The City in the Poetry of Kazim Al-Hajjaj: An Argumentative Study

Abstract

This research examines the phenomenon of the city in contemporary Iraqi poetry, taking the poetic experience of Kazim Al-Hajjaj as an analytical model and employing the argumentative method as a procedural tool for reading poetic texts. The study seeks to reveal the argumentative mechanisms employed by the poet in portraying the city and constructing his stance toward it, through the analysis of ten poetic samples drawn from his complete works, most notably the poems “A Prayer over What Remains” and “An Old Man Who Loved His City Yesterday.”

The research adopts the descriptive-analytical method and the theory of argumentation in language as established by Perelman and Tyteca in The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation, and later developed by Ducrot and Anscombre, relying on its approved Arabic translations.

The study is divided into two main sections. The first addresses the theoretical framework and cultural context, examining the emergence of argumentation theory, the concept of poetic argumentation, the poet’s biography, and the image of the city in contemporary Iraqi poetry. The second section applies and analyzes six argumentative mechanisms and concludes with a synthetic approach affirming that the city in Kazim Al-Hajjaj’s poetry is not merely a poetic theme, but an integrated existential thesis.