In reading the poetic text (the critic’s qualifications and culture)

In reading poetic text

(The critic’s qualifications and culture) in Arab heritage

Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Al-Kufahi

Faculty of Arts, University of Jordan

Ammaan Jordan

Our critical heritage, throughout its successive centuries, has discussed a large number of basic issues and topics related to the art of poetry, specifically, whether at the level of creativity or reception, including what is related to the topic (the critic’s qualifications and culture), the dimensions of which we are trying to clarify, God Almighty willing, in this article. The (few) pages are presented through examining the statements of a number of critics who touched on it and intended to discuss it. It is a topic of great importance and vitality, due to its direct connection to the art of poetry, and its path of renewal and modernization.

Poetry is the subject of critical work, and it is an art, like other arts, in a constant evolutionary movement, whether at the level of vision and content or at the level of artistic construction and formation, which is, in the first place, focused on the difference in time and the development of human life, materially and culturally. This means, intuitively, that the reader/critic’s tools are also in a continuous evolutionary movement, so that the critic remains able to practice his work, perform his function, and confirm his presence, otherwise he will fail shamefully and be expelled from evil.

Perhaps it is easy to see this, clearly, through a comparison between Arabic poetry in the pre-Islamic era and what it became in subsequent eras, in the absence of the revelation of the Qur’an, the expansion of Islam, the conquests of countries, and the attainment of Arab civilization to its distant heights... and the same applies when we compare the critic/ The impressionist who was known in the pre-Islamic era, and the critic/methodologist in the Islamic era, especially the Abbasid era, after literary criticism became a well-known specialty with its own men, and a broad field that requires those who engage in it to possess the necessary equipment and qualifying reasons.

Our Arab criticism has become aware of the difficulty of the art of poetry, as it requires many things, and its owner must make great efforts if he wants to be a creative and influential poet. There is no doubt that this indicates, at the same time, the difficulty of critical practice, as well as the efforts The huge amount that a critic must make in order to be a respected critic, whose opinion is accepted, and whose judgment is taken into account. In this context, the image of (the sea) was often invoked with its multiple features, to explain this... Poetry “is like the sea, the easiest thing for the ignorant, the easiest thing for the learned, and the most exhausting of its companions is the heart of the one who truly knows it” ⁽ ^[1] ⁾ , It is “a sea that has no coast, and its owner needs to acquire many knowledges in order to reach it and contain it” ⁽ ^[2] ⁾ , and it is “the sea whose end no one reaches except with the exhaustion of ages” ⁽ ^[3] ⁾ ...etc. .

There is no denying that the work of a poet or critic is not easy, as it is a work that has its own tools and necessities, and this means that it is not suitable for everyone who comes and goes, but rather it has its own people and those who specialize in it. Therefore, complaints have often been raised about the large number of pretenders to this art and intruders in its arena, and it is a complaint that is not It has almost ceased over time, and it is sufficient to refer here, by way of representation, to Al-Amdi’s saying: “...Then knowledge of poetry has been designated for everyone to claim, and for those who are not among its people to use it, so why does not one of these people claim knowledge of the eye, paper, and horses? And weapons, slaves, fine linen, perfume and its types? Perhaps he was more immersed in the matter of horses, riding them, weapons, and knowledge of them, or slaves and their acquisition, or clothes and wearing them, or perfume and their use, than what he experienced in the matter of poetry and its narration, so he should not accuse himself of knowing poetry and her accusing him of knowing some of these things from what he experienced and consumed” ⁽ ^[4] ⁾ . And also to what Ibn al-Atheer said: “One of the most amazing things is that I only see someone who aspires to this art, claiming that he is devoid of attaining its instrument or its means... Glory be to God! Do some of these people claim to be a jurist, a doctor, a calculator, or something else, without having acquired the tools for that and mastering their knowledge? If the one knowledge of these sciences that can be acquired in a year or two of time is not claimed by any of these people, then how can one come to the art of writing, which knowledge is only achieved in many years, and claim it, while being ignorant of it? ⁽ ^[5] ⁾ .

And here comes the talk of critics, first of all, about the necessity of the existence of what is called (nature or taste), that is, this hidden force that is the reason for a person to choose this art over all other arts, so he devotes himself to it completely, and occupies himself with it his whole life, without There would be an explanation for this, as it was a choice without his awareness or will, because it returns to that power residing in the origin of his creation, which is responsible for directing him in the appropriate direction. If he disagrees and refuses to do anything else, his fate is nothing but failure and regret.

Perhaps this is what Al-Jahiz alluded to when he said: “A man may have a nature in arithmetic but not in speech, and he may have a nature in trade but not in farming, and he may have a nature in singing or in chanting, or in reciting melodies, but he does not have a nature.” It has a nature in singing, even if all of these types are due to the composition of melody, and it has a nature in the flute but does not have a nature in the sirnai, and it has a nature in the shepherd’s reed but does not have a nature in the two joined reeds, and it has a nature in making melody but does not have a nature in [Others], and he has a nature in writing letters, sermons, and poems, but he does not have a nature in reciting a verse of poetry, and such are very many, and Abdul Hamid Al-Akbar and Ibn Al-Muqaffa, despite the eloquence of their pens and tongues, were not able to write poetry except what the likes of it cannot be mentioned” ⁽ ^[6] ⁾ .

It is apparent that people are not according to Islamic law, but rather they differ greatly. Not everyone is capable of being a poet or a critic, because he primarily lacks the presence of this talent or innate sense that makes him veer deviated into the field of poetry or criticism and not anything else. In other fields, it is a sense that does not lead to learning, no matter how hard one tries, because it originates with this human being whom we call (poet or critic) since the beginning. Ibn Sinan Al-Khafaji says: “...For this reason, it is not possible for anyone to teach poetry to someone who has no temperament, even if he strives to do so, because the instrument with which he uses it is incapable of any created being, and it is possible to learn all other crafts due to the existence of all the instruments he needs.” ⁽ ^{[7] ]} ⁾ . Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani says, in his talk about the eloquence of verses: “Just as poetry cannot be understood in the soul of one who has no taste, likewise you cannot understand this matter if he has not been given the instrument by which he can understand it” ⁽ ^[8] ⁾ .

Despite the ambiguity surrounding this sense and its mechanism of action, it is considered an essential element in understanding poetry and criticizing it, and identifying the characteristics of its composition, the reasons for its goodness, and the means of its influence and amazement, especially when the speech involves “hidden matters and spiritual meanings. You cannot alert the listener.” And it gives him knowledge of it, so that he is prepared to perceive it, and has a nature that is receptive to it, and has a taste and a flair for which he finds in himself a feeling that these aspects and differences are in the nature of presenting an advantage over the sentence, and whoever examines speech and contemplates poetry, differentiates between the location of Some of it and something else” ⁽ ^[9] ⁾ .

In fact, most of the talk of the predecessors about character or taste turns to the concept of taste or the cultured person, which has been developed by knowledge, and refined by experience and long exposure, that is, (the taste of the specialized scholar), who has spent a long time secluding himself in the niche of his art, exploring its depths, knowing its secrets, and stopping at... Its subtleties, Ibn Salam Al-Jumahi says, among the illustrative examples he gives: “It is said of men and women, in reading and singing: He has a soft throat, a deep voice, a long breath, and has good senses - and the other is described with this characteristic, and there is a long distance between them. Scholars know this when they examine and listen. It has no quality to reach, and no knowledge to rely on - and if too much study infringes on knowledge of it, then so is poetry taught by those who have knowledge of it..., and someone said to Khalaf: If I hear about poetry, I approve of it, so I don’t care what you and your companions say about it. He said: If you took a dirham and appreciated it, and the money changer told you: It is bad! Will your approval of him benefit you? ( ^[ ^10] ⁾

