kinds of the critical approach to one poetic text, by Arab ancient critics

Abstract

This paper deals with the nature of Arab ancient literary criticism through contemplating the attitudes of eight Arab literary critics concerning the same poetic text over a period of three hundred years. It seems as if the cause behind the multiplicity of approaches here was the persisting questioning by critics: Where can one discover the poetic elements characteristic of what, indeed, poetry is: is it in form or in content? The paper concludes that there are, generally, three types of critical approaches by Arab ancient critics: an aesthetic and rational approach, a psychological one, and rhetorical and artistic one. The paper names adherents for each approach, and tries to define the internal norms kept in mind when evaluating the text subject matter, and the cultural background of every critic. The paper gives more attention to the historical development of critics ways of thinking, throughout time, depending always on the general frame of Arab tradition in the field of criticism, and the new achievements of modern trends both in the philosophy of art and aesthetics.