English Limericks and Iraqi Abuthiyahs: A Contrastive Stylistic Study

Abstract      A limerick is a humorous poem of five lines with the rhyming scheme AABBA. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme the same for verbal rhythm; the third and fourth are shorter and have separate rhyme and rhythm. Iraqi abuthiyahs are popular poems composed of four lines: AAAB; the first three have the same anagrams, and the fourth ends with the letters (ya ‘ی’ and haa ‘هه’). Limericks and abuthiyahs are short rhymed poems that are rich culturally and elicit humor and emotion via specific stylistic processes. The paper aims to carry out a stylistic comparison of ten limericks in Edward Lear’s The Book of Nonsense (۱۸۴۶) and ten abuthiyahs in Al-Kadhimi Abuthiyat of Jaber Al-Kadhimi (۲۰۰۶). Although the analysis is based on the framework of Leech and Short (۱۹۶۹), it touches upon the modern theories of stylistics, which focus on the interaction between linguistic decisions and culture. The paper demonstrates that the limericks are based on rhythmic regularity, lexical repetition, and ridiculous images to create comic effects, but abuthiyahs are founded on emotive colloquial expressions, symbolic imagery, and performative intensity to create communal sentiment. In addition to structural differences, including anapestic meter and Arabic prosody, the results reveal the distinct ways each poetic form is utilized in its respective tradition: limericks as playful literary objects and abuthiyahs as a means of oral social identity. This interdisciplinary method demonstrates how form, language, and cultural role are interrelated to produce a specific stylistic effect.

کلیدواژه ها:

Limericks ، Abuthiyahs ، Stylistics ، cultural poetics ، Figurative language