Mahmoud Darwish and Power Charles Spencer 10th Grade

Power exists in many forms: weapons, threats, size, and even words. Amidst the violence and volatile power that exists between Israel and Palestine, Mahmoud Darwish attempts to influence people's feelings through his poetry. In Darwish’s politically charged poems, he utilizes a combination of common symbols familiar to both Jewish and Arab peoples, and carefully chosen language and diction. The content of his work allows him to cross the proverbial bridge between the Jewish and Arabic audiences, nearly always successfully making his message palpable to both. He does walk the line between wisdom and condescending superiority, however. The end result is that Darwish's poetry has a power of its own, and Darwish attempts to use this power to steer his readers away from the violence of war.

Although there is a historically long conflict between the Jewish and Arab peoples, they share such a close parentage that the two cultures have many cultural similarities. Darwish isolates these similarities, such as common religious symbols, and uses them in his work. The symbols share common messages of peace, brotherhood, and coexistence, as well as invoking utter destruction. It is with these symbols that Darwish makes his poems...