The displacement of the textual structure in the poetry of the Iraqi poet Ahmed Al-Khayal

the correspondence of the senses as a model

Abstract

"Synesthesia" is considered one of the prominent stylistic phenomena that falls under the rhetorical deviation techniques in modern poetry, where the poetic image is constructed through the intermingling of senses and their exchange of expressive roles. This process results in the creation of unfamiliar images that captivate the reader and offer a new horizon for the artistic appreciation of the text. Although this technique has roots in classical Arabic literature, it has gained increasing attention in modern poetic practices, particularly among poets who aim to renew textual structures and move away from conventional expressive patterns. This study analyzes the poetry of the contemporary Iraqi poet Ahmed Al-Khayyal, regarded as one of the noteworthy voices in modern poetic experience. The focus is on his use of synesthesia as an aesthetic and semantic device that contributes to the deviation from traditional textual structures. The research adopts a descriptive-analytical approach: first, it defines the theoretical framework of synesthesia in terms of its concept, types, and functions; then, it extracts and analyzes diverse poetic examples from the poet's collections to identify the patterns of synesthetic expression and their role in shaping poetic imagery, constructing meanings, and deepening the suggestive dimension of the text. The findings reveal that Ahmed Al-Khayyal masterfully employs this technique with a high degree of artistic awareness, immersing the reader in a multi-sensory experience where vision interacts with sound, smell with taste, and touch with light. This endows the text with emotional density and experimental quality that enriches both aesthetic and intellectual reception. Synesthesia in his poetry is part of a broader poetic vision that seeks to break the familiar and create a poetic world that transcends the senses into a realm of free imagination and creative emotion.