The Interrogation in the Poetry of Zuhair bin Abi Salma "Its Tools and Meanings" A Rhetorical Study

Abstract

This research aims to reveal the multiple meanings of the interrogative style in the poetry of Zuhair bin Abi Salma, by identifying its tools and rhetorical meanings. The researcher presented the poet and defined the interrogative style, both linguistically and idiomatically. The researcher adopted the statistical analytical approach, and counted the number of times the poet used each of the interrogative tools. These varied in the percentages of their reoccurrence in his poetry, as the “hamza” was the most frequent, followed by the “hull.” The two tools: "who and where" were equal in the poet's dependence on them. After that "when", then "how", and in the last place the two tools "'anna and 'iy", that is, they only appeared once. Then, in the second chapter, the researcher moved to analyze the rhetorical meanings of these tools. He noticed that the poet used “hamza” with varied meanings, including: ailing and regret, determination, denial, reminding, irony, sarcasm, and equaling. “Hal” broke out from its original meaning to other meanings, the most prominent of which in Zuhair are: (wishing, negating), while the rhetorical meanings of the interrogative tool “who” were: grieving, bemoaning, glorifying, assertion and warning. Among the meanings of “where” are: ailing, regret, exclaiming, exclusion, threatening and intimidating. As for the tool “when”, the rhetorical meanings of it are wishing and exclusion. In conclusion, the researcher came out with a number of results, most notably: the poet’s interrogation departed from its original and direct meaning to other meanings such as exclamation, denial, negation, assertion, rebuking, exclusion, equaling...etc., with the need to link the context with the poetic verse in which the interrogation tool appears, so that we can grasp the rhetorical meaning that the poet desired.