Analysis of poetic discourse: Abu al-Baqa al-Rundi's poem lamenting Andalusia (as a model)

Abstract

In poetry, imagery is merely an expression of a specific psychological state experienced by the poet in response to a particular life situation. Each image within a work of art carries the same emotional weight and functions as its neighboring partial images. From the sum of these partial images, the overall image that the poem ultimately reaches is formed. This means that the poetic experience under which the poet is influenced, and from which the work of art emerges, is nothing more than a complete image comprised of parts that are themselves partial images. These partial images can only fulfill their true purpose if they all work together to faithfully convey the experience. Therefore, the same feeling must permeate them all. Hence the dominance of the image, or feeling, over the entire work of art, and hence the necessity for the image to be the vessel of feeling.