Green Sana ’ a and the Yemeni Landscape: Environmental Poetics of Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh

Ecocriticism investigates the link between literature and the natural world. It has received scant attention in the Arabic literary tradition, notably in the Yemeni canon. Using ecocriticism and environmental poetics, this article analyses selected modern Yemeni poetry of Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh and assesses the extent to which an ecological link exists between the persona and the geography of his homeland, Yemen. The findings suggest a duality of visualisations that contribute to the poet ’ s environmental vision. The first vision is tangible, evidenced by his transfer from his birthplace to Cairo. The second is emotional that evokes contemporary sensitivity to ecology and sustainability, environmental challenges, and the links between nature and culture that have become obvious in current literary studies worldwide. His exile experience prompts the depiction of his deep environmental ties to Yemen. It is reflected in the various facets of Sana ’ a ’ s green environment, which reflect the ardent hope of numerous people whose physical, mental, and


Introduction
Literature has progressively raised environmental concerns regarding the link between artistic practices and nature in the twentieth century.These provide a chance to conduct an ecocritical analysis of literary works that deal with nature.According to Mohsen, H.and Hashim, R. S., ecocritical theory is the most significant advancement in literary studies globally.It discusses the relationship between literature and the surrounding environment.It is, however, still in its infancy in the Arabic literary setting and appears to be little known in Yemeni literature.
Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh (1937-) is a pioneering figure in Yemeni literature.He is arguably the first Yemeni poet to describe man's relationship with the earth.He embraces the land as the primary source of inspiration for his literary work and uses varied depictions of Yemeni lands to further his political goals.His poetry exemplifies his green and environmental sensibilities and his close relationship with the land of his native Yemen.As Sana'a, Yemen's capital, is addressed and clothed as an environmental symbol in the poet's green imagery throughout his poetry, this essay will examine his environmental poetics from the perspective of ecocriticism.It uses an ecocritical lens to examine the poet's environmental poetic vision as expressed in his selected poems.

Al-Maqaleh and the Yemeni landscape
Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh was born in the hamlet of Al-Maqaleh in the Yemeni province of Ibb in 1937.The natural environment of the village is unique and lovely and is recognised as Yemen's greenest region.Its attractive setting has aroused the poet's lyrical ability, acting as a magnet for his love of the country.He lived in that lush village for six years before relocating to Sana'a.Although the period was brief, it is etched in his mind and subsequently expressed through his poetry book, The Book of the Village (2000), which demonstrates his connection to the land.
Al-Maqaleh's poetic career began in Yemen.He flourished as a writer in Egypt, where he was recognised as one of the twentieth century's most critical Arabic poets.The final dramatic stage occurred upon his return to Yemen.Al-Maqaleh is not only a poet, he is also a well-known critic.His ability is evident in his response to Albaradoni's query of "What is poetry?Poetry is considered a journey into a new universe and an endeavour to advance forward through a dream" (Abdullah 24).Numerous critical examinations have been conducted on Al-Maqaleh's poetry.However, we have chosen just the most closely linked works that highlight land and landscape as a central theme in his literary works.
Saleh Akeel Salim's study concentrates on the place's expression in the Book of Sana'a (2000).Salim's essay delves into three significant facets: emotional, intellectual, and creative representation.It chronicles the poet's experience via the emotional expression of Sana'a's discovery, which is expressed in its most lush green form.Saleh demonstrates in the first portion that the poet appears to joyfully wander over its stones, buildings, and streets, savouring its life.In the second portion, he discusses how the poet viewed the location as a philosophical picture of purity and morality and a source of inspiration for revolutionaries seeking dignity and independence.Salim depicts the location in the final segment with an artistic vision.Fundamentally, the study demonstrates that the poet uses Sana'a as a natural vehicle for conveying love, beauty, and sacrifice.
