7 Ancient Egyptian Poetry

Egyptian hieroglyphs

ca. 1500 – ca. 1200 B.C.

The term “Ancient Egypt” covers millennia of history. It evokes images of pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphics but it is so much more. In reality, the centuries that could be considered Ancient Egypt were so noteworthy that it is necessary to divide this general time period into more specific sections. As an overview, Ancient Egypt can be separated into three different kingdoms all before the first millennium BC: the Old Kingdom (ca. 2686–2181 BC), the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1795 BC), and the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069 BC). While it is true that much of the ancient history from these periods has been lost, archaeologists have been able to decipher invaluable information from hieroglyphics inscribed on temple walls; poetry has been preserved in the same fashion.

One of the most famous families in the New Kingdoms was that of the pharaoh Akhenaten. Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, was father to Tutankhamun (commonly known as King Tut) and husband to Nefertiti. Though a second son to Amenhotep III, Akhenaten became the heir after his older brother died and ascended the throne around 1353 BC. Scholars disagree on whether Akhenaten co-ruled with his father during the first few years of his reign, as was tradition, or if Akhenaten only took power after his father’s death. The first few years of Akhenaten’s rule were normal, but the pharaoh soon implemented radical religious changes upon Egyptian society.

Ancient Egypt was polytheistic, with humans worshipping a number of important gods including Ra, Ptah, Isis, Anubis, Thoth, and Set, amongst others. The complex mythology is depicted on wall carvings and hieroglyphs. The sun was of paramount importance to Egypt, which relied on agricultural success to survive. It is no surprise that some of Egypt’s earliest surviving poetry concerns the cycle of planting and harvest, with the sun playing a major role in promoting fertility.

Sun deities had long been celebrated, but Akhenaten made a radical attempt to alter Egypt’s religious traditions when he decreed that Aten should be worshipped as the primary god. Aten, a personification of the sun-disk, was an aspect of Ra. In his effort to promote a monotheistic worship of the sun itself, Akhenaten sought to demote all other deities; he even went so far as to destroy evidence of other deities, such as chiseling out wall carvings depicting other gods. His endeavors to build a city dedicated to a newly stylized worship of the sun ended abruptly uon his death in 1357 BC. His successors, Nefertiti as regent and Tutankhamun as pharoah, did not furhter his efforts and the religious traditions quickly reverted back to what they were before Akhenaten took over.

We have selected poems dating from the 18^th dynasty of Ancient Egypt, which was the first dynasty of the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069 BC) that center on agriculture and on Akhenaten’s devotion to the sun.

Ancient Egyptian Poetry

Read Ancient Egyptian Literature Vol.2

• Selections:
• “THE LATER BOUKDARY STELAE OF AMEKHOTEP IV AKHENATEN” (page 48)
• Hymns and Prayers from El-Arnarna (Pages 89-100)
• Love Poems (pages 179-193)

Read: Ancient Egyptian poems about Agriculture

https://languagemuseum.org/exhibits/the-power-of-poetry-exhibit/poetry-from-egypt/ancient-egyptian-poetry/

Listen: Talking with the Soul: A Dialogue about Life and Death

https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/talking-soul-dialogue-about-life-and-death?audio=1

ON IMAGERY

Let’s take a deeper look at imagery. Imagery is the term we use to explain when a line, especially in a poem, sparks off the senses. Imagery uses “language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Usually, it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds.” Although we equate an “image” with a “picture,” images are not only visual; they can use any of the five senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell—to engulf the reader in the poem.

A poet could simply state, say, “I see a tree”, but it is possible to conjure up much more specific images using techniques such as simile (“a tree like a spiky rocket”), metaphor (“a green cloud riding a pole”) or synecdoche (“bare, black branches”) – each of these suggests a different kind of tree. Techniques, such as these, that can be used to create powerful images are called figurative language, and can also include onomatopoeia, metonymy and personification. (From: https://www.poetryarchive.org/glossary/imagery)

Imagery needs the aid of figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, and onomatopoeia, to appeal to the bodily senses.⁸⁸⁶²

• A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as.” Therefore, it is a direct comparison.

• A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics.

• In simple English, when you portray a person, place, thing, or an action as being something else, even though it is not actually that “something else,” you are speaking metaphorically.

• Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing – an idea or an animal– is given human attributes.

• Onomatopoeia is defined as a word which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.

• While a synecdoche takes an element of a word or phrase and uses it to refer to the whole, a metonymy replaces the word or phrase entirely with a related concept.

Watch this video on speaking metaphorically:

https://www.ted.com/talks/james_geary_metaphorically_speaking

EXERCISE:

Thinking through poetry⁷⁹⁴

A close reading analysis of Poetry requires we think through its possible meanings as well as the relationship between and among the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem. Throughout this section, we will think of different ways to understand poetry, but in this exercise, we will begin by going through the preliminary steps that will help you “familiarize yourself with the poem and reveal possible avenues of analysis.”

Reading, in this context, requires rereading. Start by reading the poem or excerpt of poetry silently, then read it aloud. Repeat as necessary. After you feel more comfortable with the poem through the act of rereading, do the following:

• Reflect on the poem and what it conveyed to you as a reader. You might not be able to fully and logically describe this but take note of what you noticed. You might consider jotting down your initial thoughts after your first reading, and then noting how your ideas changed after you re-read the poem.
• Circle, highlight, underline, or otherwise note specific moments that caught your attention as you were reading and reflect on why you noticed them. These could be moments that made sense to you, profoundly confused you, or something in between. Such moments might be single words, phrases, or formal features (e.g., rhyme, meter, enjambment). Write these observations down.

Once you have explored the poem intimately, think of the larger issues that might be explored by the poem. You are trying to assess the overall message. Answer the following questions to help you dig deeper into the poem:

• How did the poem affect you as a reader?
• The word “affect” can be helpful to consider here since it denotes the overall subjective experience one has in response to reading something (or seeing or experiencing anything, really). This can encompass thoughts, emotions, moods, ideas, etc.—whatever the experience produced in you as a person.
• You can ask yourself what affective, or emotional, atmosphere the poem produced, even if something about it is difficult to describe.
• What adjective would you use to describe the tone of the poem? Happy? Sad? Thoughtful? Despairing? Joyous? How did the poem make you feel generally?
• Did the poem bring to mind certain ideas or images, etc.?
• Does the poem have an identifiable speaker or addressee? Is the poem attributed to a specific speaker, or is this unclear or ambiguous?
• Is the speaker clearly addressing a specific second person audience, or a general one, or does this not come up?
• Is there a specific dramatic motivation driving the speaker to speak?
• You may have to make decisions about who is/are the speaker(s) or addressee(s), so it’s worth noticing how the poem is framed.
• What seems to be the larger theme, or point, of the poem? This is the first question to try to address. Even if the larger message of the poem seems highly ambiguous, it’s important to first try to get a sense of this before you can move into analyzing the poem more fully.
• Does the poem seem to be an attempt to understand something? To appreciate something? To express a feeling? To work through a complex idea? To convey an image? Some combination of motivations?

After considering these questions, keep in mind that it’s okay if the poem still confuses you or eludes your full understanding. In fact, this sense of mystery can encourage further thought when trying to understand a poem. Keep thinking carefully about the intricacies of the language and you may be able to convey some of this sense in your thinking.

Make sure to write down your thoughts on these questions and make sure to use them in discussion.

FURTHER READINGS:

For a timeline of Ancient Egypt as provided by the British Museum, see here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/learn/schools/ages-7-11/ancient-egypt/timeline-ancient-egypt

The Life of Sinuhe, reading of a poem of an Egyptian telling the story of his life from his tomb.

https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/life-sinuhe

Listen: Lecture by Richard B. Parkinson, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford

https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/queen-shrieks-shock-ancient-egyptian-poetry

A line-by-line transliteration of the original hieroglyphs: https://mjn.host.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/egyptian/texts/corpus/pdf/HymnSun.pdf

A reading of a poem depicting dialogue between the body and soul: https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/talking-soul-dialogue-about-life-and-death#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20dialogue%20between,moves%20to%20a%20lyrical%20compromise.

For Donald B. Redford ‘s 1978 article on “The Razed Temple of Akhenaten,” see here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24955870?seq=3.

For Donald B. Redford’s 1979 report on the “Akhenaten Temple Project,” see here: https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-akhenaten-temple-project-and-karnak-excavations/

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