Synesthesia in Mahmoud Darwish and Qahar Asi’s Poems(A Case Study on Don’t Apologize for What You’ve Done and from the Fire from the Silk

Synaesthesia is a rhetorical and artistic device. This figure of speech is derived from the combination of two senses or the paradigmatic relations between senses. Poets use this rhetorical device to broaden their imagination in order to create beautiful and impressive imagery that adds to the poetic aspects of the text. This artistic device aims at increasing audiences' literary perception or pleasure by deviating from norms and foregrounding literary conceptions. So, it allows the poets to communicate their feelings to the audience. The present study seeks to examine synaesthesia in two poetry collections, “Don’t Apologize for what You’ve Done ” by Mahmoud Darwish and “From the Fire from the Silk” by Qahar Asi. This descriptive-analytical study, undertaken using the quantitative and comparative literature methods, revealed that both poets employed the aforementioned literary device frequently. Therefore, the remarkable frequency of synaesthesia might be attributed to Asi and Darwish's poetic style. It should be noted that these poets have employed synaesthesia in distinct manners by connecting it to the content, intellectual, and emotional features of their poems.

 Desk research and document mining were used to collect the data. The content was organized using a descriptive-analytic method based on the American school framework for comparative studies. The authors also apply a quantitative research approach to explain and evaluate synaesthesia in the abovementioned works.

 Synaesthesia is an illusory technique of integrating two senses and perceiving one via the other or attributing the characteristics of one to the other. This literary device has been recognized as a significant technique in Persian and Arabic literature because it can pique the audience's attention while also transmitting the poet's sentiments and spiritual experiences. Synaesthesia enables the poet to broaden his or her imaginative horizon and create fantastically impressive imageries, which enhances the poetic effect of a text. “This creative device combines or substitutes one of the human senses with the other one. In this regard, it links the characteristics of one sense to the other. Needless to say, synaesthesia covers not only the five senses but also the abstract senses” (Golchin & Rashidi, 2011: 297). This artistic device is built on a “proclivity to change and combine.” For example, the poet may use this rhetorical device to alter the sense of smell so that audiences experience it via the senses of taste, hearing, and touch, or they see colors through sounds and hear sounds through colors (Modirzadeh Tehrani, 2020: 84-85). Furthermore, by using this aesthetic technique, the poet seeks to create innovative conceptions (Sheikh, 2010: 129).     Mahmoud Darwish and Qahar Asi are two poets who employed synaesthesia to create innovative literary imagery and elegantly express the intended meaning and sentiments. Given the following basic classification, we can analyze the use of synaesthesia in these poet's works:     The first type of synaesthesia is “horizontal harmony”. It results from the combination of two senses, such as sight and hearing, hearing and sight, sight and taste, sight and touch, touch and sight, and so on. The integration of hearing and sight senses is often highlighted in these poets’ works. As a result, this aesthetic combination has caught the poets' attention more than others. The explanation for it might be Mahmoud Darwish's and Qahar Asi's exceptional sight and hearing senses since both have seen war and its devastating effects: both poets can detail the explosion of the shells, cries of the war-torn, and visions of people’s suffering via such a combination.     Vertical harmony is the second form of synaesthesia. Here, poets do not confine themselves to integrating merely two senses: they blend terms related to five senses with terms that represent abstract concepts, creating attractive imagery. In this case, the poet may brilliantly express his mental imagination by using literal devices that render the abstract notions evident (Hassanli, 2004: 282-283). The poets in question have employed a synthesis of sight sense and abstract ideas more frequently since sight is one of the most essential human senses and allows people to interact with their surroundings. The combination of this sense and imagination results in the creation of innovative imagery. Mahmoud Darwish and Qahar Asi transmit their experiences and thoughts vividly via such artistic combination, contributing to the creation of novel ideas in the realm of poetry. 

The findings reveal that, although the poets employed synaesthesia in different manners, what counts is that they established a relationship between the way they use this literary device and the content, ideas, and feelings they attempted to convey via their poetry.     The most notable aspects of these poets’ collections are their intentional use of the aforementioned literary device and its harmony with the theme. According to the sample analysis, synaesthesia has transformed the poems into creative poetry and has been used to convey meaning and increase the literary impression communicated to the audience. Mahmoud Darwish and Qahar Asi have used various types of synaesthesia in their verses on occasion, demonstrating their inventiveness in using this literary device. Darwish’s poetry employs the following synaesthesia combinations (horizontal axis) frequently: (1) sight-hearing combination; (3) hearing-sight combinations; (1) sight-taste combination; (1) sight-touch combination; (2) touch-taste combinations; (2) smell-sight combinations; and (1) taste-smell combination. Darwish's use of synaesthesia on the vertical axis (the combining of five senses with abstract concepts) is also frequent. Accordingly, there are (8) sight-abstract concept combinations; (3) touch-abstract concept combinations; (1) hearing-abstract concept combination; and (1) smell-abstract concept combination. Qahar Asi’s frequency use of synaesthesia in the horizontal axis is as follows: (2) sight-hearing combinations; (5) hearing-sight combinations; (2) sight-taste combinations; (1) touch-sight combination; (2) sight-smell combinations; (1) smell-hearing combination; (1) hearing-smell combination; and (2) hearing-touch combinations. Furthermore, his use of synaesthesia on the vertical axis (the combining of five senses with abstract concepts) is as follows: (15) sight-abstract concept combinations; (1) abstract concept-sight combination; (4) abstract concept-hearing combinations; (1) smelling-abstract concept combination; (1) abstract concept-touch combination; (2) touch-abstract concept combinations.     According to statistical analysis, the most common use of this literary technique on the horizontal axis is synaesthesia created by the hearing-sight senses. Furthermore, sight-abstract concepts are the most often utilized combination in the poets' collections on the vertical axis. In general, we may say that these poets' most active senses are sight and hearing. One explanation for such a focus on these senses might be because poets' sight and hearing senses were stronger than other senses: these dedicated poets had seen shell explosions and terrible wartime scenes. As a result, the combination of various sensations, known as synaesthesia, allows these poets to more clearly depict the sound of war-torn cries and scenes from people's suffering.