في شعريّة المعنى لدى المتنبّي، أوْ بين بناء القلعة وبناء القصيدة

Résumé

This brief study seeks to elucidate the poetics of meaning in the poetry of Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi by analyzing a selected verse that has long captivated our attention. This verse has enticed us to explore the secrets of its artistic uniqueness and the depth of its thematic significance. The reason for this fascination is that, whenever we reflect upon this line with our students in the course of discussing a particular aspect of Al-Mutanabbi’s poetry, a pressing question emerges: Does this verse depict a single agent who builds the fortress of the event with the edge of the sword? Or does it simultaneously suggest the presence of a second agent who constructs the poem with the edge of the word, immortalizing this pivotal historical moment in the life of the early Arab Muslims?

To phrase the question more precisely: Does the poetics of meaning in this verse rest on a dual construction? One construction is visible—the physical building of the fortress, representing the historical event that prompted Al-Mutanabbi to praise Sayf al-Dawla al-Hamdani, the architect of the stronghold in reality. The other construction, however, remains hidden within the text, only revealed through meticulous analysis. This second construction is that of Al-Mutanabbi the artisan, who sculpted from language an image of the towering fortress and, in doing so, created a magnificent poem.

   The verse in question, composed in the Ṭawīl meter, reads:
Banāhā fa-aʿlā wa-l-qanā taqraʿu l-qanā
Wa-mawju l-manāyā ḥawlahā mutalāṭim

("He built it and raised it high while spears clashed against spears,
And the waves of death surged turbulently around it.")

This verse, in our humble estimation, is particularly worthy of study, as it demonstrates how Al-Mutanabbi distilled poetic meaning from the depths of his verse while simultaneously maintaining the surface-level praise of Sayf al-Dawla. The latter had liberated the fortress from the rule of the foreign military commander al-Damastuq, who had wronged its inhabitants and broken his oaths with them.

Most studies of this poem—and of this verse in particular—have focused on the praised figure, Sayf al-Dawla, and his actions while neglecting the true architect of poetic meaning: Al-Mutanabbi the artist. Therefore, this article redirects its analytical gaze toward this dual construction, examining how the act of building is shared between the commander of the army and the master of poetry. Through this analysis, we uncover the interplay of two architectural feats: the construction of the fortress and the composition of the poem.