The Use of Nature in Egyptian Poetry

In his poem Song of Songs, Michael V. Fox describes a warrior who worships the woman whom he adores, using natural elements in order to express his love towards her. So, he expresses his love towards her, comparing her hair with one kingdom, the forehead with a flight of flowers, the head with a forest, the breasts with a swarm of white bees, the thigh with a crowd of horses, the legs with trees, the head is a casket, the head with one warrior, the lips with satraps in scarlet and the feet upon the ankles with flowers in silver vases. One can state that nature is a useful element for the Egyptians to express love such as human, spiritual, civic and artistic  towards their beloved ones, due to the fact that they make use of it and it has plenty of elements to enumerate. The above-mentioned ones, such as kingdom, flight of flowers, forest, swarm of bees, crowd of horses, trees, casket and satraps are pertaining to their environment and due to their plethora of issues, it makes for him a good occasion to relate it with love, to make use of it to express his good state towards the beloved one. On the other hand, nature is a propitious element to express a variety of types of love, amongst which can be sentenced: human, spiritual, civic and artistic.

                   In what concerns why they made use of these natural elements to express love, one can state that this issue is possible due to the plentiful, great number of elements pertaining to this class. Not only because of its geographical position, but also because of its rivers, forests and deserts, they found in these a good opportunity to worship the beloved. On the other hand, one can affirm that they used them because of their durability, because about rivers, forests and deserts one can say that these last forever. Their continuous transformations, in case such exist, confer them a good occasion to make use of  to express love in their poems. It can be said that these elements last forever and never die. Another element which is important in dealing with this topic is that the above mentioned ones proved to be useful for them in sundry situations such as blocking of river floods and construction of pyramids. It can be affirmed that there is a strong relationship between their environment  with its great number of pertaining elements and the expressing of love  in their poems and above all, the author is a reflective character or an intermediary between these two entities. He solely observes the transformations of the two.

                Thirdly, these natural elements were important to them because on a first level they made use of them. Rivers, such as Nil, were important to them because these proved of a paramount aspect in the development of agricultural issues bringing financial benefits to this country. Not only rivers, deserts and their forests proved important for them, but also there is an issue of good luck for the Egyptians which relies on the geographical position of this region. These above-mentioned aspects mingled with the one of geographical position and the transformations which these are pertained to has created for them a good occasion to make use of in order to worship the loving person. Due to these, that nature brings them financial benefits and they make use of it in the most, has given them an occasion to pursue it in their poems as a sign of gratitude and respect  towards nature. As a conclusion, this respect is mutual, headed towards nature and the loved ones.

             On the other hand, one can affirm that the use of nature is relevant when discussing about love because it proved for them a token of prosperity and richfullness; not only being a token of luck, but also of its position, they were diligent and conspicuous to make use of these characteristics in order to obtain a reliable outcome. This is like a rolling ball which proved in turn beneficial for all the citizens of this country.  It brought and brings to them not only financial gain but also means to improve and develop other ideas; this is because these elements transform perpetually and last forever. It can be affirmed that they rely on it, being an important element which assures the development of their country, not only financially but also in what regards issues such as infrastructure. Nature can be considered for them as the basis of development of other elements in different areas. Maybe they can be gratified for this fact because they made use of it and its subsequent transformations. As far as I am concerned, for these above mentioned reasons, they find in it a means to express love towards their fellows.  It might be considered a respect given not only to nature but to their fellows too. This is why the use of nature is relevant in depicting love in their poems.

            In what concerns the fact if the use of nature is accurate in expressing emotions and ideas, the answer can be yes, but not quite so. For this people, this use is a solely means to rely upon and apart from bringing them benefits, they felt the need to use it in their poems to depict love and worship their ones. Maybe it was expected to be so, because there were not other elements or probably there were few to rely upon. At a glance, nature appeared for them to be the only one to be considered in their poems. Nature with its elements such as deserts and forests was for them an opportunity to gratify the beloved ones and they needed to compare parts of the body with some natural elements.

           As one can see, the poet depicts him in the position to venerate her, comparing parts of her body with natural elements, in order to show his respect and gratitude towards her and nature too. That is why, the use of nature is accurate in describing emotions and ideas in their poems such as joyfulness, happiness and gratitude. The respect is mutual, not only from her towards him, but from him towards her too; the poet is in his turn according respect towards nature and these two characters, being a reflective person in all this scenario. One can state that nature for the Egyptians is a paramount element to rely upon in depicting love in their poems.

Works cited: A major contribution to Song of Songs Scholarship, Sasson M. Jack, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill