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Nostalgia In Desmond O Grady's Poetry

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The Image of the City and the Theme of Nostalgia in Cavafy's and O'grady's poetry and Miscellaneous Songs Alexandria, during the prime of its cosmopolitanism, was a source of inspiration to many poets and writers and was written about immensely. Constantine Cavafy and Giuseppe Ungaretti were one of the most significant Alexandrian poets who portray the city in their work during that time span. However, even after the nationalizations of the sixties that led many foreigners to leave the country, poets, writers, and songwriters never stopped addressing Alexandria in their work. There was always a sense of nostalgia in these works and thus the term "literature of Nostalgia" was coined. Desmond O'grady's work represents the poetry that was produced …show more content…

The poem serves as a comprehensive description of the hotel and its surroundings. O'grady uses his senses to portray and perceive the city. In the first stanza he speaks of the dimness of the place and says "no light" and then in the second stanza he describes what he is hearing saying "Arabic music from the jugular alley below". He then describes the view of the sea and the Montazah Palace which he can see from his balcony. Furthermore, there are a large number of poems in which O'grady describes places and people –mainly local inhabitants- such as Neighbour, Fellahin in Town, My day for Pastroudis, The Arab Quarter, The Beach at Montazah and In an Alexandrian Garden. It is evident from the titles of these poems that they serve as mere descriptions based on real O'grady's real encounters. Not only does O'grady write those poems which serve as descriptive accounts of Alexandria during this time span, he also provides the reader with a background story to almost every poem he wrote, which asserts his objectiveness and honesty with regards to his view of Alexandria. It is conspicuous that O'grady concentrates on the physical city which Cavafy does not tackle in his

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