A DATE WITH A LITERARY SCHOLAR

MR REFAAT ALAREER

He is a brilliant academic and writer from Gaza.  He claims that he is not a poet. He is working as a lecturer at Islamic University of Gaza and majoring in English Literature and Creative Writing. Most of his works are about Palestine which focuses more on dialogue, performance and drama in Palestine. For more information, drop by to his blog, Facebook and Twitter. I’m sure there will be lot of things to dig about Palestine!In this precious session, Mr. Refaat did tell us about: 

1.       The Historical of the Palestine

2.      Operation Cast Lead makes people start to resists. In the 22-day Israeli military offensive Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009 some 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including some 300 children and large areas of Gaza were razed to the ground, leaving many thousands homeless and the already dire economy in ruins.Both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides have failed to investigate the violations of international law, including war crimes, committed by their forces. The responsibility now lies with the international community to take concrete steps to ensure justice and redress for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators on all sides. UN investigators, led by the internationally respected Justice Richard Goldstone, have now concluded their report on the Gaza conflict. Ensuring the implementation of the Goldstone report recommendations is a crucial step towards obtaining reparations for the victims and revealing the truth about the crimes committed. If those responsible are brought to justice others will be deterred from committing violations of international law in the future.

3.       The use of poem is actually to transcend society. In addition, he also introduced several famous poet that we should know :

Famous Palestinian Writer (in English)

Rafeef Ziadah (We Teach Life, Sir)

Susuan Abulhawa (Novelist, Wala!)

Remi Kanazi (Performance Poetry)

Famous Palestinian Writer (in Arabic)

Mahmoud Darwish

Tamim Barghouti

4.       How to start writing poetry?

-          Read a lot of good and high quality poetry.

-          Believe that you can write a good stuff

-          Have the willingness

-          Scrabble your thoughts (free writing)

-          Imitate

-          Be yourself

5.      Analyzing Poems

Mr. Refaat had gone through several poems. For instance, If I must die, Over the Wall and And We Live On... He recites the poem for us! To read more about his work, visit his blog. http://thisisgaza.wordpress.com/

6.       Q& A Session

This session was the important session, where we can gain information about his biography in deeply. So, this additional information will help us in understanding Mr. Refaat.

-          His favorite poet was John Donne.

-           The writing style of Palestinian before war was same as us. After war, it changes more to the resistance where it emphasizes on memory.

-          To write ≠ to be the person. Poem is used to express our own story and feeling.

-          Woman in Palestine was active than man.

-          Before war, Palestine was a simple place where the citizen works in agriculture.

-          The picture in his blog is actually symbolizing the specialties of Palestine.

Last but not least, this date was really a precious moment for me. I did gain information about Mr Refaat, his works, tips on writing the great poems and most important thing is to understand and aware about Palestine. I agreed with Dr. Haslina’s short poem where, even we are not in Palestine, our soul’s already there! May Allah bless Palestinian.

May this date remain in our memory forever. (21/10/13)

World War I (1914-1919)

World War I was an extremely blood war that engulfed Europe from from 1914 to 1919, with huge losses of life and little ground lost or won. Fought mostly by soldiers in trenches, WWI saw an estimated 10 million military deaths and another 20 million wounded. While many hoped that WWI would be "the war to end all wars," in actuality, the concluding peace treaty set the stage for World War II.

I've just watch this short documentary. This video will easily enhance our knowledge about WWI. Enjoy it!

There are also several famous poets writing about WWI. For instance :

• Wilfred Owen : " Dulce et Decorus Est"

• Siegfried Sassoon : " How to Die"

• Herbert Read : "The Happy Warrior"

• W.N.Hodgson : "Before Action"

• Wilfred Gibson : "Back"  

Other than that, there is a strong but neglected tradition of women's poetry written in response to the events of the First World War. Many of these poems are the products of direct experience of the processes of war; making weapons, nursing the wounded, the loss of brothers, sons, or lovers in the trenches by women on active service in the battle areas as well as by women involved in the war effort at home. The range of this poetry is wide. It is often experimental and in advance of the male poetic response. Some of the women poets are well known in other contexts like Rose Macauley, Edith Nesbit, and Edith Sitwell  while others are largely unknown. Below are some examples of such works by a number of women poets of the period.

