The Poetic Image and its Actual Sources from a Phenomenological Perspective: Theoretical Approach and Applications on Texts by Mahmoud Darwish

Abstract

Objectives: This research aims to present a new scientific approach to the concept of poetic image, its process of occurrence, its actual sources, and its relationship to the reader.

Methods: The research depends on Iser's theory of reception and its phenomenological origins to study the image as a literary phenomenon resulting from the interaction between the reader and the text.

Results: The research found that the actual existence of the phenomenon of the image results from the effect of the text and the influence of the reader, and for this reason, the images do not appear ready in the printed text, nor do they result from the reader’s imagination alone, but rather depend on the interaction between the text and the reader.

The research concluded that the sources of the image are variable and not fixed, and are divided into what is related to each reader separately, such as imagination, tendencies and culture, and to what is related to each text separately, namely the textual balance, spaces, broken perceptions and textual vacancies.

Conclusions: Research recommends abandoning image labels that mean they are complete and ready in phrase.

It is recommended to consider that the actual presence of an image varies with reading conditions and the level of interaction and response between the text and potential readers. Additionally, it recommends contenting itself with the actual sources of the image that appears each time during the practice of reading.