In his further research, Ahmed Al-Masonry offers insight into the poet and his efforts in criticism and many forms of poetry.Al-Masonry investigates the poet's experimentation with techniques and analyses a number of his literary works in order to determine his unique skill and creative mind.Al-Masonry's research can be categorised into two parts.The first part generally discusses the poet's creative endeavours while the second, his critical viewpoints as expressed in his debut book, Sana'a Is a Requirement (2011).Al-Masonry continues his investigation of the poet's essential ideas and is astounded by his innovations in the field of criticism and his ability to write in a variety of poetic styles.As a poet and critic, he notes that critical writing on Al-Maqaleh requires labour, time, clarity, and focus (3).Al-Masonry considers the critical viewpoints he provides to be the basic essential norms of the field of criticism. .Al-mamri further argues that Al-Maqaleh uses the city of Sana' as a metaphor in his poetry to covey his poetic prophecy.
The idiosyncratic poetics of Yemen's foremost modernist poet, as reflected in The Book of Sana'a seems metaphysical (Yair 53).The writer was surprised that many critics regarded the work merely as a tribute to his home city.However, this unique collection of poems primarily expresses Al-Maqaleh's views regarding the essence of poetic language.Using Sana'a's extraordinary cityscape and establishing a sense of magical realism, Al-Maqaleh juxtaposes two citiesthe "real" Sana'a and the "poetic" Sana'a.Yair concludes that, through the fusion of real and poetic Sana'a, Al-Maqaleh dexterously conveys his modernist notions about the demiurgic power of language and the necessity of dream vision in constructing new realities within an artistic creation.Similar conclusions are reached by Waheed Mirzabi, whose research shows that Al-Maqaleh, through his poetry, illustrates the actual situation in Yemen.The melancholy tone in Al-Maqaleh's poetry highlights the sorrowful language of the Yemeni people.
Ali Al Fahad's essay entitled "Love Speech in Al-Maqaleh Poetry" begins with a statement that love and its associated themes are necessary components of poetry.He divides Al-Maqaleh's literary work into three stages, which clarified the poet's love relationship with his surroundings.The poet's interactions with location, people, and the soul, or what is referred to as a mystical relationship, are classified in these categories.Al Fahad explains the poet's attachment to the location by citing the names of several works, including the The Book of Sana'a, The Book of the Village, and other works such as The Book of Friends and The Book of the Mother.The final one is the poet's love relationship with their soul.Al Fahad's reading of the poetry of Al-Maqaleh indicates the ambiguous connection between man and the heavens, specifically in the poet's collection The Alphabet of Souls ('abjadiat alrawh') and The Book of Love.
Nasser Allah Abbas Hameed traces the types of repetition in both the rhymed and unrhymed poetry of Al-Maqaleh.In a literary work, repeatedly uttering the same letter, word, phrase, or sound brings certainty to an idea and/or makes it memorable for the reader.Hameed studies this literary device and its role in rhythmically, inspirationally, or textually strengthening the poetic lines.In letter repetition, Al-Maqaleh's poetic and linguistic creations can "enrich his poetic texts with skilful repetition to be more brilliant and make the reader taste that brilliance" (266).Hameed's reading of Al-Maqaleh's poetry illustrates the rhythmic and lyrical style of the compositions.
The concepts of light and mystical passion in the poetry of Al-Maqaleh can be traced to three facets: the first one is the reflection of light and mystical passion; the second is the reflection of light in daily life; and the third is the reflection of light in the place and soul.Abdullah's reading of Al-Maqaleh's poetry reveals a decommissioning of the mystic world in which Al-Maqaleh tries to polish his knowledge of the natural world and substitutes it with mystical concepts that show his rejection of the real world.
Adel Bodiar conducts a notable study in which she investigates the element of heritage and its fundamental participation in enriching and verifying literary production in Al-Maqaleh's poetry.In modern Arab poetry, such employment in the artistic construction of poetry converges with the revivalist movement and the country's social and political events.Bodiar concludes that the complexity of the political situation in Yemen, namely, the autocratic rule, forces the poet to escape the present into the past.
Saleh Akeel Salim argues that place is a prominent aspect in Al-Maqaleh's different literary texts.Salim focuses on the manifestations of place in The Book of Sana'a.He pursued his studies according to sentimental, philosophical, and artistic manifestations.The study traces the experience of Al-Maqaleh through its emotional manifestations, finding the place in its best form.Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh believes that "all poetry is sincere, emotional, and sentimental, regardless of its content" (Al-Maqaleh 91).The poet's sentimental experience of the place, Sana'a city, plays a significant part in the current study.Love, passion, sadness, and nostalgia, come with wide horizontal images and styles to engulf his visionary poetic style towards the city.