We find the echo of this statement, which Ibn Salam says, echoed by more than one of the critics, as they give proverbs and present many reports, indicating the importance of the sense/temperament or taste, and its effective role in distinguishing good poetry from bad poetry, and revealing its distinctive features, the apparent ones. And the hidden, especially when this sense is combined with deep knowledge, extensive experience, and long experience. Al-Amdi says, by way of representation: “... Likewise, the two slave girls who excel in beauty, and are similar in description... the world may separate them by the matter of the slave, until he makes a great difference between them in the price, so if it is said to him and the slave laborer: From where did you prefer this slave girl to Her sister?... He was not able to come up with a phrase that would explain the difference between them, but each one of them knew it by his nature, his extensive training, and the length of his clothing. The same applies to poetry: two rare, good verses may be close together, and people with knowledge of the poetry industry will know which of them is better if their meaning is the same, or which of them is better in meaning if their meaning is different” ⁽ ^[11] ⁾ . Then he says that it is absurd: “It is the path of the one who is known for his extensive consideration of poetry, his interest in it, and his long robes, that he be judged by someone who is knowledgeable about poetry and knowledge of its purposes, and that the ruling on it is handed over to him, and that what he says is accepted from him, and he works on what he represents, and does not dispute any of that. Since it was necessary to hand over to the people of each industry their industry, and not dispute with them about it, and only those who were like them in experience, length of training, and background would dispute with them. For it is not in the power of every person to make you, O questioner..., in knowledge of his industry as himself..., because What can only be perceived over the course of time and the passing of days, it is not permissible to be encompassed in any hour of the day” ⁽ ^[12] ⁾ .

It is no secret here that they affirmed a very important issue, which is that poetry has its scholars or critics, and that these are the only ones relied upon in its crafting, and who issues fatwas regarding it, as “there is no one to look at what someone does not know about a thing, or pay attention to his opinion about it. He asks for something from its people, but accepts a person’s opinion about what he knows” ⁽ ^[13] ⁾ . As for how a person reaches this rank, or acquires this quality (the quality of a scholar of poetry or a critic), they always emphasize that the matter is not easy, as one might think at first glance, since it is necessary, first of all, to have a sense/temperament or taste. Then it is necessary after that that he possess the art of poetry, and be sincere to it, such that he will wear it for a long time, and never tire of contemplating it, turning it over, and studying it, “because knowledge, whatever its type, is not attained by its seeker except by being devoted to it, devoting oneself to it, being serious about it, and being keen to know its secrets and mysteries.” Then, one kind of knowledge may come to the student and make it easy for him, while another kind may be denied him and not possible, because every person has the ability to accept what is in his nature and what is in his power to learn” ⁽ ^[14] ⁾ .

From here, we notice that the description of (a scholar of poetry) applies specifically to (the poet and the critic), because each of them has this innate sense, the sense of character or taste, just as the art of poetry is his primary field, the field of his interest, work, and experience. ..., If the poet’s work is (explaining) the poetry, then the critic’s work is (explaining) this poetry, and therefore the two works are often mixed, whether by the poet himself or by the critic, just as we hardly find a poet who does not have contributions and dangers in criticism. Whether at the level of theory or application, just as we can hardly find a critic who does not have poetic contributions and treatments, even though, in the end, the poet is the one who is dominant in writing poetry and is famous for it, and the critic is the one who is dominant in practicing critical work and is famous for that..., Whatever it is, all of this would reveal the extent to which the poet relies on the critical dimension during the creative process, and also the extent to which the critic uses his poetic experience while receiving the poetic text and reading it critically.

In light of this, we see the predecessors distinguishing between two things: between critics of poetry on the one hand, and its commentators and those who deal with its instrument of grammar, morphology, and strange..., without diving into the depths of the poetic statement, and examining its artistic and aesthetic characteristics on the other hand. And in this we read: “And the people who create poetry are more knowledgeable about it than the scholars regarding its form of grammar, strangeness, proverb, predicate, and the like, even if they are lower than them in degrees, and how, even if they are close to them or they are among them by reason, and Abu Amr bin Al-Alaa and his companions did not run with Khalaf Al-Ahmar in this arena. Industry, I mean money, and they do not care about it, due to his penetration into it, his skill in it, and his proficiency in it” ⁽ ^[15] ⁾ .

