Hostile Reader-Response at AI-Imam Muhammad Jbn Saud Islamic University to Selected Seventeenth Century Poems with a Carpe Diem Theme

Abstract

Using reader-response theory in general, Hans Robert Jauss' "horizons of expectations" theory in particular, this study examines the uniform responses of Saudi female students at an Islamic Saudi University to carpe diem poems of seduction, particularly lyric poems that center on love and the male/female relationship. Two seventeenth century poems introduced in the "Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Poetry" course will be the primary focus: John Donne's "The Flea" and An drew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress." These two poems were selected particularly because both project an essentially pagan view of love: the physical rather than the spiritual is emphasized. Camal delight is what speakers in both poems find appealing. lt is precisely this attitude toward love which prompts a hostile reader-response at Al-Imam University. The study is highly significant because it gives voice to the Saudi female reader. More importantly, it raises awareness to moral and religious codes which must be taken into consideration when introducing poems of the sort.