•  Madeline Ida Bedford : “Munition Wages”

• Eva Dobell : “Pluck”

• Marian Allen :  “The Wind on the Downs”

• Sybil Bristowe : “Over the Top”

This is one of the poem :

The Call, by Jessie Pope

Who's for the trench—

Are you, my laddie?

Who'll follow French—

Will you, my laddie?

Who's fretting to begin,

Who's going out to win?

And who wants to save his skin—

Do you, my laddie?

Who's for the khaki suit—

Are you, my laddie?

Who longs to charge and shoot—

Do you, my laddie?

Who's keen on getting fit,

Who means to show his grit,

And who'd rather wait a bit—

Would you, my laddie?

Who'll earn the Empire's thanks—

Will you, my laddie?

Who'll swell the victor's ranks—

Will you, my laddie?

When that procession comes,

Banners and rolling drums—

Who'll stand and bite his thumbs—

Will you, my laddie?

For more collection of WWI poem, visit http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/poets-of-the-first-world-war .

Understanding Poetry and Drama

What is Poetry?

1      

        Definition:

• an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices to evoke an emotional response.
• Wordsworth : as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings;"
• Emily Dickinson : "If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry;"
• Dylan Thomas : "Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing."

For more definitions, check this link.http://poetinthecity.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/what-is-poetry-50-definitions-and-counting/. It was really interesting!

2    Elements of Poetry :

·         Setting

·         Imagery

·         Theme

·         Voice

·         Tone

·         Structure and Poetry

Stanzas

Form

·         Sound Patterns

Rhyme

Rhythm & Meter

Word Sounds

·         Meaning and Poetry

Concreteness & Particularity

Denotation & Connotation

Figurative/ Connotative Devices

For more information about the elements of poetry,  drop by to this link! http://learn.lexiconic.net/elementsofpoetry.htm

3    Type of Poetry

            Epic- a lengthy narrative poem in grand language celebrating the adventures and accomplishments                 of a legendary or conventional hero.

Couplet- two lines of verses which rhyme and form a unit alone or as part of a poem.

Sonnet - a short rhyming poem with 14 lines. The original sonnet form was invented in the 13/14th century by Dante and an Italian philosopher named Francisco Petrarch. The form remained largely unknown until it was found and developed by writers such as Shakespeare.

Actually, there are many types of poetry. Let’s check this website for more information. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/glossary-terms?category=forms-and-types.

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What is Drama?

1      Definition:

-        a literary composition involving conflict, action crisis and atmosphere designed to be acted by players on a stage before an audience. This definition may be applied to motion picture drama as well as to the traditional stage.

2   Elements of  Drama :

 Aside - Lines whispered to the audience or to another character on stage.

Catastrophe - the final event in a drama (a death in a tragedy or a marriage in a comedy).

Comedy - A light play with a happy ending.

Comic Relief - A bit of humor injected into a serious play to relieve the heavy tension of tragic events.

Crisis - The turning point in the plot.

Dramatic Irony - occurs when the audience knows something that the character on stage is not aware.

      3. Types of Drama :

Tragedy -- In general, tragedy involves the ruin of the leading characters. To the Greeks, it meant the destruction of some noble person through fate, To the Elizabethans, it meant in the first place death and in the second place the destruction of some noble person through a flaw in his character. Today it may not involve death so much as a dismal life, Modern tragedy often shows the tragedy not of the strong and noble but of the weak and mean.

Comedy -- is lighter drama in which the leading characters overcome the difficulties which temporarily beset them.

Problem Play -- Drama of social criticism discusses social, economic, or political problems by means of a play.

Farce -- When comedy involves ridiculous or hilarious complications without regard for human values, it becomes farce.

Comedy of Manners -- Comedy which wittily portrays fashionable life.

Fantasy -- A play sometimes, but not always, in comic spirit in which the author gives free reign to his fantasy, allowing things to happen without regard to reality

Melodrama -- Like farce, melodrama pays almost no attention to human values, but its object is to give a thrill instead of a laugh. Often good entertainment, never any literary value.

To gain more information, click this link, http://homepage.smc.edu/jones_janie/TA%202/2FormsofDrama.htm