The phenomenon of ambiguity in Al-Mutanabbi's Poetry Through the book (Al-Fasr), by Ibn Jinn

Abstract

This research entitled: “The phenomenon of ambiguity in the poetry of al-Mutanabbi in Ibn Jinni’s book (al-Fasr): A critical study” investigates one of the most important topics in the Arabic poetry in general and in the al-Mutanabbi’s poetry in particular. Ambiguity is a phenomenon which has been discussed by scholars in history and they are divided into two directions: One direction approves ambiguity while the other does not. Al-Mutanabbi was one of the ambiguous poets and Ibn Jinni was one of the linguists who explained the al-Mutanabbi’s poems. The (al-Fasr) book is distinguished in comparison with another explanatory books as most reliable book that references poetic verses since the explainer was reading and discussing the diwan (poetic book) with the poet himself. This study is divided into two chapters preceded by an introduction and ended with a conclusion. The Introduction presents the poet’s place in poetry and the explainer’s place in the linguists of Arabic. Chapter One, Lexical Ambiguity, studies the words in some of the al-Mutanabbi’s verses and Ibn Jinni’s explanations. Chapter Two, Semantic Ambiguity, studies the ambiguous meanings in the al-Mutanabbi’s verses and discusses Ibn Jinni’s opinions in comparison with other critics who have written in al-Mutanabbi’s poetry. The study concludes with the most important findings and a list of references in this study.