-----------------

Introduction

Dealing with the notion of rewriting in the field of

comparative literature implies the perspective from which the
writer looks at the story and thus the motives lying behind
each writers experience. In other words, when a mythical or
historical figure, an event or even an idea, a concept is
handled by more than one writer, and by the way appears in
more than one text, especially when the writers belong to
different periods of time, distant chronotopes, to use
Bakhtins term, all the texts are to be dealt with in such a way
that enables the comparatist to grasp the multiplicity of
visions and subsequently the writers intentions.
The mythical figure of Prometheus, the God who stole
fire from heaven in order to make mans life easier, and who
was pusished by Zeus. In fact he was chained to rock where
an eagle continuously kept eating his liver until he was finally
freed

by

Heracles;

is

very

appealing

to

many

writers,

especially romantic ones who saw he was expressive of their

romantic attitudes.
In this paper, I will deal with Goethes Prometheus,
Lord

Byrons

Prometheus

Nashidu-l-Jabbar

,ad

Abu-l-Kacem

Echabbis

-----------------

(The song of the mighty one, or thus sang Prometheus). I will

demonstrate how the romantic vision is the basic motivator
behind the romantic interest in the story of Prometheus.
This is going to be examined in two major parts; first
dealing with the generic departures that the initial story
undergoes, then, in the second part, relating the four texts
together to the deep level of the mythical story through the
consideration of particular archetypal notions or events.

-----------------

I/ Generic Departures:
from the play to the poem
In the light pf Brunels argument about comparative
studies, that a text is not totally pure 1, the presence of
references to other cultures, languages and literatures within
a given text; spotting the references to external elements, be
it an idea, a character, a concept or even a quotation is the
basis for comparative literature.
Presented in this way, re-writing is somehow an
affilaiation to use Edward Saids term. Accepting such an
assumption, one can present the works as part of a whole,
one can move then from verticality to horizontality and
subsequently move from the synchronic to the diachronic.
Along with Saids concept, Brunels Laws of irradiation can be
used as the initial spark that will direct us in our comparatist
study of the romantic rewritings of the Promethean myth. 2
Brunels Laws of irradication set lighting against
illumination; being more than mere lighting, illumination
bears artistic motives and is thus done on purpose. In fact,
according

their

drives

and

perspective,

artists

use

illumination to foreground a space and background another.

Applying this notion of illumination to the commparatist study
we are undertaking, we can consider that the poets retrieved
1
2

Brunel, Prcis de littrature compare, 29

Brunel, Prcis de littrature compare, 34, 35

-----------------

aspects of the original story and backgrounded others. A

good instance is the fact that the poets retrieved the actors
of the original story, but not the whole events and this is done
on purpose, if we apply Brunels Laws of irradiation, to fit the
poets motives.

1/ Romantic Prometheus
Myths

gained

positive

dimension

from

the

renaissance on, whereby a myth can be used as sign systems

bearing a connotative meaning, a message, even a metamessage that can be related to the users intentions. In the
Poetics of Myth, Meltinsky puts out that:
During the renaissance, interest in the mythology of
antiquity emerged once again. Myth was seen positively as a
series of poetic allegories tinted by a moralizing veneer; as a
manifestation
accompanied

of

the

human

sentiments

emancipation:

and
or

as

passions
an

that

allegorical

expression of religious, philosophical, and scientific truths.3

Such a statement sets the re-estimation of the
ancient myths as a series of poetic allegories expressing
human emancipation. The expressive quality of such an art
as romanticism meets the mythical figure of Prometheus in
the fact that the original story and its protagonist are
reflective of the rebellious, individualistic and expressive
attitudes of romanticism. As to the notion of rebellion, both
romanticism and Prometheus are rebellious; the first against
the

traditional mimetic orientations of art, the second

against the tyranny of Zeus. Harold Bloom goes further

Meltinsky, The Poetics Of Myth, 3

-----------------

defining romanticism as the literature of internalized quest,

of Promethean aspiration.4
In fact, this quality of individuality inherent in the
romantic poet is what enables us as comparatists to draw a
parallel between him and the mythical figure of Prometheus.
Thus, the romantic interest to the story and character of
Prometheus must not be understood as a mere adaptation,
but rather as an identification with, and to some extent, an
appeopriation of the character of Prometheus whose moral
qualities match those of the romantic poet possessing a
special kind of faculty which sets him apart of his fellow
men5

