التطوّر الدلاليّ للفظه الكلب في أشعار أحمد مطر

Semantic Development of the Word "Dog" in the poems of Áḥmad Maṭar

The animalsare used widely in Áḥmad Maṭar’s poems. He used the word dog more than other animals in his poems because has the semantic transformation and also different usages in Arabic literature. He introduced the word dog as a flexible word which is compatible with different meanings in poems. The poet has used this word in 50 elegies and repeated it 100 times which indicates he had a great recognition about the behavior and the characteristics of dog in Arabs’ thoughts. The ancient literary works and their cultural heritage have used this word for different and metaphorical meanings too. Since the disorganized political situation of the society in ÁḥmadMaṭar’s time was aligned with different meanings of the dog in Arab literature, he has used it many times. The proverbs which used this word have influenced his poems a lot. They have played an important role in his poems because these literary samples were compatible with his sharp tongue, especially the proverbs which used the word dog. We can see the influence of these proverbs on his poems obviously. He has used this word to criticize the political regime in Iraq and the world arrogance in an imperious way. The study sought in the framework of a descriptive-analytical approach and relying on statistics to indicate the functions of proverbs in some of the poems and to indicate the extent of his impression on them. The researchers also tried to reach the semantic evolution of the word of the dog by answering the following questions. What is the reason for the extensive presence of the word "dog" in the poetry of Ahmed Matar? How was the poet's vision of using the word "the dog" in his poetry? What are the semantic poles on which the poet's vision is centered? Is use of the word "the dog" consistent with the themes of his poetry?