Metaphors for Power in Sensual Ḥijāzī Ghazal Poetry In the Umayyad Era: An Interpretive Literary Study
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Date
2024-04
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Publisher
University of Exeter
Abstract
Al-Ghazal al-Ḥissī, Ḥijāz, Umayyad, Interpretive, New Historicism, Metaphor, Power, Hermeneutics.
Description
This research presents an interpretive critical attempt to deal with the phenomenon of al-ghazal
al-ḥissī, a sub-genre of ghazal poetry which flourished in the Ḥijāz during the
Umayyad era. Al-Ghazal al-Ḥissī denotes a particularly sensual style of ghazal. The study
provides a distinct reading of the texts of this ghazal, using post-modernist approaches, in
particular New Historicism and hermeneutics. It will show how this school of early Arabic
love poetry masks political themes related to the rapid changes in the period (AH 41-
132/661-750 AD). As well as political themes, existential and ideological issues can be
detected. These underlying layers of meaning are often obscured by the aesthetic
manifestations of the sentimental texts.
The starting-point of my research, and the main source of my interpretation, will be the
text of the poems themselves. Close textual reading reveals that sensual Ḥijāzī ghazal is
more than its external aesthetic appearance and contains a cluster of metaphorical
representations. At the same time, however, the analysis will make use of the social,
cultural and psychological context within which that poetry was composed, whether or not
the poets were consciously aware that they were being influenced by this. These two
approaches, text and context, will combine and be kept in balance.
Keywords
Al-Ghazal al-Ḥissī, Ḥijāz, Umayyad, Interpretive, New Historicism, Metaphor, Power, Hermeneutics.
Citation
Chicago