Grandison & Mongold 1
Terius Grandison & Ian Mongold
Literary Analysis on Egyptian Poetry
S2
November 26, 2013
Love Songs
One of the strongest human desires in life is to find love and affection. Love can strongly
influence someone’s thoughts, feelings, and perception towards another human being. It has had
an overwhelming hold over people in the past, the present, and it will likely continue to in the
future.
The culture of the ancient Egyptians is known throughout the world today because of the
many things that were left behind by their society. Through their religious belief of being able to
take prized possession with them into the afterlife and the multiple tombs, temples, and pyramids
for their pharaohs and gods with various paintings on the walls of the sacred domains,
researchers have gained vast knowledge that has allowed people to look into the eyes of the life
of an Ancient Egyptian. The architecture and the art of the ancient Egyptians are very well
known; however, the information about their literature is not as progressed due to the complex
writing system and language. Even though the literature of the ancient Egyptians has survived
for the people of today to understand in scattered fragments, the small sample is enough to show
that the ancient Egyptians possessed a poetry that was rich and varied in both its subjects and
forms (Clinton and Knox 43).
There are two different types of ancient Egyptian poetry: the Leiden Hymns and Love
Songs. The Love Song poems are by far the most descriptive and allow the imagination to run
freely. “Love songs are the most immediately appealing of all ancient Egyptian poems…”
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(Clinton 43). “In them one finds the entire range of love’s possibilities” (43). This is possible
through the authors’ use of very detailed diction which provides imagery that describes the
positives of love and its effects on an individual. This is especially true in “My love is one and
only, without peer”. Also, the poems that follow “My love is one and only, without peer” back
up the emotions and feelings of our interpretation of the poem.
Our interpretation of “My love is one and only, without peer” is that an average male
within the Egyptian society is completely in awe with a woman who’s beauty is idyllic to not just
him but other males of the time due to her “Schooling of the neck of each schoolboy male…”
(My love is one. 26). In his eyes, she is “… in the perfect flesh of woman” (23). In his eyes, she
is a “Glistening goddess of the sunrise star bright in the forehead of a lucky year” (5-6). The man
is completely stricken by the overwhelming beauty of the woman. Through the diction in this
poem, it is evident the male character is admiring his love from affair and never approaches her.
The more and more the man describes her as goddess like with unflawed qualities like
“Sweet…lips, which chatter (but never a word too much)” (11-12) and “To young breasts firm in
the bouncing light which shimmers that blueshadowed sidefall of hair” (15-16) the reader can tell
that there in absolutely no intention of the male to advance toward the beautiful women due to
his lack of worthiness.
There are many similar feelings felt by people when cupid’s arrow abruptly hits them. In
the poems that follow “My love is one and only, without peer”, different feelings while in love
are expressed and can let us infer that the man describing the goddess like woman is possibly
having similar feelings.
In “Why, just now, must you question your heart?” feelings of uncertainty and
anxiousness are expressed. This is a common nature when dealing with feelings of love. The
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man in “My love is one and only, without peer” longs to be able to be with the beautiful
Egyptian woman and “…take her tight in [his] arms!”(Why, just now, must you. 4). Due to his
perceived lack of worthiness for the beautiful, goddess like woman he questions whether or not
he should be feeling the way he does for her.
When strong feelings, such as love, are running through your body like electricity
through a power line, there is a since of pressure that builds up inside the body. Talking to
someone else, like a friend, is one way of releasing the pressure. The man in “My love is one and
only, without peer” is feeling the overwhelming pressure of love and is in search for some
“medication” to ease his love “sickness.” One way for the man to help make his situation better
is to talk to a friend like the character did in “I was simply off to see Nefrus my friend”. The
woman in this poem expressed her feelings toward her friend Nefrus to help cope with the
struggle of love. If the man does release the pressure that is building within his body every day
because of his love for a “goddess” he will end up like that character from “I think I’ll go home
and lie very still” feeling like not leaving his home and “… feigning terminal illness” (I think I’ll
go home. 2).
The ancient Egyptians had a way with words when it came to expressing feelings of love.
The beautiful uses of detailed diction in their love songs provide an overall positive view of love.
It captures some of the most common emotions that are involved in this complicated feeling that
falls among many during the life of a human being. The love songs of the ancient Egyptians are
very relatable towards the love of people today and still will be relatable to the love of people in
the future.
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Works Cited
Clinton and Knox. “Ancient Egyptian Poetry.” Norton Anthology World Masterpieces. Ed.
Maynard Mack. New York: WW Norton and Company, 1997. 42-43. Print
Foster, John. “Love Songs.” Norton Anthology World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack. New
York: WW Norton and Company, 1997. 45-48. Print
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Final Outline
Thesis: One of the strongest human desires in life is to find love and affection. Love can strongly
influence someone’s thoughts, feelings, and perception towards another human being. It has had
an overwhelming hold over people in the past, the present, and it will likely continue to in the
future.
I.
Background
A. Culture known through possessions left behind
1. Tombs, temples, pyramids, paintings
B. Literature not as well-known as architecture
1. Complex language (hieroglyphics)
2. Scattered fragments
3. Rich and varied (Clinton, Knox 43)
II.
My Love is One and Only, Without Peer:
A. Average dude with overwhelming feeling for extremely beautiful, goddess like
female (perfection in his eyes)
B. Very detailed diction which provides amazing imagery
1. Glistening goddess of the sunrise star bright in the forehead of a lucky
year. (5-6)
2. Her eyebrows, gleaming darkly, marking eyes which dance and
wander. (9-10)
3. Sweet are those lips, which chatter (but never a word too much). (1112)
4. Dressed in the perfect flesh of woman. (23)
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5. To young breasts firm in the bouncing light which shimmers that
blueshadowed sidefall of hair. (15-16)
*All lines from poems are used to describe the thoughts and feelings of the male in “My
Love is One and Only, Without Peer” backs up our interpretation of the poem.*
III.
Why, Just Now, Must You Question Your Heart?:
A. Feelings of uncertainty and anxiousness
1. Why, just now, must you question your heart (1-2)
2. …take her tight in your arms! (4)
B. Man in first poem will most likely have similar feelings
IV.
Was Simply Off to See Nefrus My Friend:
A. Pressure building up
1. I was simply off to see Nefrus my friend, just to sit and chat at her
place (about men) (1-3)
B. I think I’ll go home and lie very still
1. … feigning terminal illness (2).
Conclusion: The ancient Egyptians had a way with words when it came to expressing feelings of
love. The beautiful uses of detailed diction in their love songs provide an overall positive view of
love. It captures some of the most common emotions that are involved in this complicated
feeling that falls among many during the life of a human being. The love songs of the ancient
Egyptians are very relatable towards the love of people today and still will be relatable to the
love of people in the future.