The Myth of Democracy in Yemen: An Analytical Study of Abdullah Al-Baradouni’s Poem “The Soothsayer of the Two Caves”
This research seeks to explore the political and aesthetic dimensions of Abdullah al-Baradouni’s poem “The Soothsayer of the Two Caves,” which is taken from his last poetic collection The Return of the Wise Ali Bin Zayed. Written in the aftermath of the first parliamentary election to take place in Yemen after the national unification, the poem serves as a typical model of modern Yemeni literature. It merges profound poetic sensibility with acute political awareness to critique contemporary political and social realities. Adopting a critical and contextual analytical approach, the study aims to deconstruct the poem’s symbolic, metaphorical linguistic structures to uncover how al-Baradouni employs poetic symbolism as an artistic instrument to expose the illusion of democracy in Yemen. Additionally, the paper examines the poem’s discursive framework as a form of resistance discourse that unveils the concealed machinations of authoritarian power that, under the guise of democratic slogans, perpetuates oppression and marginalizes rights. Ultimately, the research highlights the poem’s symbolic and semantic structure as both an aesthetic and intellectual medium through which the poet articulates a profound critical vision, revealing the paradoxes between the proclaimed democratic ideal and the actual political practice. The study concludes that al-Baradouni establishes a literary discourse that artistically exposes Yemen’s pseudo-democracy.
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