2/ From the play to the poem

As

comparatists,

we

cannot

study

the

romantic

rewriting of the Promethean myth without dealing with the

notion of genre. In fact the myth of Prometheus undergoes
real changes in generic terms; it started as a tragedy ( a
lyrical drama with Aeschylus) and moves to another literary
category, poetry with Goethe, Byron and Echabbi, noting that
the last two went further in choosing a specific genre that is
the song of praise.
Knowing that myths are larger than life6, one can
define them as sociolects, being bigger than life, they have
been transformed into idiolects, they have been so to suit a
particular context.

A myth then, is a sociolect transformed

into an idiolect, to something peculiar and smaller to suit the

artists drives.
4

Bloom and Trilling, Romantic Poetry and Prose, 6-9

Head, Romanticism, the Cambridge guide to Literature in English, 2006
6
Cited in Comparative Literature course, Dr Belletaief, 2009
5

-----------------

3/ The compared works

A/ Aeschylus Prometheus Bound
The Prometheus Bound stands midway between
Prometheus the Fire-giver and Prometheus Unbound. In
grandeur de conception and imagery it has never been
surpassed, not even in the works of Shakespeare, for here is
the very essence of tragedy, her inmost spirit revealed in its
sternest mood, in all its prostrating and annihilating force.
The Prometheus Bound
steadfast

endurance

under

is the representation of

suffering,

and

indeed,

the

immortal suffering of a god, banished to a desolate rock over

against the earth-encircling ocean. Prometheus suffers not on
an understanding with the Power that rules the world, but in
atonement for his rebellion against that power, and this
rebellion consists in nothing else than his design of making
man perfect. There is little exterior actions in this piece: from
the beginning Prometheus suffers and resolves, he resolves
and suffers the same throughout.
B/ Goethes Prometheus
The present reading of Goethe's Prometheus sets out
to examine the new work to which the myth is put in the
poem. His Prometheus does not stand in a modern opposition
to classical accounts of the myth. We can say that the poem
rather

establishes

reinterpretative

itself

tradition

at

the

engaging

forefront

of

with

Prometheus

the

long

story. Often read as an agent provocateur in the German

Enlightenment project, Goethe's Prometheus nevertheless

-----------------

argues like a rationalist critic of religion while instructing

humans in social behaviour.
In the history of modern literature, certain classical
myths seem readily to suggest themselves as figures of
identification.

Not

mere

frequency,

but

the

cumulative

significance attributed to these myths makes them constant

points

of

reference.

further

and

earlier

cultural

identification is offered by the Prometheus myth in the (late)

eighteenth century. Goethe made not one, but four attempts
at the myth, yet all but the poem remained fragments.
Carrying

an

already

heavy

baggage

of

literary

treatments from antiquity through the Renaissance and up to

the eighteenth century, the myth offered several angles from
which it could be approached. Retelling the old story of
Prometheus, Goethe comes to stand shoulder to shoulder
with Aeschylus in his reworking and further development of
the mythological tradition, at the forefront of which Goethe's
poem establishes itself.
The poem stands out as the pinnacle of Goethe's
early hymns that represent and engage with ancient gods. In
fact,the voice of the speaker in the poem is always that of
Prometheus. The poem opens with an initial imperative
directed at Zeus that is matched by an insistent 'I' at the end
of the last section.
Instead of invoking gods by listing their attributes
and relating stories of their cult like in traditional hymns,
Goethe's poem presents a god who insists on telling his own
story. Where the speaker of hymns is traditionally and
necessarily human, this poem presents a god raving against

