Unveiling the Reality from Abdul Fattah Abu Zaidah’s Poetry: Text Continuity and Semantic Dimensions Analyses

Abstract

Poetry can be used as one of the way to express someone’s emotions, feelings, and perspectives in a metaphorical way, and this is referred to as the semantic dimensions of poetry. Several studies have been conducted on the aspect of the continuity of Arabic literary texts. However, there has not yet been a specific study that focuses on Abu Zaidah's poetry from the perspective of grammatical and semantic analysis. This article intends to unveil the semantic dimensions of Abdul Fattah Abu Zaidah’s poetry using text continuity analysis, and the analysis focused on the cohesion criteria. A qualitative approach was employed in which the library search and semi-structured interview were conducted to collect the data. Descriptive analytical method were used to analyse the collected data. In the analysis, cohesion criteria that is based on De Beaugrande’s theory were used to identify the presence of text continuity.  Based on the analysis, it was found that the poetry produced by Abu Zaidah has semantic dimensions in which he has succeeded in making the voice of those living under colonial pressure and the threat of weapons heard. He managed to call the children of the Palestinian nation to be enthusiastic and steadfast in their struggle even if they have to sacrifice their lives. The message conveyed by the poet can be understood clearly because the poet has succeeded in producing poetry that has strong continuity between the elements in the text and uses correct grammar.