The Dialectic of Death and Life in the Poetry of Abdullah Al-Baradouni: A Structural Study

Abstract

 This study aims to elucidate the dialectic of death and life in the poetry of Abdullah Al-Baradouni, employing a structuralist approach. The study analyzes how this dialectic is formed at the lexical and syntactic levels, and how existential contradictions are translated into linguistic structures and artistic imagery. Furthermore, the study reveals the dominance of the lexicon of death over the lexicon of life in certain contexts, and the overlap between the two concepts in others, drawing upon selected samples from the poet's collections to analyze the mechanisms of linguistic and semantic formation of this dialectic. The study concluded with a number of findings, most notably: that semantic displacement (deviation) constituted the most prominent mechanism in constructing this dialectic, alongside a distinct dominance of the vocabulary of death over life. Additionally, the syntactic and rhythmic structures of the texts (such as antithesis, rhymed prose, and parallelism) were not merely superficial embellishments, but rather an organic construction reflecting the internal tension and the nature of the dialectical conflict.