Natural language processing for Arabic poetry analysis and generation: a systematic review

Abstract

Poetry is a unique form of expression valued for its role in preserving cultural heritage. Analyzing Arabic poetry is time-consuming and requires a high level of linguistic expertise; therefore, computational methods are useful, as they enable large-scale, extensive, and systematic analysis of poetry, thereby improving its accessibility for researchers and students. This article presents the first systematic review of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) approaches for Arabic poetry. It addresses the question of which research tasks, methodologies, datasets, and evaluation approaches have been applied to Arabic poetry, and which trends and research gaps can be identified in the existing literature. In accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), the author conducted an exhaustive search across six major academic databases (ACL Anthology, IEEE Xplore, ACM, SpringerLink, Science Direct, and Google Scholar) for relevant studies published between January 2010 and May 2025. Eligibility was evaluated in several phases, and re-examination was conducted to ensure accuracy. The author performed task-level categorization, extracted key characteristics from each study, synthesized the findings, and presented them in tables and figures to highlight the main trends and research gaps in the literature. This study presents the first structured task-level synthesis of the field, identifying methodological trends, detecting evaluation inconsistencies, and highlighting research gaps that have not been critically consolidated before. Furthermore, the author assembled a comprehensive collection of available datasets and resources to promote standardized assessment.