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1 Introduction: The African Names of Love If the Egyptians were the inventors of the love-poem, and it is that, with their love of brightness and gaiety, they were, we may well regard it as one of their chief contributions to literature. . . . [I]t may safely be affirmed that up to the present no poet has written of love without saying many things which his Egyptian fore-runners thought and said three thousand years ago. —T. Eric Peet It is stronger than my reason, it is stronger than my soul, I am ashamed of it, but I can neither resist nor hide my disease. This is why I am telling you my deadly secret. —from “Love Defeats Queen Saran” You have beautiful flesh You have beautiful legs You have beautiful arms All of you is beautiful You have done beautiful things, you have done beautiful things, girl, you have done beautiful things —from “Encouraging a Dancer” BendingtheBowextendstheparametersofAfricanpoetryintoanareathat has hitherto been neglected and marginalized in order to afford the reader a fuller appreciation of African literature, which has been dominated by overtly political themes and texts. It constitutes an archaeological effort aimedatreclaimingandreinstatingintoAfricanliterarydiscourseapoetic genrethatisindigenoustoAfrica,havingbeeninventedinancientEgypt,a fact many Egyptologists have asserted over the years. It exposes the reader to a diverse and varied body of love poetry, an important dimension that has until now been missing from the literature. Arranged in three sections, this anthology demonstrates the development of love poetry in Africa from its origins in the anonymously written Egyptian love poems of the New Kingdom, which predate the biblical love poetry of King Solomon by over two thousand years, through the oral traditions of sung love poetry, to a showcase of modern and contemporary written love poetry in a continuum of performance that testifies to the genre’s longevity and endurance. Introduction 2 Love poetry’s earliest manifestations are in the lyrical poetry of the New Kingdom, which boasts a written tradition in hieroglyphic script. These love poems from the Eighteenth through Twentieth Dynasties of the New Kingdom (roughly from 1300 to 1100 b.c.), which predate Homer by half a millennium, vividly evoke aspects of ancient Egyptian society, documenting for us courtship practices, young lovers’ romantic trysts masked as bird-catching in the reeds along the Nile, and the penchant for feasts,festivals,andmerry-makingthatcharacterizedthatcivilization.The poetry depicts a society that prized affluence and gloried in good cheer, though we often associate it with a chronic preoccupation with death and the afterlife, owing perhaps to the popularity of the mummies. Further, the core imagery in these same love songs informs the Song of Songs, one of the world’s greatest love poems, whose central metaphors, dominant imagery, and symbols betray the poem’s derivation from African love songs and wedding songs. While these poems project a spectrum of emotions, they are first and foremost celebrations of youthful unmarried love, expressions of desire for physical union with the beloved, and optimistic projections of that love into a harmonious marital future. Though driven by an intense desire for sexualintercoursewiththeirlovedones,theloversareoftenquitediscreet, sneaking up to their beloveds’ houses veiled in darkness and entering through windows, or employing subterfuge and chicanery to win over their intended lovers. In a considerable number of the Cairo love songs, we hear lovers’ calls as the young people arrange secret trysts in the reeds by the Nile or in enclosed gardens, where the personified sycamore trees and birds are secret-sharers who promise reticence over the dalliances they witness, while others, favored by Hathor, the goddess of love, exclaim their joy at the return of a lover. However, the fact that these young lovers are secretive about their affairs and must keep their activities out of reach of their parents suggests parental disapproval of premarital sex in ancient Egypt. This is still the case in many traditional African societies, where sexuality is regulated by a complex set of taboos and their attendant punitive measures. However, these sung love poems do not always depict individualized lovers, for quite often during the Eighteenth Dynasty and the Ramesside periods, they served as entertainment or diversion at banquets and fes- Introduction 3 tivities. The love songs fueled the party mood and license that permitted erotic expression, inspired in part by the presence of beautiful attendants who regaled the guests with wreaths, fragrant oils, and food and drink, urging them, on behalf of their masters, to drink excessively and to enjoy themselves fully. Thus, these...

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