ENG 205--Crtv Writ: Fict & Poetry--
University of Nevada, Reno, Summer 2019.
Beginning writers workshop in both poetry and prose (fiction and creative nonfiction). Mostly revision and freewrite, the class was small and just not that engaging. However, one of the more promising essays was developed and presented.
06/17/19: Dareen Tatour
Conventional literary analysis of a work of poetry follows a predictable pipeline with variables related to cohesion, strengths-weaknesses, abstractions, line breaks, rhythm and several other aspects. This does not necessarily reflect the cultural perspective of the piece in question. From a linguistic standpoint, a new paradigm can be modeled following certain fundamental assumptions such as the four maxims described as the "cooperative principle" and other tools such as "code switching."
Cooperative principle is defined by Paul Grice in four maxims: quantity, quality, relevance and truth. (UPenn) Code-switching in linguistics is defined as the "process of shifting from one linguistic code (a language or dialect) to another, depending on the social context or conversational setting." (Britannica) Both of these established paradigms can be utilized for analysis of a piece of literary work in a cultural context. For the Grice maxims, the process of transformation is straightforward, in the case of code switching, a new set is created with respect to gender-person, tense, inertia, and temporal consideration.
The poem "Resist My People, Resist Them" by the Arab activist 37 year old Dareen Tatour will be analyzed. (Code Pink) The Pen America bio on Ms. Tatour notes her background and activism which resulted in the Israeli government convicting her of inciting terrorism on social media;
"A poet and Palestinian citizen of Israel, living near Nazareth in northern Israel, Tatour was arrested in 2015 during a broader period of unrest and subsequent Israeli crackdown on Palestinians. In addition to the video post and accompanying poem, the charge cited two additional Facebook posts. In the first, she wrote about Islamic Jihad’s call for an intifada" (Pen America) Tatour spent several months in jail and house arrest because of her online activity. The poem is as follows:
Resist, My People, Resist Them
by Dareen Tatour , (translated to English by Tariq al Haydar)
01 Resist, my people, resist them.
02 In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows
03 And carried the soul in my palm
04 For an Arab Palestine.
05 I will not succumb to the “peaceful solution,”
06 Never lower my flags
07 Until I evict them from my land.
08 I cast them aside for a coming time.
09 Resist, my people, resist them.
10 Resist the settler’s robbery
11 And follow the caravan of martyrs.
12 Shred the disgraceful constitution
13 Which imposed degradation and humiliation
14 And deterred us from restoring justice.
15 They burned blameless children;
16 As for Hadil, they sniped her in public,
17 Killed her in broad daylight.
18 Resist, my people, resist them.
19 Resist the colonialist’s onslaught.
20 Pay no mind to his agents among us
21 Who chain us with the peaceful illusion.
22 Do not fear doubtful tongues;
23 The truth in your heart is stronger,
24 As long as you resist in a land
25 That has lived through raids and victory.
26 So Ali called from his grave:
27 Resist, my rebellious people.
28 Write me as prose on the agarwood;
29 My remains have you as a response.
30 Resist, my people, resist them.
31 Resist, my people, resist them.
Analysis by the new paradigm of maxims and switching can be found in a line-to-line breakdown of the poem. Throughout, the content satisfies the maxims of quantity, quality, relevance and truth. It is no secret that the Palestinians are fed up with Israeli occupation and the constant patrolling and harassment and invasion of the territories and Gaza. The two-state issue has stumped the United Nations since it was founded. Truth is directly alluded to in Line 23. "The truth in your heart is stronger." By quality she appeals to the soul in Line 03 and to the heart, again in Line 23. The poem is cataloged throughout with relevant examples of the injustice: Lines 12-13, where the "constitution ...imposed degradation and humiliation;" and specifically, in Lines 16-17, with reference to "Hadil, they sniped her in public, Killed her in broad daylight."
This is in reference to Hadeel al-Hashlamoun , a young Palestinian woman who was gunned down at an Israeli checkpoint by soldiers. (Haaretz)
Code switching, although confined normally to linguistics, is useful in poetry as it defines in a different set of parameters some of the same techniques in classical literary analysis. Note, for instance, the switching from present to past tense throughout. The title is in the present tense and is reflected through most of the piece, as for example from Lines 05-12. Note then a conversion to the past tense in Lines 13-17;
"Which imposed degradation and humiliation, And deterred us from restoring justice. They burned blameless children; As for Hadil, they sniped her in public, Killed her in broad daylight."
There appears to be no apparent reason for the conversion to past tense other than to develop a sense of truth in the form of cited, third person flashbacks.
By "gender-person" the poem moves from just such references to "they" and "her" instead of "you" in those lines. When it comes to Dareen, she speaks in the first person;
Line 02: "In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows,"
Line 07: "Until I evict them from my land."
A simple definition of "inertia" is "a tendency to do nothing or remain unchanged." (Wikipedia) The poem refers throughout to various possibilities to do nothing or change. Line 06 "Never lower my flags," Line 25 "That has lived through raids and victory." Note also that Line 25 is in the present perfect, "That has lived," denoting a past action event with present consequences. (Stack Exchange)
Paradigms become entrenched in culture due to acceptance by the status quo. They offer little opportunity to advance or refine new theories on interpretation, not just confined to the scientific field. I have demonstrated in this presentation another perspective in examination of a piece of literary work. The results have met with limited success but the evolution of this new process cannot be underestimated for what it might hold in the future.
Works Cited:
Maxims, https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/dravling/grice.html
Code Switching, https://www.britannica.com/topic/code-switching'
Bio, https://pen.org/advocacy-case/dareen-tatour/
Resist My People, Resist Them, https://www.codepink.org/resist_my_people_resist_them
Hadil, https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-execution-of-hadeel-al-hashlamoun-1.5417049
Inertia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertia
Has Lived, https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/19471/when-to-use-has-lived-vs-lived-vs-had-lived
Trial, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-hands-palestinian-poet-dareen-tatour-five-month-prison-sentence-1.6335232
Twitter Hashtag, https://twitter.com/hashtag/DareenTatour?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Image: https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5320247,00.html
