A critical stylistic reading of Zuhair’s Commentary

Abstract

Research problem:

 The research poses the following two questions:

• Does reading ancient Arabic poetry (pre-Islamic poetry in particular) stand at what previous researchers have reached?
• Is it possible to read Zuhair’s commentary in a new way according to a new approach, adding something to what the ancients and modern commentators and critics have reached?

 Purpose of research:

• Proving that the door to research into ancient Arab poetry remains open to new readings that differ according to different researchers and according to the methods of approaching them and the methods followed by each researcher.
• Providing a new reading of Zuhair bin Abi Salma’s commentary. Research Methodology:

 This research is subject to stylistic approaches that start from the language of the text, and which do not neglect the context.

Most important search results:

 It can be summarized as follows:

• The duality of war and peace has a general meaning within which the poem revolves, and from it the opposing dualities are generated.
• 2- Greeting the hill with “peace” is the title of the poetic situation, and the key to the poem whose purpose is to praise the peacemakers.
• Many words and images are distributed in the poem in different places, to echo a single idea, creating a kind of cohesion between the verses of the poem.
• In this poem, Zuhair resorts to the argumentative method to defend his idea. It is a poetic argumentative method - so to speak - based on persuasion based on both emotion and reason.
• The poet formulated a summary of his experiences with time in the form of aphorisms based mostly on contradictory dualities.