Abstract

Purpose and Introduction: Imagery is essential in poetry; the more elaborate and inventive the poet's pictures, the greater the depth and beauty of the poem. Imagery serves as the paramount instrument of poetic imagination; when integrated with literary methods, creative frameworks, and the meticulous arrangement of words, it culminates in the formation of literary imagery. The poet's perspective on the surrounding world and his cognitive nuances significantly contribute to the formation and evolution of imagery. Metaphorical, allegorical, and figurative imagery, combined with collage elements, form remarkable artistic constructions that provide a visually stunning canvas and effectively convey meaning and concepts. Imagery is essential across all literary genres, encompassing both poetry and prose. The writer effectively communicates his goals to the reader and illustrates his subjects and concepts using imagery. The use of imagery is particularly crucial in resistance poetry, given the sensitive and significant subject matter that resonates with both general and targeted audiences. Consequently, the eloquence of imagery in this poem is crucial for emphasizing its emotional aspects and conveying its intent. Resistance poets explore themes of valor, heroism, altruism, sacrifice, mortality, existence, liberty, and confinement. These themes frequently underpin their resistance poetry; their efficacy in articulating these themes renders their poetry vibrant, precise, impactful, engaging, and authentic. This article aims to analyze the imagery in resistance poetry, focusing on how resistance poets utilize imagery to portray their subjects and the tools employed in this process.
Methodology: This essay employs a descriptive-analytical method to conduct a comparative analysis of two poets from Iran and Palestine. Nasrollah Mardani, the Iranian poet, composed epic and lyric poetry centered on the idea of resistance throughout the war, and continued to explore this issue in his post-war works. Tamim al-Barghouti is a Palestinian poet who has significantly contributed to Palestinian resistance literature with his beautiful, precise, and epic poetry. Both poets address the resistance of their homeland's fighters, employing imagery as a device in resistance poetry to vividly depict the battlefields in Mardani's work and to underscore the Palestinian identity of Qods and the struggle against occupiers in Barghouti's verses. This research aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the artistic canvas featuring diverse imagery in the poetry of these two poets by examining the aspects of the artistic canvas to address the following questions: What is the construction of the artistic canvas in the poetry of the two poets, and what artistic structures have they employed? What notions are derived from the creative canvas in the resistance poetry of Iran and Palestine? This research is a comparative study that use the concept of imagery in literary criticism, although it does not adhere to a certain, defined theory.
Results: Resistance poetry, influenced by prominent poets from Iran, Palestine, and other Arab nations, has evolved into a vibrant medium rich in impactful and audience-captivating imagery. Nasrollah Mardani and Tamim al-Barghouti are notable figures in Iran and Palestine. Metaphor, allegory, repetition, and contrast are the paramount and exquisite artistic devices that enhance the aesthetic appeal of resistance poets' works. These artistic constructions align with the sentiments and objectives of resistance poetry. Nasrollah Mardani's relentless endeavors to produce novel and impactful imagery, together Tamim Barghouti's initiatives to transform the imagery of his predecessors, have significantly contributed to the use of many rhetorical techniques. Defamiliarization and norm transgression in the creation of novel compounds and metaphors are hallmarks of the poetry of these two resistance poets. Mardani, as a poet of war and revolution, employs a slogan-like and flamboyant language characterized by weight and rhyme, resulting in most of his poems transforming into revolutionary and religious hymns and anthems. Barghouti's poetry, characterized by their unadorned expression, lack of weight, and absence of rhyme, resonate deeply with the audience, aligning with the poet's objective to reinvigorate the name of Qods in their hearts and bestow it with an identity. Collage imagery is a technique employed by both of these resistance poets in their poems. In the poem "In Qods," Barghouti portrays the city of Qods as though captured in a wide-angle snapshot, allowing readers to visualize and comprehend its intricate features through his verses. Through the collage technique, he aims to convey to the reader that the occupiers of Qods have migrated from faraway territories, established themselves there, and assumed control of the city's governance.
Discussion and Conclusion: This article delineates the process of constructing an artistic canvas informed by rhetorical structures in Iranian and Palestinian resistance poetry. It examines and analyzes the significant elements of this artistic canvas in a comparative manner, concluding that the artistic canvas of resistance poetry, through the utilization of metaphor, allegory, contrast, opposition, collage, visual defamiliarization, and other linguistic devices, can influence the audience's cognition and subconscious, thereby harmonizing the poem's external and internal dimensions. The imagery of Iranian poet Mardani aims to motivate and incite combatants to engage in jihad and preserve the memory of martyrs, whereas the poetry of Palestinian poet Tamim al-Barghouti focuses on his yearning for Qods and his endeavors to maintain the remembrance of Palestine among Muslims and Palestinians.