A Textual Grammar Approach to ʿUbayd ibn al-Abras’s Dāliyya Poem

Abstract

This study examines a Daliyya poem by the pre-Islamic poet ʿUbayd ibn al-Abras through the lens of Text Linguistics, aiming to identify the textuality criteria and cohesion devices that contributed to the poem’s coherence. Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach, the poem was divided into three major textual structures, allowing for a comprehensive, non-fragmented analysis. Findings reveal that the first structure, centered on nostalgic reflection at deserted abodes and love imagery, featured strong intertextuality alongside cohesive devices such as repetition, ellipsis, syntactic linkage, and reference. The second structure, focusing on the poet’s self-praise, was characterized by various forms of repetition, pronouns, conditional clauses, and collocation. The third structure, dedicated to wisdom and contemplation, was marked by the criterion of informativeness through directive speech acts, as well as substitution and phonological rhythm. The study highlights that both exact and partial repetition were among the most prominent cohesive tools in the poem, and that the text demonstrated high acceptability in terms of coherence and unity, reflecting the poet’s mastery in employing linguistic and textual strategies. The research recommends further exploration of repetition and situationality in pre-Islamic poetry, particularly in the works of ʿUbayd ibn al-Abras.