There is no doubt that this view of grammar and linguists is due to many of them lacking the sense of temperament or taste, which is at the forefront of what is required for anyone who wants to work on studying and criticizing poetry, because “if there is no temperament, then these instruments are of no use.” An example of this is like the fire in a trigger and the iron with which it is struck . Don’t you see that if there is no fire in the trigger, that iron is of no use? ⁽ ^[16] ⁾ This innate sense is what makes the work of the critic closer to the specificity of poetic discourse, and more deeply into the corners and secrets of his artistic craft, since the research into the language of poetry does not stop at the limits of grammatical and linguistic integrity and so on, so this is undoubtedly something that is self-evident, otherwise the poetic text falls away. Once, because of the disorder and corruption that afflicts his structure, but it extends much further than that, to what is related to the poet’s style and choices, his methods of expression, and his suggestive and influential means. Its purpose is to convey the beautiful meaning in beautiful pronunciation characterized by eloquence and eloquence... The purpose of composing poetry is not to parse its words, but rather the purpose is something behind that” ⁽ ^[17] ⁾ . Hence we see them always emphasizing that “poetry criticism is an industry that no one truly knows except those who have been pushed into the straits of the Qur’an, have swallowed the bitterness of its resistance to it, and know how to penetrate its abyss and reach it” ⁽ ^[18] ⁾ .

Therefore, it is necessary for (taste and knowledge) to come together at the same time, because their combination is what qualifies a person to be (a scholar of poetry or a critic), and there is no doubt that this is quite difficult, and it was pointed out a moment ago that the sense/character or taste does not have a hand. It is up to man to find it, as it is a divine gift, reserved only for some people, and they are a rare few in all times. As for the machines and knowledge that he must obtain, they are so numerous and diverse that only the most determined critics can bear it.

It is sufficient to point out here the requirements of the creative process itself, and what they obligated the poet to learn and master, in order to be a clear poet in the field of his craft. Ibn Tabataba says, by way of example: “Poetry has tools that must be prepared before it is composed and composed. If one of its tools is difficult for him, he will not complete what he is required to do from it, and a defect will appear in what he organizes, and defects will befall him from every direction, including: expansion in the science of language, Proficiency in understanding parsing, narration of the arts of literature, knowledge of people’s days and lineages, their virtues and shortcomings, understanding the Arabs’ doctrines in establishing poetry, acting on its meanings, in every art that the Arabs said about it, and following their methods in their attributes, addresses, and proverbs, and the cited Sunnahs... and fulfilling all The meaning of his abundance of expression, and his clothing with words similar to him, so that he appears in the best outfit and the most beautiful image..., and the combination of these tools: the perfection of the mind by which opposites are distinguished, the adherence to justice, preferring the good, avoiding the ugly, and placing things in their places” ⁽ ^{[19] ]} ⁾ .

Ibn Rashiq goes further on this subject, as he says: “The poet is taken up with every knowledge required of every honor, due to the breadth of poetry and its tolerance for everything it contains of grammar, language, jurisprudence, news, arithmetic, and obligatory prayers... and let him devote himself to memorizing poetry and news, and knowledge of lineage and the days of the Arabs.” So that he may use some of that in what he wants of mentioning monuments and giving proverbs, and to attach some of their breath to himself, and strengthen his character with the strength of their character, for we have found the poet among the early writers preferring his companions by narrating poetry, knowing the news, and appreciating the poets above him, so they say: So-and-so is a poet and a storyteller. They want that if he is It is printed and has no knowledge or narration. He went astray and was guided, from where he did not know, and perhaps he sought the meaning, but did not reach it, while it was present in his hands, due to the weakness of his instrument. The Mawlids, because of the sweetness of the pronunciation, the closeness of the voice, the hints of salt, and the faces of the Creator, whose likeness is few in the poetry of the predecessors, even if they opened his door and tore his cloak” ⁽ ^[20] ⁾ .

Ibn Sinan says, in “The Secret of Eloquence,” in what he concluded under the title “What the Author of Speech Needs to Know,” concluding his book with it: “In short, if the author of speech knew the truth of every science and was acquainted with every art, this would have affected his composition and meanings.” And his words, because he refers to things that he describes, so if everything is known and verified, it is easier to describe it and describe it is possible, except that what is intended in this situation is to explain what his ignorance is not sufficient for, without what if he knew it, his knowledge would affect him, for that does not depend on a goal” ⁽ ^[21] ⁾ .

In the introduction to “The Proverb Al-Sa’ir,” Ibn Al-Atheer devoted an entire chapter to what the writer needs in terms of instruments and tools. He mentioned eight types of that, making them the basis for what must be mastered in knowing it. Then he followed that by mentioning the benefit of each of these types, to indicate its importance and that knowing it is among It is urgently needed, and he concludes this chapter by saying: “In short, the owner of this industry needs to cling to every art, to the point that he needs to know what the mourner says among the women, the walker when the bride is brought in, and what the herald in the market says about the commodity, so what Do you think anything higher than this? The reason for this is that he is qualified to wander in every valley, so he needs to relate to every art” ⁽ ^[22] ⁾ .

