Young and Old Age in the Poetry of Andalusia: A Psychological Objective Study

Abstract

The paper aimed to understand the images of both the young and the old in the poetry of Andalusia. It aimed to study the poetry that tackled this topic, analyzing it objectively and psychologically. It showed that each stage has its own features that distinguish it from the other stage from the physical, psychological, and social perspectives. The poetry of the young has a lot of optimistic incentives that make a person open to life, fond of it trying to achieve what is aspired for of hopes and anticipations. On the other hand poetry of the old is full of complaints, expressing what a person suffers in this stage of physical, psychological, and social complaints. For this reason, we find poets comparing these two stages favoring young age over the old and hoping that days would go back so that they would relive young age for ever. The hardest difficulties that poets complained of were their body weaknesses, inability to work, their being rejected by women due to weakness and old age, in addition to their fear of the approaching death. Their poetry showed their attempt to come close to God, their reflection upon their past and their censuring themselves for the short comes, warning of their approaching end, and using grey hair as a device to prevent themselves from doing whatever is inappropriate for this age, calling upon themselves to repent and plead to Allah for forgiveness.