The Centrality of Rhetorical Interpretation in Poetic Texts: Between the Reader and the Production of Meaning, Al-Jawahiri's "Ode to Pain" as a Model

Abstract

Abstract:

This research explores how the reader produces meaning through the rhetorical interpretation of poetic texts. Its significance lies in its attempt to transcend the traditional view of rhetoric as merely formal arts, revealing instead the underlying cognitive and existential dimensions. While rhetoric focuses on understanding meaning, rhetorical interpretation goes beyond simply grasping meaning, offering a more comprehensive and far-reaching perspective.

The poem "The Song of Pain" by al-Jawahiri was chosen as a representative example of the qualitative shift in Arabic elegiac poetry. This shift moved from individual expression and lamentations to profound philosophical expression, and from personal complaint to the expression of collective human suffering.

The research employs an inductive approach in its theoretical section, examining the interpretations of rhetoricians, and an analytical approach in its applied section, which reads "The Song of Pain" through the lens of a rhetoric of possibility rather than definitive conclusion. To achieve its objectives, the study is divided into two main axes: the first is a theoretical introduction to the key concepts, and the second is a rhetorical and interpretive application to the poem "The Anthem of Pain."

The research attempts to emphasize that the reader's role in producing meaning does not end there, and that al-Jawahiri's poetry is a model of the fusion of tradition and a revolutionary poetic modernity that challenges political and social conditions. This makes it a fertile ground for a rhetorical and interpretive approach, whose value lies in the reader's interaction with the text, not in what the poet said or intended to say.