Embedded Cultural Patterns in Abu Firas Al-Hamadani’s Ra’iyyah: Arabic Poetry

Abstract

This paper tackles the cultural patterns in Abu Firas Hamdani's captivity poetry, namely Ra’iyyah poem. The poet, who is normally a part of ideological, cultural, or social paradigms, represents and regenerates, consciously or unconsciously, the cultural patterns, especially those represented by his predecessors in their literary works, whether in prose or verse. Antonyms and displacement, and many other linguistic tools, allow a space for the poet to freely criticize, expose, and thus persuade authorities into setting him free. Undoubtedly, cultural criticism, a product of postmodern thoughts, is one of the prominent trends in the world of literary criticism, and it places the focus on culture as a platform from which the authors express their status and agenda. The embedded cultural patterns that are traced in Abu Firas’ poetry are divided into three major themes, based on the suggested cultural patterns as elaborated in the current study.