Al-Sayyab and the Transition from Classical Poetry to Free Verse: A Study of the Reflection of Social Transformations from the Perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis

Ghorbani  Madavani, Zohreh; Mesgar, Amir

doi:10.22059/jalit.2026.411998.613068

Al-Sayyab and the Transition from Classical Poetry to Free Verse: A Study of the Reflection of Social Transformations from the Perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Zohreh Ghorbani Madavani ¹

Amir Mesgar ²

¹ Senior Writer, Associate Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22059/jalit.2026.411998.613068

Abstract

This study offers a comparative analysis of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab’s poetry, examining two classical poems, “I Have Broken a Bond” and “Hurricanes,” alongside two free-verse poems, “A Poem to Revolutionary Iraq” and “A City without Rain.” Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study investigates how poetic form contributes to the representation of social and human issues and reflects cultural and political transformations. The analysis focuses on linguistic structures, lexical choices, and metaphorical imagery across three interconnected levels: textual practice, discursive practice, and social practice.The findings show that the classical form, despite its symbolic richness, rhetorical force, and epic qualities, is shaped by metrical and rhyming constraints that may limit the direct representation of concrete lived experiences, particularly in contexts of social crisis. Free verse, by contrast, provides greater structural and linguistic flexibility through variations in line length, rhythm, and lexical choices. This flexibility enables al-Sayyab to represent everyday life, human suffering, social crises, and collective experiences in more concrete, dynamic, and multilayered ways. His use of natural and social imagery also contributes to the representation of broader issues such as corruption, economic hardship, drought, and political change.The study argues that al-Sayyab’s transition from classical poetry to free verse was not merely an aesthetic transformation but was closely connected to broader social and historical changes. Free verse provided him with expressive resources that enabled him to engage more directly with social realities, articulate human suffering, and develop a more effective mode of social critique.

Keywords

Al-Sayyab

Free Verse

Critical Discourse Analysis

Prosodic Meters.

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