-----------------

other gods. In eighteenth-century aesthetics a hymn is

defined as 'une louange a l'honneur de quelque divinit' and
'la recompense, le salaire des immortels'.
This poem is in fact full of accusations against the
gods,

perhaps

not

the

salary

to

which

immortals

are

accustomed. It has therefore recently been suggested that

Goethes Prometheus should be read as an 'Antihymne' that
negates, or defies, the gods in a language and form that
hymns employ to invoke and praise them. In that sense the
poem appropriates a form in order to undo the work to which
that form has traditionally been put.

C/ Byrons Prometheus
In the early nineteenth century, the Promethean
figure became a central theme or ideal in English literature.
Poets, like Lord Byron, began writing in the revolutionary
spirit of the times and using Prometheus as a symbol of
protest

against

religion,

morality,

limitations

to

human

endeavours, prejudice, and the abuse of power. Prometheus is

one

such

literary

work;

Byron

is

using

the

character

Prometheus to create a poem that becomes a model for

rebellion.
Prometheus

begins

with

the

apostrophized

appellation Titan and a question, What was thy pitys

recompense? The answer is the silent suffering of the rock,

-----------------

the vulture and the chain, for eternity. Byron goes on to say
later in the poem that the precepts 7 turn Prometheus into a
symbol or model for Man. Prometheus is silent throughout his
suffering. His will does not speak but in loneliness, and
even then, he is jealous that the sky could listen, nor will he
utter a sigh for fear of the echo.
Why does Byron silence his Titan so? In Aeschyluss
Prometheus Bound, the sentenced Titan is reprimanded by
the Chorus about his far from silent speech, You are free of
tongue, too free. Prometheus easy tongue is an expression
of his powerless situation.
In fact, for Byron words are useless; they show the
speakers helpless submission to his oppressor, Zeus. In
Aeschyluss Prometheus Bound, the active power lies in the
unseen character Zeus. This is very different from Byrons
telling of the myth.
Byrons Prometheus, written some two thousand
years after Aeschyluss Prometheus Bound, is a response
from

his

reciprocal8.

age
The

where
Titan

power
has

is

not

power

of

just
his

rivalrous,
own

over

but
the

Thunderer (Zeus). That power lies in the way the Titan

demonstrates his indifference to the threats of the other. The
Thunderer takes pleasure in creating things that he may
destroy/annihilate, but he refuses the Titan the boon to die;
there-in lies his weakness. He leaves himself open for
Prometheus defiant refusal, and refuse he does.

the principles of a course of action or conduct

Dennis, Making Death a Victory: Victimhood and Power in Byrons Prometheus and the Prisoner of
Chillon, 144
8

-----------------

10

Prometheus weapon of choice is Silence, and in

that silence is his foes sentence. We see the refusal to reveal
the prophecy of Zeuss downfall from power in the following
lines:
The fate thou didst so well foresee,
But would not to appease him tell;
And in thy Silence was his Sentence.
The refusal of the prophesy has power of its own as well.
Dennis suggests that this power comes from the absence of
expression that persuades the Thunderer of its accuracy 9.
One could also say that this power may come from the fact
that Zeus is all-knowing, yet he cannot see his own fate while
Prometheus can. At the end of the second stanza of the poem,
we see Zeuss anxiety that his Sentence may be real. It is a
reciprocation of power.
And in his Soul, a vain repentance,
And evil dread so ill dissembled,
That in his hand the lightnings trembled.
We as readers get the imagery of the hand of Zeus
holding a lightning bolt trembling as his victims would once
have done, which shows the exchange of power from Zeus to
Prometheus.
The final stanza of the poem brings the whole ordeal
to a human level.

