The Structure of Rhythm in Prose Poetry: The Experience of Ammar Al-Masoudi in "Brown Summer" (A Model)

Abstract

This paper sheds light on an exciting experience related to rhythm in prose poetry. It specifically addresses the rhythm in prose texts to show how it can be exciting, distinctive, and innovative, and how this rhythm contributes to revealing the creative structure of the prose text. The study concluded with several results that clarify the main characteristics of the prose text, such as rhythmic totality, rhythmic cohesion, and rhythmic differences.

There is a tradition observed by those interested in archiving Arabic poetry, where the text precedes the theory, suggesting creativity first, and then the theory frames it. However, this research, with the experience of rhythm in prose poetry by Ammar Al-Masoudi, faced a reversed equation. The text by Ammar Al-Masoudi invoked traditional rhetorical theory with a modern spirit that disrupted the stable and calm at the same time.

This harmonious approach caught my attention, so I decided to read its rhythmic structure, taking the collection "Brown Summer" as a sample to reveal its procedural truth. The research roadmap was divided into two sections. The first section focused on two points: the first on the rhythm of prose poetry and its outcomes, while the other outlined the theoretical features of the experience by linking the poet's previous experiences with the selected experience.

The second section was a field for application by randomly selecting samples from the collection to ensure objectivity and avoid the error of imposing theory on the text.

Adopting this vision in approaching the rhythm of prose poetry, we tried to deviate from the usual academic studies and not read the "Brown Summer" experience by dividing its rhythm into partial elements such as repetition and parallelism, and then searching for evidence of them in the experience. Instead, we followed the method of random selection of a single sample that represents the entire poem experience for us. This will avoid falling into fragmentary reading that does not care about the overall experience and only focuses on the part. Moreover, it will help us pursue the rhythmic meaning in the single experience, reinforcing the principle that prose poetry is a personal experience.

Random selection will avoid the problem of forcibly imposing theorization on the read text, as we said. Through this, we will not come with preconceived judgments, but our reading will be subject to the specifics of the read experiences, which this research aims to achieve.