The Effectiveness of Antithesis in the Poetry of Mahmoud ibn Hassan al-Warraq (d. 225 AH): An Analytical Study

Abstract

This study, entitled “The Effectiveness of Antithesis in the Poetry of Mahmoud ibn Hassan al-Warraq: An Analytical Study,” aims to identify the opposing pairs (antithetical binaries) in the poet’s diwan. Antithesis is an important poetic device through which the poet’s creative vision becomes evident; it opens new horizons for the reader within the text, achieved through contrast and the divergence of viewpoints among readers of the same text.The study highlights the antithetical binaries in the poetry of Mahmoud ibn Hassan al-Warraq, which embodied his poetic dimensions through intellectual phenomena that can be observed in the poetic experience. We also note that the poet was skilled at bringing together contradictions that help establish life. The poet showed strong interest in the issue of antithesis, so that we find in a single verse—or in two verses—one antithetical pair or more. The researcher addressed antithesis in the evidence and explained its nature regardless of the type of antithesis. The antithetical dualities in his poems and short pieces formed structures and textual contexts, endowing them with deep meanings. This makes the poetic image at the height of beauty, presenting it to the reader as an expression of the depth of suggestion within the verse’s semantic base.Moreover, poets used antithetical pairs as a means of admiration and beauty in their poetry, especially in the intellectual, moral, ethical, and material aspects.