Byron wants

us as readers

to see

Prometheus as he does; as one with an impenetrable Spirit

born of patience and endurance. Prometheus now has what
his

oppressor

repentance,
9

is

lacks.
no

Zeus,
longer

whose

soul

invulnerable 10.

has
It

felt

vain

was

the

Dennis, Making Death a Victory: Victimhood and Power in Byrons Prometheus and the Prisoner of
Chillon. 149
10
Dennis, Making Death a Victory: Victimhood and Power in Byrons Prometheus and the Prisoner of
Chillon, 148

-----------------

11

Thunderers own actions in refusing the Titan the boon to

die and the wretched gift bequeathed him, that proved
victorious

for

his

victim.

Prometheus

triumphs

through

suffering.
Lord Byron writes that we can learn a Mighty
lesson from Prometheus. He is a sign and symbol and Man
can learn from his actions and conduct
A Mighty lesson we inherit:
Thou art a symbol and a sign
To Mortals of their fate and force.
The boon to Man is that if we model ourselves
after

Prometheus

precepts,

we

may

achieve

triumph

trough our suffering11. The poem goes on to describe the

similarities between the Titan and man; man is part divine,
like Prometheus, in the fact that they were both created by a
divinity, and something of that resides within them. Man also
has a form of foresight, like the Titan, that allows us to
foresee our death, which eventually will come because of
our mortality.
Like thee, Man is part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source;
And Man in portions can foresee
His own funereal destiny.
These lines also give us a description of one of the
gifts Prometheus is said to have given Man, the gift of partial
prophesy. The poem focuses on this gift, in the form of
foreseeing our death and suffering, and the model for Mans
actions rather than focusing on Prometheus more well-known
gift of fire. Byron is trying to bring this Promethean myth to
11

Dennis, Making Death a Victory: Victimhood and Power in Byrons Prometheus and the Prisoner of
Chillon, 148

-----------------

12

a more human level, and to focus on the human struggle,

rather

than

the

god-like

gift

of

fire

that

is

trivial

in

comparison12.
A final lesson we are to learn from Prometheus is to
Make Death a Victory. Prometheus teaches us not to want
life, and thus to want less than our opponent(s) 13. In the
poem, we see this when Prometheus remains silent in his
suffering

while

his

opponent,

Thunderer,

demands

his

prophesy (to save his life). This is his message, and the
message Lord Byron wants to pass on; the final lines of the
poem
And a firm will, a deep sense,
Which even in torture can decry
Its own concenterd recompense,
Triumphant where it dares defy,
And making Death a Victory.
Lord

Byrons

Prometheus

presents

different

perspective than the ancient myths, with a purpose for

rebellion. Take to heart the message: The Promethean Spirit,
a symbol of strength for struggling humanity, a struggle
worth the price of death.

D/ Echabbis Nasidul Jabbar or The Song of the Mighty

One

12

Dennis, Making Death a Victory: Victimhood and Power in Byrons Prometheus and the Prisoner of
Chillon, 149
13
Dennis, Making Death a Victory: Victimhood and Power in Byrons Prometheus and the Prisoner of
Chillon, 148

-----------------

13

Echabbis poem contains all the concepts cited above;

those of defiance, suffering, resistence, victory. They are all
articulated in the poem with some additional elements, one of
the most important elements is art related to al shaaer;
the poet and al mashaaer; feelings that are present
throughout the poem.
Another important added element is the deliberate
identification with Prometheus, with the mythical figure of
Prometheus evident in the poems subtitle aw hakatha
ghanna Prometheus; or thus sang Prometheus. Echabbi is
deliberately mixing up with Prometheus so that at the end of
the poem we end up ignoring who is who. Some said that
echabbi was retrieving the song that Prometheus once sung
but this assumption is not really valid since it is clearly set
from the beginning of the poem that echabbi was simply
replacing or substituting himself as a poet for the myth.
Clear substitution between the mythical figure and a
certain historical figure, that of the poet is articulated in
Echabbis poem in a metaphor related to space, in the
correlation between high and low where the semantic
field of high keeps extending to lofty and extraordinary,
and that of the low extending to vile, normal a,d incapable
of imagination. At the heart of this imagination, is the faculty
of creation as opposed to fancy. In fact imagination is a
faculty that can only be owned by an extraordinary, subliome
person who is the poet. The sublime in Echabbis poem is
evident in all the elements of resistance, defiance, striving to
a god-like figure. Thus, the association of the poet with the
prophetic; a point that will be discussed later on in this paper.