The prior studies examine Al-Maqaleh's poetry from a variety of perspectives.However, several caveats should be mentioned.Despite the volume of material produced on his poems, an inadequate focus has been made on land and natural environmental studies.Until now, no attention has been paid to applying ecocritical theory as a prism to examine Al-Maqaleh's literary works.Our study builds on the concept of landscape as a promising and potential area of scrutiny in Al-Maqaleh's poetry.

Ecocriticism in the context of Arabic literature
Since 1990, ecocriticism, an interdisciplinary lens for scrutinising the relationship between literature and the environment, has grown dramatically in literary studies and criticism (Johnson 7).It has travelled beyond American and British shores to Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and beyond.For instance, in Africa, ecocriticism, as Mwangi observes, "was practised consciously in the African Academy, although expressions like 'man's struggle' with the environment are often heard in literary essays" (p.1).In India, works that apply ecocriticism to analyse texts depict various engagements with the environment complicate and extend the notion of place connectedness (Shikha,p.11).
Notable ecocritical studies have been conducted recently in East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.The edited book, East Asian Ecocriticism: A Critical Reader (2013), is an indispensable guide to East Asian ecocriticism in the last decade.Within the Latin American corpus, the ecocriticism reading of the 20 th century Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda  positions him as an "ecopoet" who couches his poetry within "the historical heritage, identity, and destiny of the Latin American people" .
However, in Arabic literature, ecocriticism remains in its infancy (Mohsen et al. p.15).It is still relatively unknown, and establishing a foothold in Arab academia is extremely valuable.Such a project is, as Sinno.N. A. remarks, "a two-way street" and requires the support of both scholars and writers interested in environmental scholarship and the existing ecocritical scholars, writers, and editors in the West (125).We further argue that ecocriticism could be appropriated in the Arabic literary context, given the strong natural environment theme in most Arabic literature.We argue that the green imprint of Arab poets can contribute to the predominantly Western studies of ecocriticism.Amongst Arab literary works, poetry plays a central role in resistance during the Western colonialism of the Arab world.This kind of resistance is depicted in several poems in which the poets engage their environment in terms of nature (Sinno 76).Most of the Arabic literary works written during the post-colonial period express the intense relationship between Arab writers and their homeland, from which they obtain the spirit and inspiration to resist the colonisers.This paper explores one Arab poet's power of words and his engagement with his environment.
Al-Maqaleh's connection to the land of birth has been manifested in two central representations that shaped the environmental perspective of the current study.As stated earlier, this analysis will be carried out in two facets.Each one will cover one manifestation of the poet's green interaction with the land as represented in the selected poems of the study.The analysis will also provide clear and relevant evidence to support the explication of environmental poetics in Al-Maqaleh's selected poetry.For specificity and accuracy, this study investigates two aspects of the poet's ecological poetics -physical and emotional -as represented in the selected poems of his collection entitled Dewan Al-Maqaleh (The Collection of Al-Maqaleh [1986]).

Physical manifestation of al-Maqaleh's environmental poetics
In the opening poem of the collection, the poet symbolically depicts his close physical and organic attachment to his homeland, as can be traced in the following lines of the poem, "la-bud min Sana'a" ("Sana'a by All Means"): "She has sprouted leaves and fruit" (Al-Maqaleh 23).These lines reveal the physical interconnections between the displaced poet and the land of his birth, symbolised in the poem by the city of Sana'a.This connection is depicted because the land is symbiotically attached to him.He presents the land in an anthropocentric view by using words such as "her wounds and sorrows," which reflects their mutual shared feelings of pain and suffering.This relationship has its essence in the poet's religious background, as is stated in the Holy Quran: "We created you from it (the earth), and we will return you to it, and we will bring you out again" (20:551).The land is represented as an iconic organ of the displaced poet.The relationship between them has grown to be a one-to-one symbiotic relationship.
Furthermore, the poet probes the symbiotic connection that has fertilised the ecology of his body to become an impregnated piece of land.The growth and fruitfulness of his homeland's livelihood and plantations are revealed in the following lines of the opening poem of the collection: Once my land becomes dry, I fed its small birds with my flesh.So my bones become naked.They could be used as firewood.