Many critics link the poet’s musical ability to the sense/temperament or taste, which is the basis of poetry, and they seem to consider this ability as part of the work of the innate sense, given that poetry specifically specializes in the element of rhythm, and therefore they do not see learning prosody as a necessary and obligatory matter, but rather They stipulate this for the poet in one case, when his instinct is disturbed, because if a person is not endowed with this innate sense, he cannot succeed in this craft, and nothing is more evident than their belief that knowledge of prosody or other instruments and sciences, such as grammar, morphology, and strange things. .. All of this does not make a great poet, with the absence of this necessary sense, as is the case with many linguists and scholars, such as Al-Khalil and Sibawayh and those like them.

Concerning this, Ibn Tabataba says: “Whoever has sound character and taste does not need to resort to composing poetry with the prosody that is his balance, and whoever has [troubled] taste will not do without correcting and evaluating it by knowing the prosody and being adept at it, so that his acquired knowledge is considered like the character with which there is no effort” ⁽ ^[26] ⁾ .

Ibn Rashiq goes on to say that the type of poet “is by nature indispensable in knowing the meters, their names, and their causes, because his taste deviates from the insipid and objectionable ones, and the weak in nature needs to know something of that to help him in whatever he attempts in this regard” ⁽ ^[27] ⁾ . Ibn al-Atheer confirms this, in the context of his talk about the necessary tools and knowledge that the poet must be familiar with, when he says: “As for the eighth type, which is what is specific to the compiler and not the prose writer, and that is knowing the symptoms and what is permissible in it of immorality and what is not permissible - the poet He is in need of it, and we do not require him to know that in order to organize it with his knowledge, for the rhythm is based on taste..., but I want the poet to know the accidents, because taste may reveal some deviations, and this is permissible in the accidents, and the same has been reported to the Arabs, so if the poet is not knowledgeable With it, he did not differentiate between what is permissible and what is not permissible” ⁽ ^[28] ⁾ .

Whatever it is, we notice the extent of the hardship that the poet and the critic alike can suffer, since what was relied upon for them, with regard to knowledge of poetry and its criticism, was character or taste/the cultured person, capable of distinguishing good speech from bad, praiseworthy from reprehensible, and articulating The justifications and reasons for this or that ruling, as it is not enough for the critic’s work to remain within the framework of impressionistic judgments and broad expressions. Rather, his work must be based on detailing the statement, reasoning and proof... and this can only be achieved by learning the foundations of this art and long learning. And a lot of contemplation and study. Al-Amdi says: “And then, I will guide you to what will lead you to insight and knowledge of your own affairs whether you know the matter of this industry or your ignorance of it, which is to look at what the imams unanimously agreed upon in the science of poetry, regarding the preference of some poets over others. If you know the reason for that, then you know And if you do not know it, then you are ignorant.. If you say: Your contemplation has led to the knowledge of what they taught, that will not be accepted from you until you mention the reasons and causes. If you are not able to summarize the statement about that, until you know the evidence for that from your understanding and its evidence from your choices. And your distinction between good and bad” ⁽ ^[29] ⁾ .

This is what Al-Amidi says. We find it repeated, more frequently and more clearly, by more than a few of those who came after him, especially Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani, who insists on confirming this. He goes on to divide the statement about it, and perhaps the first thing he tries to emphasize is “that you will never learn in any of the industries the knowledge that you will pass and improve, until you are among those who know right from wrong, and separate evil from goodness, and even differentiate between goodness and evil, and know the classes of doers of good” ⁽ ^[30] ⁾ . Based on this, “it is not sufficient in the knowledge of eloquence to establish a certain analogy for it, to describe it in a general way, and to say a direct statement about it. And you count them one by one, and you call them one thing by another, and your knowledge will be the knowledge of skillful craftsmanship” ⁽ ^[31] ⁾ , and then he says: “The sum of what I wanted to make clear to you is that for every speech that you approve of, and a utterance that you find good, there must be a direction to your approval of that. information, and a reasonable reason, and that we have a way to express that, and evidence of the validity of what we claimed about that” ⁽ ^[32] ⁾ .

