The significance of color in the formation of poetic imagery among Sufi poets. An Artistic Study

Abstract

Color represents a tangible and visible dimension in the entirety of existence. Poets have borrowed the effects of color from visual artists to craft artistic imagery, allowing their poetry to be imbued with a distinctive hue. Sufis, too, have had a share in these borrowings, which took two directions: the first, a religious, psychological, and devotional direction, evident in their rituals, behaviors, and spiritual states; the second, where they extracted elements from these rituals to adorn their poetry and literary works. The researcher has sought to explore the artistic formulations employed by the Sufi poet in his poetic texts, constructing poetic imagery that relies on color as a fundamental pillar in the structure of Sufi poetry. The Sufi poet has, to some extent, succeeded in utilizing the dimension of color as one of the cornerstones of building imagined poetic imagery, merging his mystical ecstasies and unique spiritual devotions with the poetic imagination present in the texts. Color thus becomes the common denominator between the two.