolic manner.

The study shows that in this period of his writing, the Iraqi poet uses old Iraqi myths to depict his origins.

In the case of symbolism, the article concludes that al-Sayyab’s usage of symbols in these poems was because of the impasse of the political changes in Iraq and his fear from the authorities.

The use of war pictures in al- Sayyab’s poetry makes him one of the war poets at that time, who aimed to depict war in a negative sense.