I am not here to research this approach, or delve into its details, and examine its theoretical and applied manifestations, as that was not one of the purposes of this paper. Rather, it was pointed out, in order to clarify this qualitative shift that Arab criticism has reached, and that the matter is no longer an instantaneous meeting. Quickly between the text and the reader, or words delivered to its readers, but it must be based on deep analysis, careful research, mentioning the reasons and causes, and providing convincing evidence - and this means that confronting this task is difficult, and that not every person is capable of it, because of what it requires. Of qualifications and abilities, machines and tools, efforts and time.

Abdel Qaher, in many instances, touched upon the description of the true critic, and the nature of the reading he should reach, as he dealt with the statement or the poetic text, especially since he saw the large number of intruders, and those who talk and delve into the matter of criticism, and they are not qualified for that, but rather They lack the most basic qualifications and tools. The true critic who can be relied upon must “be one of the people of taste and knowledge... As for the one who only checks for absolute correctness, or apparent parsing, then how little it is useful to talk to him, let him be one.” This is his characteristic to you like someone who lacks a sense of the weight of poetry, the taste with which he evaluates it, and the character that distinguishes what is true from what is broken... - in that you do not confront him, nor do you bother to define him, because you know that he lacks the tool with which he knows it, and the sense with which he finds it” ⁽ ^[33] ⁾ .

The critical process is no longer a superficial reading, a passing comment, or a general description, without explanation or proof, as this is worthless. Rather, it must “go beyond knowing the thing in general, to knowing it in detail, until only looking at its angles convinces you. And penetrating into its sources, until you are like one who follows water until he knows its source and the course of the tree veins from which it comes” ⁽ ^[34] ⁾ . Hence, Abdel Qaher often emphasized that this level of critical practice requires “patience in contemplation, persistence in contemplation, and a determination that refuses to be convinced except completely, and to be satisfied until the goal is reached” ⁽ ^[35] ⁾ , just as the speech He does not reveal to you his artistic and aesthetic secrets, and reveals to you his secrets and content pillars, “where you hear with your ear, but rather where you look with your heart, seek help from your thought, exercise your vision, review your mind, and in general seek help for your understanding” ⁽ ^[36] ⁾ .

The same applies to Hazem Al-Qartajani, as he insists on the necessity of combining correct taste and deep knowledge of the principles of the poetry industry and what scholars and specialists have concluded. He rejects the reliance on nature or taste alone, because natures may “seek the bad and seek help from the good words unless they suppress their response.” To consider speech according to rhetorical laws, thus knowing what is good and what is not good” ⁽ ^[37] ⁾ . Accordingly, these dispositions remain in dire need of being corrected, whether in terms of correcting the meanings or in terms of correcting the words that express them, “since the Arabs did not dispense with the health of their dispositions and the quality of their ideas in order to correct their dispositions and correct them by considering the meanings of speech with the laws correcting them, and he made it so.” A knowledge that she studies in her clubs, and with which they advise each other and give each other insight in that” ⁽ ^[38] ⁾ , just as she was not like that “in her words, poetry, which is in fact poetry, and her compositions of poems that she used to call the eras of the ages, dispense with teaching and guidance on the methods of construction that must be To cover it with words, and to explain the aspects of the recommended behavior in all of this, and to point out the areas from which the defect intersects the meanings, and corruption occurs in the composition of words and meanings” ⁽ ^[39] ⁾ .

We also find him in another context, directing violent criticism at those who enter into a field other than his field, and issue fatwas about what he has no knowledge of, just as a group of theologians used to issue fatwas regarding al-Qurayd, saying, “They had no knowledge of poetry, neither in terms of practicing it, nor in terms of the ways in which it is connected.” To know it..., and what implicates them in this is that they need to speak about the miraculous nature of the Qur’an, so they need to know the essence of eloquence and eloquence without any knowledge of that being presented to them, so they are terrified to read whatever books on this art are available to them, so if one of them differentiates between naturalization and repetition, He distinguished the metaphor from the metaphor, and he thought that he had acquired some of this knowledge, so he began to speak eloquently with what was pure ignorance of it” ⁽ ^[41] ⁾ .

