Displacement, Resistance, Decolonization and Identity in Mahmoud Darwish’s Selected Poems

Abstract

This study examines the coherent tapestry of Mahmoud Darwish’s four poems where the individual feelings and the national causes seem uniformly inseparable. Palestinian suffering, struggle, resistance, displacement and identity crises have been identified and treated in all selected four poems. A close reading of “In Jerusalem,” “Identity Card,” “To My Mother,” and “The Passport” illustrates how different themes facilitate understanding subjugation and colonization of a nation in poetry artistically constructed. On the whole this essay is an attempt to employ the socio-political and cultural politics to examine different themes for a better understanding of Darwish’s selected poetry. Here the present researcher intends to study societal structures, political dynamics, and cultural influences and see how social norms, government policies, historical events, and cultural traditions shape human interactions, decisions, and identities. Within this framework, cultural concepts related to postcolonial theory are borrowed to illustrate modern man's challenges in the poems under discussion.