Statement of the Problem and Objective: Following the Renaissance—the transition from Aristotelian philosophy to modern philosophy—contemporary literature also underwent profound transformations in both form and content. Influenced by emerging intellectual and philosophical movements, modern literature sought to move beyond imitation and to explore the hidden truths and inner essence of reality. Schools such as Classicism, Modernism, Symbolism, Romanticism, and Surrealism all emerged as responses to the need for renewed modes of thought and artistic expression. Among these, Surrealism stands apart by redefining concepts such as reason, intellect, life, and truth, striving to uncover the mysteries and inner realities of existence. This artistic and literary movement, which developed in twentieth-century Europe between the two World Wars as an extension of Dadaism, aimed to liberate thought from dependence and constraint, searching for meaning at the “zero point” of consciousness—the origin of all causes free from external interference. Surrealism, through the powerful instrument of imagination, seeks a return to human metacognition, using linguistic techniques such as repetition, norm-breaking, creation of ambiguity, unfamiliar imagery, and spontaneous or automatic composition to perceive the world from a supra-realistic perspective. Thinkers such as Hegel, Plato, and Freud, and movements including Symbolism, Imagism, and particularly Futurism, contributed to the rise and early formation of Surrealism. Central to this movement is an emphasis on imagination and the creative force of the unconscious, asserting that genuine art emerges not from conscious rationality but from the dominance of imagination guided by the subconscious. The twentieth-century poet Ilya Abu Madi exemplifies these principles in his renowned ode Al-Talāsim. This study aims to analyze how the fundamental ideas of Surrealism manifest in the diction, imagery, and semantic structure of this poem.
Methodology: This research employs a descriptive-analytical approach, drawing upon library sources and close textual reading. It explores the foundations of Surrealism in the works of poets such as Ilya Abu Madi—poets who hold a philosophical outlook on life, attach great value to imagination and the unconscious, and often employ spontaneous or automatic mental composition. The study identifies surrealistic imagery in Al-Talāsim through distinctive lexical and conceptual combinations characterized by automatic writing, pervasive imagination, and linguistic as well as conceptual ambiguities that arise from the depths of the subconscious. These features are analyzed and interpreted through textual description and analysis to reveal the underlying surrealistic mechanisms of the poem.
Discussion and Analysis: In the works of many modern poets, a freedom-oriented intellectual tendency can be observed, influenced by dominant philosophical and literary movements of specific historical periods. These movements, rooted in earlier intellectual traditions, share a rejection of imitation and a determination to dismantle rigid structures that confine human thought. The manifestation of such thought in poetry takes various forms and techniques, whose recognition requires deep reflection on literary content and structure. Al-Talāsim, part of Abu Madi’s collection Al-Jadāwil, abounds in cryptic expressions and symbolic word combinations, posing philosophical and imaginative questions about existence and the meaning of life. In its opening verses, the poet evokes unknown and mysterious phenomena that guide the mind toward surreal imagery and thought. Through the use of repetition, unconscious composition, disruption of causal logic, self-alienation and self-forgetfulness, and the creation of unfamiliar and ambiguous atmospheres, Abu Madi offers a new aesthetic grounded in mental and psychological concepts. Unlike traditional poets, he seeks to convey meaning through inner rhythm and musicality, engaging the reader’s mind in the discovery of multiple layers of interpretation and abstraction.
Findings: The findings indicate that Al-Talāsim is rich in unconventional linguistic relationships and semantic structures. By breaking the logical conventions of language, Abu Madi conveys ideas of rebellion and irrationality through paradoxical and unfamiliar imagery marked by temporal disjunction. Surrealist thought appears with considerable frequency throughout the poem. However, the complete realization of Surrealist principles—namely, establishing a direct cause-and-effect relationship in a realm beyond material reality—remains unattainable due to the inherent limits of human reason. Nonetheless, Surrealist art, relying on the immense imaginative capacity of the human mind, strives to uncover causes that transcend reality—an artistic and imaginative endeavor that satisfies the creative thirst of the modern, supra-real consciousness. Through his ingenious questioning of existential mysteries, his mastery of free imagination, his defiance of convention, and his creation of novel word associations, Ilya Abu Madi succeeds in crafting a distinctive and at times paradoxical poetic language. Words emerging from the unconscious, semantic and verbal transgression, repetition and self-forgetfulness, ambiguous and dreamlike spaces, illogical juxtapositions, and the interplay of contradictions all attest to the dominance of dream and surrealist vision within Al-Talāsim.