“Kéramos” and "Along the Nile": An Aesthetic Reading of Egyptian Heritage

Document Type : Original Article

Author

English Department, Cairo Higher Institute for Languages, Simultaneous Interpretation and Administrative Science, Egypt

Abstract

This descriptive and analytical study attempts to explore the representation of Egypt in two nineteenth century American poems: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s (1807-1882) “Kéramos” (1877) and Henry Abbey’s (1842-1911) “Along and Nile” (1885). Since the first poem includes three stanzas devoted to the depiction of the liveliness of Egypt and the second poem is wholly about the charm of the Nile, this study rereads the lines about Egypt in each poem through the lens of Aestheticism, an artistic critical approach that appeared in the late 19th century to advocate the autonomy and self-sufficiency of art as a supreme value of expressing beauty and the power of the moment away from other didactic, moral or political purposes. Methodologically, the theoretical framework of Aestheticism is introduced in terms of its epistemology, definition, basic argument and artistic perspectives. Then, the fictional world of each poem is scrutinized. The findings of analysis have shown the poets’ respective articulation of admiration for their present moments of delight emerging from their witnessing fabulous sceneries which they intellectually connect with the impressiveness of Egyptian agricultural, social, cultural, historical, religious and monumental heritage.

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