The Descriptive Discourse on Poetry in Manahil Fathi’s (Ka’annahu Huwa): An Analytical Study of Poetic Vision and Its Representations

Abstract

This study examines the descriptive discourse on poetry in the poetry collection “As If It Were He” (Ka’annahu Huwa) by the poet Manahil Fathi, considering it as a manifestation of the phenomenon of metapoetry, in which the poetic text turns toward itself and toward the mechanisms of its own production. In this context, the act of writing becomes an object of contemplation and analysis rather than merely a means of expression. The study aims to uncover the representations of this discourse, its artistic and semantic functions, and its role in shaping the poet’s vision of poetry, the construction of her feminine and existential identity, and her perception of the world. The research adopts an analytical–interpretive methodology by tracing the manifestations of descriptive discourse within the poems of the collection and analyzing its expressive mechanisms and aesthetic and existential functions. The study concludes that poetry in this collection performs two primary functions. The first lies in its role as a vessel for constructing feminine identity, as the poet intertwines the act of writing with her personal and social experience, transforming the poem into a living entity that confronts silence and constraints. The second function is manifested in the transformation of poetry into a means of redemption and purification, capable of converting pain into an aesthetic and cognitive act. The study also reveals the poet’s awareness of poetic structure through her explicit reference to prosodic terminology and technical vocabulary, reflecting the presence of a critical self within the text. The research concludes that the descriptive discourse in this collection is not merely an aesthetic element, but rather a tool for reinterpreting the self and the world, and an embodiment of the poet’s consciousness of the creative act as a path toward revelation and liberation.