Linguistic Oscillation in the Poetry of Hasab Al-Sheikh Jaafar – A Study of the Collection Karan Al-Bohr

This study is intended to examin the linguistic structure in one of the poetry collections of the Iraqi poet Hasab Al-Sheikh Jaafar, namely Karan Al-Bohr. This collection shows a unique idiosyncrasy that may not apply to the rest of the poet's oeuvre, including his earlier and later poetry collections.
This distinctiveness raises a significant question concerning the linguistic construction of the collection: What compels a poet like Hasab Al-Sheikh Jaafar who is deeply immersed in modernity both in form and content to oscillate in his language within this work? At times, he appears thoroughly modernist, carefully selecting expressive vocabulary and crafting phrases with a linguistic texture that reflects this modernity. Yet, at other times, he abandons this modernist approach in favor of an archaic language, probing so profoundly into antiquity that even he, before his readers, feels the necessity of understanding these words lexically before integrating them into his poetic fabric. This compels him to create footnotes on the poetic text, hoping to assist the reader in understanding and engaging with the poetry.
Moreover, this linguistic oscillation is not limited to a mere shift between modern and archaic language. The poet's linguistic references also draw from his familiarity with European life and culture, an influence that cannot be ignored. This influence was further reinforced by his extended stay in the former Soviet Union (and later Russia), granting him the opportunity to explore and immerse himself in these cultures. Even if we attempt to separate the East from the West, the pathways and windows of culture remain interconnected, despite political efforts to split them.