Poetic imagination among Arabs

In his book, "Poetic Imagination Among the Arabs," the great poet Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi presents an in-depth literary study of the role of imagination in shaping the Arab poetic conscience from the pre-Islamic era to later eras. He begins by reviewing the emergence of imagination in early human thought and how humans relied on it to understand the purposes and symbols of life, before concluding with Arab myths that were built on imagination as a pillar for constructing their stories and events. Al-Shabbi believes that imagination is the eternal treasure that provides literature and language with life and youth, for without it, creativity cannot exist. The book addresses nature in Arab poetic imagination, revealing the presence of women as a fundamental element in poets' images and imagination, before shedding light on the Arab spirit that brought together different types of imagination into a single unit. It is a literary and critical work that combines philosophical analysis and poetic vision, revealing the depth of Al-Shabbi's thought and his belief that imagination is the eternal force of Arabic literature.

أبو القاسم الشابي (1909–1934م) شاعر تونسي رومانسي، عُرف بلقبه «شاعر الخضراء». من أبرز قصائده «إرادة الحياة» التي أصبحت رمزًا للأمل والثورة، وديوانه «أغاني الحياة».