The Bird Image in English and Arabic Poetry: A Stylistic Comparative Study of Selected Poems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1703.11Keywords:
bird image, poetry, comparative study, parallelism, FormalismAbstract
The present comparative stylistic study explores the semiotic function and affinities of the avian imagery in selected poems from the poetic tradition of English Romanticism and Arabic verse, spanning classical to modern periods. The study employs the theoretical frameworks of Parallelism as defined by the American School of Comparative Literature and the Russian Formalist analytical methodologies to examine the cross-cultural literary convergences manifested in the selected poems. In addition, showing the significance of the bird makes people pleased and peaceful, especially with the other images of nature, such as spring, night, valleys, etc. Through close textual analysis of linguistic devices such as metaphor, personification, and symbolic transference, the study shows how avian imagery operates as a polysemous signifier, simultaneously encoding themes of transcendence, temporal liberation, and psychological interiority. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that despite the profound linguistic, cultural, and historical divergences, both traditions deploy ornithological imagery as a mediating discourse between human consciousness and natural phenomena. Consequently, these findings contribute to the broader theoretical discussions investigating universalist tendencies in literary expression while maintaining a sensitivity to the culturally specific hermeneutic contexts.
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