This collection of poems deals with places and the history that happened there. Mahmoud Darwish writes " In Jerusalem, and I mean within the ancient walls, I walk from one epoch to another without a memory to guide me." I believe that places can hold the memory, the essence, of things that happened there and I think that idea is present in these poems. For instance in Asadullah Habib's poem "The story of my country is written on its jungles and deserts"
I spent a lot of time thinking about this line in Farid Matuk's poem Anamorphosis "A long time ago painters laid out shadows such that if you stand in the right place they coalesce for your eyes into a skull" He is referencing the painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the younger were a skull is hidden using anamorphosis. I think the point of this reference in the poem is how there are different ways to look at things and there is death in everything. The place in this poem is shifting in the speakers eyes, just as shadows shift to show a skull.
In the Labor Market by Pham Tien Duat shows how a place has been changed by war and I really appreciate how Duat does this. It is not exactly personification it is more like Duat is using a person to reflect the place as well as the people who were affected.
Rose,
ReplyDeleteyou're very fast in your comments. you make some salient points though--about how place is sometimes shadow and castes a different way to view it, how places hold memories.. i'd love to hear more
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Hello! I agree that places contains memories - in my opinion, it is one of the most important things that 'place' can hold. Memories are layered and can give life to something unfamiliar and intangible. The figurative language that poets use in their writings are given life within memories and make it possible for others to empathize.
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