Gnomic and Ironic Discourse in the Poetry of Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Mutanabbī

Abstract

Gnomic and ironic discourses in the poetry of a great classical Arabic poet Abū Ṭayyib al-Mutanabbī present very suitable questions for distinguishing characteristic features of his poetics, that is, those features that the language of his poetry is especially recognizable for. Al-Mutanabbī uses the universal gnomic language to express his personal feelings and attitudes and brings gnomic poetic expression closer to life. In his gnomic poetry the overtones of pessimism, relativism and “will to power” can be discerned. The irony encountered in the satire poems by classical Arabic poets (al-hiğā᾽) reaches a peculiar genre disguise in al-Mutanabbī poetry. Apart from the openly satirical and sarcastic verses, he reaches for creating a “discourse inside a discourse” and hides ironic language under the cape of a panegyric. Through gnomic and ironic discourse al-Mutanabbī at the same time pleased the classical pattern of Arabic qaṣīda but with his certain poetical actions questioned its genre resilience. For example, instead of the stylized love prelude, we encounter gnomic verses at many places in his poetry. His poems, even when he uses the universal language of gnomic poetry, are poems with a spontaneous inspiration, poems with a personal imprint, in which this poet sings with “his own language”.