Poetry is an industry that has its own specificity, just as it has its own masters who were completely devoted to it, until they knew it well, and became aware of its subtlest differences and secrets. These are the ones whom Al-Khalil bin Ahmed called “the princes of speech” ⁽ ^[42] ⁾ , because of the authority and power they possess. In this regard, and these people are the same, as Hazem says: “No one should object to them in their sayings except those whose rank in the good composition of speech and the creativity of the system competes with their rank, for the extent of the merit of composition is only equal to the merit of character and knowledge of speech, and not everyone who claims knowledge of the tongue is knowledgeable.” In reality... scholars only define it with everything that is intended in it in terms of its wording or meaning, and these are the eloquent people for whom there is no way for the masters of insight to comprehend the truths of speech except according to what they have established. So whoever makes that his guide, his path will be guided” ⁽ ^[43] ⁾ .

Thus, we notice the attention of the predecessors to the personality and qualifications of the critic. If “a person does not have to be a poet, nor a writer, nor the one who has words that influence, and words that narrate” ⁽ ^[44] ⁾ , then he does not have to be a critic as well, so he speaks about the making of poetry, and he is not Qualified or specialized, as his ignorance is quickly revealed, and his faults become apparent, as is the case in all arts and industries, and that is because every industry has its scholars, who are devoted to it, and spend their lives in its field, so these are the only ones who have the highest say, and the judgment that people must receive with submission. And contentment.

With the development of the ancient Arab criticism movement, the personality of the critic and his qualifications also developed and became more apparent. Here, in the history of literary criticism among the Arabs, two prominent stages can be referred to: the stage of self-criticism/unreasoned, which we find in the first novel, and its eras. The early stage, then the stage of objective/reasoned criticism, which critics have been calling for, aspiring to achieve, and striving to establish its rules and foundations.

If criticism in its first stage relies heavily on abstract feeling and individual experience, being content with a partial view, a cursory comment, and making general judgments and comprehensive descriptions, such as their saying: This is the most poetic verse, and so-and-so is the most poetic of the Arabs, and this poem is “for the eternity.” In addition to other rulings and opinions that were expressed by their authors without a clear or convincing comment - criticism later was no longer satisfied with this level, especially after the stage of codifying poetic and literary productions, the consolidation of sciences, and the mixing of Arabs with other nations, peoples and cultures, as it became shameful that it was not useful. The critic from all of this, to reflect on his critical thinking and his reading of the poetic text, just as the critic has become required to reveal, in every judgment he issues or opinion he expresses, the reasons and reasons that led him to issue this judgment or formulate that opinion, and this means that the issue does not stop. At the limits of personal taste, it is true that this taste is the taste of a poet or an expert in poetry, but this is no longer sufficient. Rather, there must be reasoning and analysis, relying on rules and standards, and following a disinterested approach. Otherwise, the work of the critic will remain subject to ambiguity at times, and a scene of chaos. Other times.

Effective literary criticism, as it has recently become established in the minds of the predecessors, does not depend on mere taste, nor does it depend on mere knowledge and tools. Rather, its solid foundation is taste charged with broad culture: private and public, inherited and modern, Arab and non-Arab, because without that it cannot The critic must illuminate the objective and artistic dimensions of poetic production, and perform his function correctly, so that it benefits the creator and the recipient alike.

This foundation has played a prominent role, throughout the literary eras, in the development of the process of Arab criticism, and in presenting the most important methodological approaches in trying to understand literary truth, and reading the poetic text, specifically, whether this reading aims to understand and interpret it or to evaluate it from its multiple aspects. : Linguistic, stylistic, aesthetic and influential, and here it is possible to glimpse, by way of representation, the achievements of many critical inspirations, despite the disparity between them, such as Ibn Salam, Al-Jahiz, Ibn Qutaybah, Ibn Tabataba, Qudamah bin Jaafar, Al-Umayyad, Al-Qadi Al-Jurjani, Ibn Rashiq, Ibn Sinan Al-Khafaji, Abdul-Qahir Al-Jurjani, Ibn Al-Atheer, Hazem Al-Qartajani... and others.

متجر نشر

In reading the poetic text (the critic’s qualifications and culture)

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