To lighten your wreckage and shambles.The poems of my blood have been reshaped.Each home and village in the desolate land has its own personality.
(Al-Maqaleh 29-30) The above lines present the manifestation of the close interrelationship between him and his motherland.It seems to be a flesh-blood relationship to the extent that the poet could implant his words on the lips of the land, feeding small birds when it is unable to do that job.He goes far behind to show his readiness to send his bare-bones as woods of fire to enlighten the damaged and darkened homes of his motherland, Sana'a.The poem entitled "Hamish" (Margin [1986]) gives a glimpse into the land.The persona leaves behind says: Soldiers do not know about the uncultivated land.
The mother no longer has an udder.
In the desert, in the woodlands, or the darkness of cities, When will our commando army come down?Your army, Ben Dhi Yazan.(Al-Maqaleh 292)4 In these lines, Al-Maqaleh calls upon the Yemeni hero, Saif bin Dhi Yazan, a historical and heroic figure in Yemen.Through this figure, an eternal myth for Yemenis to return to recalling their past is created, which compells Al-Maqaleh to write a whole diwan in the name of this immortal character ("a letter to Sayf bin Dhi Yazan" [1973]).His poetry immortalises this historical figure from Yemen and demonstrates how the land is affected by his displacement.
The verse "mother has become without udder" reveals that Al-Maqaleh uses "udder" rather than "breast" because the female, in de Beauvoir's parlance, is "more enslaved to the species than the male, her animality is more manifest" (239).De Beauvoir's depiction of the female procreative body is associated with her perception of animality.She believes that women's biology, and more precisely her role in reproduction, has been responsible for her association with side animals. 5Similarly, Kate Soper states in her article "Naturalized Woman and Feminized Nature" that trees, woodlands, hills, rivers, and streams are frequently personified as female (140).In both these conceptions, nature is allegorised as either a powerful maternal force, the womb of human production, or as a site of sexual enticement and ultimate seduction.Nature is both the abundant source and the potential spouse of science, to be wooed, won, and, if necessary, forced to submit to intercourse.
In another poem entitled "Ta'liq" (A comment [1986]), the persona expresses his symbiotic attachment to the land by declaring: Oh, my land.You are my flesh and blood.

On my lips and in my eyes
A rhythm of pain.(Al-Maqaleh 291) This sketch of the persona's spirit and emotional state reveals that he is at his best in life when he is close to his land.The expression "the spirit of the land" demonstrates the power and type of connection embodied between them.It transmits the limits of space and time.The effect of the land covers his person in its entirety.He becomes an iconic symbol of the distant land's spirit, vision, and voice.Within Al-Maqaleh's own life, the lines above echo the exiled poet's spiritual, biological, and emotional supplement to the land he left behind.
Picking up on the theme of exile, the poet draws out the emotions shared by the displaced people and their land when he states in the poem 'Hita'am' (Concluding [1986]): "You filled our plains and mountains with mourning and poetry.Therefore what did you grow?"The persona appears to address the land by apostrophising it as "you".Land, to expand the earlier discussion, is a source of scrutiny and livelihood for human beings.These lines reveal the persona's suffering and pain, symbolised by "thorns and cactus".As a result, the cactus is not only a symbol of steadfastness and perseverance in this context, but also of pain and suffering.The land is filled with "mourning."It does exhibit a sense of resilience through the growth of cactus, which is a resilient plant that is highly adaptive to the hot climate.The persona goes on elaborating the aspects of the connection between them, as can be seen in the extracts of the following poem entitled "Buka'iyah" (mourning [1986]), in which he states: Yesterday he was here.
Loving the Land and its Rocks Its raindrops are revered.He carried my image and name.I know him and his secrets.And today, after my return, I could not find my identity.
There is not even a shadow of my voice.
