English Limericks and Iraqi Abuthiyahs: A Contrastive Stylistic Study

Systematic designs are used to feature poems to elicit cognitive, emotional, and evaluative processes. Short rhyming poems are 'limericks' and 'abuthiyahs'. 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 .(‘The study's objective is to make meaning explicit through conducting a contrastive stylistic analysis and investigating poetic devices as they are recognized in 10 English limericks and 10 Iraqi abuthiyahs. This form of poetry is mainly associated with Edward Lear; therefore, the examples of limerick under stylistic investigation will be selected from his collection The Book of Nonsense (1846). For the same rationale, the Arabic examples are selected from Al-Kadhimi's Abuthiyat of Jaber AlKadhimi (2006). The method of analysis is qualitative-quantitative with Leech and Short’s (1969) model adopted. The results show that Limericks are funny, lighthearted, and have rhyme schemes, alliteration, and homographic puns. In a hilarious way, they depict fictitious characters in current events. The abuthiyahs communicate emotion with simple phrases, and grammar. Both poets employ cohesive strategies to link poems, but they are in different contexts and natures. In conclusion, both poets employ different linguistic strategies to enhance their poems for satire and emotional expressiveness.