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Abstract:
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Nostalgia is a term that is often used in literature and popular culture to connote an individual’s relation to a specific place , time or object , however , despite its use in literary analysis , it is often overlooked as a rhetorical devise employed to connect to , persuade , and influence an audience . This paper analyzes the poetry of Arabo -Siculo poet Ibn Ḥamdīs and his use of nostalgia in his poetry to influence and persuade his audiences abroad . I look to the sociologists Fred Davis and Svetlana Boym and their descriptions of nostalgia as being either public or private , restorative or reflective . Drawing on these terms , I propose that Ibn Ḥamdīs writes a relational nostalgia , that is , a nostalgia that he writes into his poetry not just for cathartic , personal benefit , but as a persuasive , rhetorical measure for his audience , and in this way he builds a collective , shared memory between himself and his audience . In addition to nostalgia , I will also be looking to Suzanne Stetkevych and Samer Ali and their work on the socio -political nature of Arabo -Islamic poetry to see how Ibn Ḥamdīs creates and employs this relational nostalgia for his audience and the effect it has on them . |