(Al-Maqaleh 371) In these lines, the poet reveals the intimate relationship between humans and the land.Although human relations are significant, as seen in the poem above, a person's existence is primarily seen in his ability to "connect" with the "land," the "rocks," and "raindrops." A similar theme of man's relationship to the land is seen in the poem entitled "Mawajeed Mughtrib" (the Expatriate's Affections [1986]), in which the persona declares: "My eyes gaze at yours / wondering when you're gonna get me back / to kiss your soil and sew from your trees my shroud" (Al-Maqaleh 456).The persona relates to the land of Sana'a and yearns to "kiss" his homeland and be part of it again, as seen in the line "sew from your trees my shroud."In addition, the poet employs the two eyes as a representation of physical appearance and makes use of his eyes in a close and polite conversation.Through personification, the poet humanises the natural world of Yemen with eyes that have the power to get him back.In the same poem, the persona carries on building such a symbiotic attachment to the land: "Oh, I yearn for my land, the home of my life and my funeral / of my days and tomorrows / of my worshipping religion / of my prayers of body and soul" (Al-Maqaleh 458).The land becomes an extension of the persona's identity as it represents his "home," his "life," his place of "worship," and his place of death.
Similarly, the theme of the interconnection between man and the land is seen in the poem "Al Fanar Al Waheed" (The Only Pathway [1986]) when the persona declares the symbiotic existence with the vegetation of the land: "Your stems are rooted in my eyes / in my heart / and in my bleeding veins / Oh, I miss them..." (460).The stems of the trees of the land, from which he was displaced, symbolise the physical environment of a healthy, wealthy, and worthy man when he is closely associated with the land.The exact aspect of his homeland emphasises the material interconnections of human corporeality with the land.Furthermore, by referring to his heart and "bleeding veins," and lamenting, "Oh, I miss them," the persona reinforces the sense of displacement that he and others like him feel, as he is nostalgic for a homeland he will never know again.The poem thus reveals a perceived symbolic interconnection between the poet and Sana'a, the land of his youth and adult life.This kind of connection is central to the recent trends in ecocriticism.

Poignancy and the environmental poetics of al-Maqaleh
The theme of separation from the land's colours is the tone of Al-Maqaleh's poetry.In the poem "The Exile" (al-Ghurbah [1986]), the persona attempts to capture the "strange" sadness of exile: "My sadness of exile is strange / without face and tongue / without eyes, hands, and heart / However, it flows in my eyes and blood" (Al-Maqaleh 235).Likewise, in the poem entitled "The Echo and Voice" (a'sawt waa a'sada [1986]), the persona laments the personal consequences of being "homeless": "A twenty-year sleepless person is I/My eyes are dead/dark and painful/Voiceless and mouthless crying;/My voice died within my depths/The winds around me built/My dreams of home" .Despite his exile, the nostalgia of the persona's experience forces him to utter a firm promise to reach Sana'a, as seen in the opening lines of the poem "La Bud min Sana'a" (Sana'a by All Means [1986]): "One day, Fate sang in our exile,/Despite the long travel, I will see you,/Our love and nostalgia resounding around us/Sana'a by all means!" (Al-Maqaleh 23).Through the poem, the persona bemoans his motherland, Sana'a, which signifies the tone of nostalgia felt by the Yemeni who has been living in exile: The poignant tone of Al-Maqaleh's poetry is seen in another poem titled "emotion" (Shajn).The persona describes his soul as "a bird falling down/On the sad rainy night/No wind to hear or darkness to see" (Al-Maqaleh 132).
Nostalgia and environmentally-oriented feelings in the form of hopes and wishes for exile can be read in this poem in which the persona wishes for the impossible: "I wish I were the road on which they rode up the hills; I wish I were the rock behind them to defend; I wish I were pieces of bread to be eaten; drops of water to be drunken; clouds of the sky to fall on them" (Al-Maqaleh 28).The aspects of the Yemeni landscape, such as roads, rocks, water, and clouds, are part of the land and are elements of nature that the persona wishes to be a part of to embody.Al-Maqaleh appears to signal the desire to be a part of that source from which all his environmental poetics flow and spring.A similar theme of nostalgia is evident in the poem entitled "al Sha'aer al Shaheed" (The Martyred Poet [1986]), in which the persona recollects his memories of his homeland while in exile: When you were in Exile Your gloomy memories were there.Mourning On the top of the city's hills And once she saw me, She and the place lamented: Is he really dead?(Al-Maqaleh 65) The personified land which laments the persona's demise again reiterates the theme of man and land discussed in the previous section.Al-Maqaleh appears to echo the nostalgia of the Yemenis in exile and the land of Yemen as it laments the removal of its people from their land.
