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  • Essay / Personification of Jerusalem in 'Awlad Al-kaaba' and 'Face lost in the desert'

    In the poems Awlad al-Kahba (Son of a bitch) by Mudhafar Al-Nawab and Face lost in the desert by Fadwa Tuqan, there is a great commonality in each poet's personification of Jerusalem as a raped maiden. Through each poet's perspective, both works reflect on the diminishment of Jerusalem due to a horrific occupation that has taken its toll on the land, just as a rapist wreaks havoc on a victim. Both poems personify Jerusalem as a raped girl to demonstrate what the pressure of the Israeli occupation on the city and the neglect of the international community looks like. It is interesting to examine the poet's decision to describe Jerusalem as a woman; However, although the depiction of Jerusalem as a raped girl is similar, the purpose and meaning of each differs between poems. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayTuqan uses it as a mechanism to heighten her elegy and uses the brutality of the rape to emphasize the heartbreak she feels over the brutality that Jerusalem receives. By describing Jerusalem as a “raped girl,” the vulnerability and helplessness that Jerusalem feels under occupation is similar to that of a raped girl. Conversely, al-Nawab's poem evokes a feeling of revolution and a demand for justice. He compares Arab leaders and Israeli occupiers who neglected the people of Palestine and Jerusalem to rapists and victims like the "raped girl." Tuqan and al-Nawab's poetry reflects the calamity wrought by the 1948 war between the Arab states and Israel through their own personal experience. As in many regional speeches, the connections between people and the land are described using metaphors related to the speaker's personal experience. Face Lost in the Wilderness and Sons Of A Bitch are the highest example of this. Tuqan uses the analogy of the raped girl to express that the pain felt by a raped girl is equivalent to the pain she feels for her lost homeland, while al-Nawwab uses the analogy of the raped girl to denounce the perpetrators responsible for the devastation of Jerusalem. Iraqi poet Mudhafar al-Nawab integrates political discourse into his poetry in order to question the narratives of hegemony and racism advocated by hostile forces. al-Nawwab was distressed by the consequences inherent in the Palestinian tragedy. Regardless of the dark tone of al-Nawab's poetry, the poet's diction is characterized by a sense of humor that aims to reduce the reader's tension when faced with the absurd and the tragic. realities of Arab life. In “Son of a Bitch,” the poet castigates impotent Arab leaders, accusing them of being responsible for the loss of Palestine: “Oh son of a bitch, Jerusalem is the bride of your Arab nationalism…” Al-Nawab seeks to emphasize Arab identity. of the holy city as well as the brutality of the colonizers. "...Why did you send adulterers to his room all night while cowardly cowering behind the doors, watching the rape scene..." The sexual impotence and lack of virility of Arab leaders are symbolically affirmed while alluding to their reluctance. withdraw their swords and face the enemy. "...And listening to her screams and cries for help as her virginity was violated, you all tried to withdraw your swords." By paying particular attention to his use of feminine pronouns and the "she" character of Jerusalem, by describing Jerusalem as a lady raped by the invaders, al-Nawab seeks to emphasize the identity of Palestine andits holy city as well as the brutality of the colonizers. The poet effectively visualizes the rape scene where Jerusalem, a sacred symbol for Muslims, Christians and Jews, is kidnapped and ravaged by enemies "pretending to avenge her violated honor/instead of killing the rapists/you began to shouting at him…” describing the Arab leaders as a cowardly group dominated by imperialist forces, the poet affirms the impossibility of liberating Palestine. “Son of a bitch/I must reveal your dirty reality…” He metaphorically compares the actions and neglect of Arab leaders and Israeli colonizers towards Jerusalem to that of a rapist “asking him to shut up and cover up the scandal…”. authors and says: “shame on you, shame on all of you, sons of bitches…” Al-Nawab responds with a radical poetic speech, characterized by obscenity, anger and incendiary rhetoric aimed at awakening the collective Arab conscience. Al-Nawab appears as an individual whose poetic discourse revolutionizes contemporary Arab thought. Al-Nawab expresses his criticism and frustrations towards the Arab regimes by using angry and obscene rhetoric against the Israeli occupiers who have betrayed the cause of the Palestinian people. Using angry rhetoric and obscene language, Al-Nawab reflects his anger and frustration as he contemplates the absurd realities of contemporary Arab life. According to al-Nawab, simply because they are all pawns of the imperialist forces and, in the absence of effective political will and insight, they have paved the way for the Palestinian tragedy and the rape of Jerusalem. Depicting Jerusalem as a woman raped by invaders in the presence of Arab leaders, al-Nawab argues that to promote feelings of contempt towards the perpetrators, the poem must effectively visualize a rape scene where Jerusalem is kidnapped and ravaged by the invading enemies. in the presence of all Arab leaders who are only shameless eyewitnesses to the atrocity. In the context of Tuqan, his elegy "Lost Face in the Desert" expresses strong feelings about his love for the holy city, his pain over the city's occupation, and his eternal hope for its liberation. Here, Jerusalem, the city of religions, is represented as a beautiful young girl with burnt fingers. This truly grotesque imagery shows us the already deformed woman Jerusalem appears through Tuqan's eyes. She goes on to say: "...nothing beats in the heart of the city except their bloody heels under which Jerusalem trembles like a raped girl..." The bloody heels of the striking Israeli soldiers can make the city tremble in one way or another. another one. it reminds Tuqan of a terrorized and raped girl. His use of this rape analogy gives readers a distressing image that victimizes Jerusalem, much like al-Nawwab in Awlad al-Kahba. In the Old Testament, the city of Jerusalem is personified as a woman and is called "the daughter of Zion", always in a context charged with feelings aroused by one or the other of two opposing ideas : the destruction of Jerusalem or its deliverance. For Palestinian poets in particular, the city is part of a homeland they have clung to, one that has resisted invaders for decades, and one that is associated with the land. In other words, the Palestinian city is part of a lost homeland that has resisted invaders for decades. The desire for a place, for a city, is eternal in Palestinian poetry and can never be diminished because it has acquired the quality of an absolute. For poets, the city, the land, the village and the homeland are all an integral part of their lost and still sought dream. The Palestinian city occupies an important place in Arabic poetry.