Analyzing Sense Relations and some Figures of Speech in the Poetry of Melayê Cizîrî

Abstract

This article investigates the semantic fabric of Melayê Cizîrî’s mystical poetry through the lens of sense relations, with particular focus on metaphor and metonymy as dominant figures of speech. Using qualitative semantic analysis of selected bilingual poems, the study explores how Cizîrî employs linguistic relations such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, meronymy, polysemy, homonymy, metaphor, and metonymy to express profound Sufi themes—including divine love, spiritual longing, and self-annihilation. The findings reveal that these semantic strategies not only enhance poetic depth and symbolic resonance but also function as vehicles for encoding mystical experience and emotional intensity. The analysis further highlights how metaphor and metonymy transform abstract spiritual concepts into vivid imagery, allowing the poems to oscillate between the sensual and the metaphysical. The study concludes that semantic analysis offers critical insights into the poetics of Cizîrî, demonstrating how language in Sufi poetry serves both as ornament and revelation.