-----------------

14

The substitution of the poet with Prometheus is

articulated through singing, it is one form of poetic
rendering, one form of art which is an important way to
knowledge and happiness.
Wa assirou
The idea of voice of the poet/ poetry that is filling an
empty world with presence is a very high metaphor because
there is a religious point of view that created the world then
filled it up, so the container or the world is only filled by the
voice of the poet. Thus, the poet is here elevated to a god-like
position.

Voice is here again associated with the poet, and

this is another match with the figure of Prometheus since,

voice is related to name, the poet has the poet of the namer.
The repetition of voice filling the gap of the world, a
repetition of a voice which responds to something and which
has the right to answer back violently as a form and ironically
as another form. Ni fact, that voice is not the same , it a voice
that fills the gap, a voice that is godly, thus it becomes a
different kind of voice, indifferent and self-sufficient. A voice
not bothered by what others would say or even what al
kadar may do, and this notion of different kind of voice
brings us to the notion of defiance. It also brings us to the
differentiation the poet makes between himself and the rest
of humanity those he calls al atfal or kids

This line leads us to deal with the metaphor of space

again, a metaphor that is central to the construction of the
poem as a whole. In fact, the metaphor of space governs the

-----------------

15

whole structure of the poem; it is a whole way of constructing

a global grid as well as subgrids.
An important grid turns around the binarism over
light Vs darkness; this binarism is dependent on its own and
is interrelated to the spatialized metaphor. In fact, light is
above in the sky whereas darkness is below, light is an
attribute of the poet holding the torch of knowledge that
remains all the time in the sky but it must descend on earth,
in order to rule out darkness, to brighten and erase it. This is
evident through the position of the poet as al nesr; the
eagle. The poet here positions himself above

The notion of lightness is also developed into:

Annour

These lines are opposed to al lahib or something

burning, where light becomes synonymous to evil as opposed
true light. Hence the distinction between two kinds of light.
Light is also perceived in the poets face dscribed as
moshrik or shining, and this is a characteristic of a prophet.
Echabbis poem seems to assert that beauty lies in
the culmination of these concepts of light whereby the poet
fuses light by nearing light, and this image enables us to say
that everything in the poem is constructed in the binary
opposition of light and darkness. All these metaphors of

-----------------

16

high/low and light/darkness send to another metaphor,

that of the poet bound to suffer in order to serve humanity,
here fire is substituted with poetry and the power of poetry.
In fact the power of poetry retrieves suffering,
resistance and the notion of endurance in spite of my
enemies and ill ness. All these notions form a binary
opposition

between

the

speaking

and

the

enemies/illness, and set the I of the poem as someone

who does not yield to all external forces, again the metaphor
of high/low interrelates with this one setting Al kadar in a
high position and al Adae in low one.
As a3ichou
Indeed, the poet is facing two huge enemies, the
monarch of gods and demons and al kadar. He ended up
defeatinig these forces by a victory that lies in resistance.
One can assert that in Echabbis poem, the ceaseless
challenge to all the cosmic forces or al kadar and all the
earthly forces or kids; all of them articulate in that original
high/llow equated with light/darkness metaphor to bring forth
a center which is the poet, fighting but never yielding.

-----------------

17

II/ Relating the poems to

the original play:
It is clear that the storys emplotment, to use
Ricoeurs term, of men with gods is what makes the myth of
Prometheus stand for the most expressive literary archetype.
We may say that this is the motivator behind the romantic
interest to this particular story whereby the poets express
their challenging, revolutionary vision that is transformed
into a wider vision, that of the poet-god or the poet
Prometheus who is able to foresee the world and delineate
its countenance.