The poignancy in Al-Maqaleh's poetry is also reflected in the way the persona of his poems perceives the land of his birth.In the poem entitled "The Fact" (al-haqeeqa [1986]), the persona declares: I looked for her in the light of the day; In the heart of the place, She (the poet's homeland) seemed to be far As far as the stars She disappeared again.And I returned as I was.Nostalgic and displaced, I felt my age starting.
Although my return to her seemed so far away.
(Al-Maqaleh 82) The words "look for," "appear," "far away," "disappear," and "distance" are collocations for sight or lack of it.This sense of loss leads the persona to look for some form of attachment through the limits of time and place.Although he continues to hope for a return to his land, his sense of loss and uncertainty is echoed in the last couplet: "I felt my age starting/though my returning to her seems so far."The nostalgic theme of loss regarding the land can also be seen in the poem "See You" (Ela-lika [1986]).In the poem, the persona bemoans the experience of being "separated" from his land, as symbolised by the "port" and "beach": "See you!/When were you separated?Your eyes disappeared at the end of the horizon/I could not find a path for my eyes/neither in the port nor on the beach/I felt I was deeply drowned" (Al-Maqaleh 215).Through these poems and many other similarly themed ones in the anthology, Al-Maqaleh depicts the overall environmental connection experienced by the persona, albeit in exile.
The theme of nostalgia in exile is repeated in other poems in the anthology as well.In "I Found Her" (wajataha [1986]), the persona addresses the lost landscape of Sana'a through environmental motifs: "I sailed in your eyes and found/The light of the daytime./Iwashed in the rain of your love/burned the wood of your past/Then, I found the path I looked for/I found your pathway." .The poet seems optimistic due to the wireless connection provided by the environmental elements of his homeland.He is on a nostalgic journey through the green landscape of Sana'a.The atmosphere looks sunny, not dark.This light helps the poet find the targeted link in exile.He is also washed by the rain of his homeland, which clarifies his green vision of being connected.

Conclusion
The examination of selected poems by Yemeni poet Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh indicates an ecological connection between him and the Yemeni terrain.Additionally, it illuminates the poet's environmental worldview and his exploitation of the human-landscape duality to advance his political ambitions.Al-Maqaleh builds his ecocritical viewpoint on land on two major environmental features as expressed in the selected poems.The first is the physical aspect, which is exemplified by his relocation from his native area to the host city of Cairo.The other is the nostalgic aspect, which manifests itself in the poet's perpetual yearning for the nation he left behind.
Furthermore, by highlighting the commemoration of the abandoned country and the effects of migration in our analysis of the poems, we argue that Al-Maqaleh's poetry is not simply about refugee displacement but about a new literary and ecological horizon in which the landscape is indispensable to these refugees.This geographic relocation renews the landscape's environmental force and influence on the poet's bodily and emotional state throughout exile.Thus, the poet's forced removal from his hometown reaffirms his ecological ties to his native environment.
Additionally, the poems analysed in this study exemplify the current sensitivity towards ecology and sustainability, environmental concerns, and the intersection of nature and culture that has become more apparent in contemporary literary studies worldwide, particularly those focusing on the landscape.Additionally, the representation of his intimate environmental ties with Yemen is prompted by his exile.This statement is shown by the numerous facets of Sana'a's green landscapes, representing the sincere hope of many people whose physical, mental, and emotional perspectives have been decreased or lost due to their departure from their motherlands.This aspect of the environmental view strengthens the relationship and urges us to grasp the poet's sense of nostalgia and the nostalgic feeling of his ecological perspective, which recalls a Yemeni landscape from afar.The exiled poet's green vision of homesickness reveals the green emotional link between self and place, illuminating Al-Maqaleh's interplay of human-environment relationships.The recall parts of the poet's natal landscape and the feelings of displacement demonstrate the poet's close environmental ties to the Sana'a region.In his poetry, this ecological relationship between the poet and the Yemeni terrain transcends the boundaries of geography, time, vision, and sense.