Description of Tears in the Elegiac Poems of Ibn al-Mu'tazz

Abstract

This study aims to examine the description of tears in the elegiac poetry of Ibn al-Mu'tazz and to reveal the artistic and psychological connotations carried by the vocabulary of tears and weeping in his poetry. The research adopts a descriptive-analytical approach by tracing poetic texts in which tears are employed in both self-elegy and the elegy of others. The study concludes that Ibn al-Mu'tazz varied his descriptions of tears according to the diversity of emotional situations and poetic themes, portraying them in multiple forms such as flowing, betraying, descending, hovering, and exhausted tears, in addition to employing terms related to crying, lamentation, and wailing. The findings also show that the imagery of tears was closely linked to self-elegy in contexts of illness, old age, gray hair, and love, whereas the concept of weeping predominated in elegies for others, especially brothers, friends, and statesmen. The study further demonstrates the poet’s ability to employ poetic imagery and metrical rhythm to intensify the psychological impact of grief, granting his elegiac poetry a distinctive artistic and semantic character.