The aim of this study is to analyse Saudi poetry in the last quarter of the 20th century, in the light of its historical, cultural and desert dimensions, using the
Fugitive Meaning Approach, which was based on Structural Stylistics and Creative Thinking. After describing the history and literary evolution in Saudi Arabia in
Chapters One and Two, and explaining the Fugitive Meaning Approach and reviewing the literature in Chapters Three and Four, the four main poetic phenomena in Saudi poetry in the selected period have been studied. The four poetic phenomena, analysed in Chapters Five to Eight, are the qualitative employment of popular heritage, affiliation and the domination of anxiety, Saudi women and the
inevitable conflict, and vagueness and the adventure of distinction.
Chapter One sets out the historical and cultural background
of Saudi Arabia during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It focuses on the 20th century by classifying modern Saudi history into five stages, in which some developmental factors and aspects have been included.
Chapter Two examines the stages of literary evolutions in Saudi Arabia: Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Modernism. It focuses on the Modernist period in the country, including its history, and general features, such as revolutionary spirit, vagueness, conflict and renewal.
In Chapter Three, the Fugitive Meaning Approach, which is based on Structural Stylistics, as a linguistics background, and Creative Thinking, as a means of analysing
literary texts, has been described. After explaining Stylistics with its common features, such as foregrounding, deviation and parallelism, Structuralism, Structural Stylistics, Creative Thinking, with its principles, devices, fields and stages, the chapter explains
the approach, focusing on its originality and concepts taken from other approaches.
Chapter Four reviews the literature on Saudi poetry in the selected period, which covers studying the employment of heritage, the artistic features, intellectual
attitudes, the transformation of the poetic movement and the relationship between Saudi poetry and Saudi society.
Chapter Five analyses the qualitative employment of popular heritage, illustrated by four poems by Ali al-Dumayni, Sa ad al-HumHumaydin, Jäsim al-Sultayyih and
Muhammad al-Thubayti.
In Chapter Six, affiliation and the domination of anxiety has been investigated through studying four poems by Abdullah al-Rushayd, Abdullah al-Zayd, Abmad al Sälih and Muhammad al-Mansur.
Chapter Seven examines Saudi women and the inevitable conflict by analysing three poems by Thurayyä al Urayyid, Latifah Qäri and Ashjän al-Hindi.
Chapter Eight analyses vagueness and the adventure of distinction via studying three poems by Abdullah al-Khashrami, Fawziyyah Abü Khälid and Muhammad al-
Dumayni.