1/ Zeus or the tyranny of Gods:

As far as the myth of Prometheus is concerned, the
tyranny of Zeus is what makes him stand as the antagonist of
the heroic figure of Prometheus. This is quite evident in
Aeschyluss Prometheus Bound, in which the divine force
embodied in Zeus seems to be unthankful to Prometheuss
aids:
The tyranny of the Gods, such service rendered
With ignominious chastisement requites
In Goethes Prometheus, the ungratfulness og the
Gods is expressed through another moral defect that is
jealousy:

-----------------

18

My hearth
Whose glow
You envy me.
In Byrons Prometheus, Zeus is even rendered as a
mean character who:
Refused thee even the boon to die.
In

thus

sang

Prometheus,

Echabbi

does

not

associate tyranny to the divine only; it is also associated with

al kadar or destiny that never stops torturing him:
Wa a9oulou

2/ Will and obstinacy:

The notions of will, endurance and struggle are
relevant to all the texts at hand including the original play,
Prometheus Bound in which the ideas of pain, resistance and
pride are reverberated in the protagonists soliloquies. These
notions are evident in Echabis

The romantic poets persistence against hardships,

whatever they are, is often related to his own self-esteem
hence Byrons statement, And strengthen Man with his own
mind may summarise such concepts of endurance and
persistence within the framework of romanticism. This notion
of persistence culminates in both Byrons and Echabbis
poems in the notion of death. In fact, the first converts the

-----------------

19

conception of death into an achievement since it is resulted

from the questers choices and free will and thus
Making death a victory
This is also evident in Echabbis acceptance of death
as a triumph since he will be transferred into a hoped for
world:
Fa inni

3/ the poet as a prophet:

Promethean challenging to Zeus through the qualities
of generosity and freedom are normally the characteristics of
a prophet and this is what made the myth appealing to the
romantic poets that revisited the original story as a source of
prophetic archetype that suits the romantic vision of the poet
and poetry. In fact, the quality of forethought suggested in
the meaning of the name of Prometheus, is exploited by each
poet and is thus further elaborated in each text.
In Echabbis poem, the notion of forethought is not
simply referred to, but it is what governs the progression of
the poem as a whole. This is quite evident from the very
beginning, from the I shall live that echoes Aeschyluss I
foresee all that shall come to pass, his Prometheus foresees
his fate and that of Zeus, and this what makes him anticipate
in Goethes poem, the future of man made of both pain and
joy:
It will be a race like me,
To suffer, to weep,
To enjoy and to rejoice,

-----------------

20

And to pay no attention to you,

As I do!
In

Lord

Byrons

Prometheus,

foresight

is

more

pessimistic, in fact for him, man is only capable of foreseeing

his own death, and this is one of the central gifts bestowed by
Prometheus to humanity:
And man in portion can foresee
His own funeral destiny
In Echabbis Thus sang Prometheus, however, the
protagonist is depicted as being free from Zeus, thus the poet
eradicates the notion of suffering that has been central to the
depiction of the mythical figure of Prometheus. He presents
us with a glorious, emancipatory protagonist directed towards
as well as motivated by light:
.ka nasri

All the poets unite to say that the reason why this
mythical figure is so interesting to them is the promethean
transcendental potentiality to make him a symbol valid to an
enlightening work of art.

Conclusion
Bringing all together Echabbis Nashidu-l-Jabbar,
Lord

Byrons

examples

of

conjuncture

Prometheus
the
with

and

romantic

Goethes

rewritings

Aeschyluss

of

Prometheus,
the

Prometheus

as

myth,

in

Bound;

comparatist study focusing on the romantic vision of the

-----------------

21

Promethean myth shows that what makes the story of

Prometheus adaptable for the romantic poems at hand is the
intersection of the character of Prometheus and that of the
romantic poet; a quester, a revolutionary and a philanthropic
hero.