Mr Refaat Alareer

B.A English Literature (BA Elits) are blessed to received a visit from Mr Refaat Alareer, an English lecturer from Palestine.

When we first told to read his blog and came out with questions, I discovered his Twitter account and tweeted him. We did tweeted few tweets before the class started.

During the talk, he briefly tell us about Palestine, Gaza and how Israel treated them. When he recite us his poems, I started to feel emotionally affected by his words.

He tell us to write although our words maybe not be fancy as other poets. His key word was 'imitate'. Scribble something. He said, 'the tiniest ideas create the best poem EVER'

'Create your own way to be creative. Dont be a mum to write about a mum' - Refaat Alareer. 

Personally I like the question asked by Denise. What does the significant of Olive? Mr Refaat answered that olives is a cure for everything (stomach ache, headache and etc) and olives represent Palestine in so many ways. In Quran, Suratul At - Tin (meaning the figs). In the first ayah, carries the meaning, by the fig and the olives. These fruits were supposed to represent Palestine (fig) and Syria (olives). Although it doesn't say about Olives being a Palestine but these two countries are badly affected by the war. I think it is related to one another as these two countries was holy lands where Allah SWT sends many of His messengers.

Alhamdulillah I managed to asked him a question. (his favourite poets and why). During the talk, he did mentioned he like Romantic poets because of the words simplicity used in the poems and during the Q&A session he added that he love John Donne because of depth and layers of Donne's poems.

Few inputs that I've managed to grasp from this talk is that:

1. Always listen to famous poets recite their poems (Mr Refaat introduced us some of his favourite Palestinian's poets)
2. Use lots of metaphors and similes in your poems.
3. Be yourself.

Back at my room, I was thinking about how Palestinians live (Mr Refaat told that houses are destroyed are normal things happened there). The story of how al - Aqsa will eventually be destroyed ripped my heart out and the fact I cant do anything breaks my heart even more. I am sending them prayers and hopefully I'll be able to meet them in jannah. Amen.

Works Cited:

1. http://readwithmeaning.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/chapter-95-at-tin-the-fig/ , n.d Web 22 Oct 2013
2. http://www.poemhunter.com/john-donne/biography/ , n.d Web 22 Oct 2013
3. http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/legacy.php , n.d Web 22 Oct 2013

War Poems

O Lord, Our Father

O Lord, our father,

Our young patriots, idols of our hearts,

Go forth to battle - be Thou near them!

With them, in spirit, we also go forth

From the sweet peace of our beloved firesides To smite the foe. 

O Lord, our God,

Help us to tear their soldiers

To bloody shreds with our shells;

Help us to cover their smiling fields

With the pale forms of their patriot dead; Help us to drown the thunder of

the guns With the shrieks of their wounded,

Writhing in pain. 

Help us to lay waste their humble homes

With a hurricane of fire;

Help us to wring the hearts of their

Unoffending widows with unavailing grief; Help us to turn them out roofless

With their little children to wander unfriended The wastes of their

desolated land

In rags and hunger and thirst,

Sports of the sun flames of summer

And the icy winds of winter,

Burdened in spirit, worn with travail,

Imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it - 

For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord,

Blast their hopes,

Blight their lives,

Protract their bitter pilgrimage,

Make heavy their steps,

Water their way with their tears,

Stain the white snow with the blood

Of their wounded feet! 

We ask it in the spirit of love -

Of Him who is the source of love,

And Who is the ever-faithful

Refuge and Friend of all that are sore beset And seek His aid with humble

and contrite hearts. 

Amen

Poetry and Drama

Poetry

Oxford dictionary (2013) define poetry as literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature. The word came from Medieval Latin poetria and poeta 'poet'. In early use the word sometimes referred to creative literature in general. There are four elements to grasp as we define the term poetry which are; 

• Form – a poetic line that begins and ends where the poet chooses according to rhythm 
• Tone – help to create feelings and images to the readers
• Imagery – to describe senses to the readers
• Figurative language – to help the readers to access ideas chose by the poet. 

Generally, poetry is a piece of literature written by a poet in meter or prose expressing various emotions using different techniques including metaphors, simile and onomatopoeia. Khalil Gibran stated that ‘Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder with a dash of the dictionary’. Which explain, poem is a written text that includes emotions (deal of joy and pain and wonder) and use techniques (dash of the dictionary).

In class, Dr H mentioned that poetry makes words dance. Meaning -- they cannot create effective and astonishing meanings if they did not dance. Dance here implies that words use in poems are metaphorical, paradoxical and dynamic. 

In short, one can define poetry as different readers, different poets, different era, different culture experience poetry differently. 

Drama

According to Merriam Webster, drama is defined as: 

a : a composition in verse or prose intended to portray life or character or to tell a story usually involving conflicts and emotions through action and dialogue and typically designed for theatrical performance. 

b : a movie or television production with characteristics (as conflict) of a serious play; broadly : a play, movie, or television production with a serious tone or subject <a policedrama>

Drama is made up from elements like scene, subjects, story, perspective, continuity, visuals, sound effects and music, symbolism, theme, verbal/visual medium and impact on audience. 

What is the purpose of drama? -  Drama is used to portray a conflict that will hold the audience's attention by provoking a strong emotional response quickly. 

A little history on drama -  It is all started with ancient Greek theatre (in 5th or 6th BC in Greece: festivals of Dionysus) and then developed to Elizabethan theatre (think of Shakespeare) and later today, a modern theatre (Ibsen)

For me to understand a drama you must first trace the dramatic structure in the drama itself. Identify the conflicts, arguments, plot and most importantly, characters. 

Works Cited:

1. Kriszner and  Mandell. Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting and Writing. Boston, Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.

2. Schmidt and Crockett. Portable Legacies: Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Non Fiction. Boston, Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.

3. "Drama." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drama>.

4. Simpson and Weiner. The Oxford English Dictionary.  London. Oxford University Press, 1989.

5. <www.googleimages.com/poetry, n.d Web 5 Oct 2013

6. <www.googleimages.com/drama, n.d Web 5 Oct 2013