Rhythmic Rhetorical Devices in the Poetry of Abdul Mawla Al-Baghdadi: The Poem “Mawlay” as a Model.

Abstract

Rhythmic embellishment—a relatively recent critical term—is one of the most important manifestations of internal rhythm. It encompasses a range of verbal and semantic devices that contribute to creating a cohesive soundscape and enhance the text's ability to affect the reader. Rhythm occupies a central position in the structure of poetic texts; it is not merely a sonic embellishment added to meaning, but rather a foundational element that contributes to shaping significance and producing aesthetic effect. Despite the abundance of studies on rhetoric and the music of poetry, the dialectical relationship between rhetoric as a rhetorical art and rhythm as a sonic structure has not received independent study. Therefore, this research seeks to explore the aesthetics of rhythmic embellishment in the Burda of Abd al-Mawla al-Baghdadi, a prominent modern Libyan poet.