Nevertheless, I must move forward

Claude McKay’s poems “The Barrier” and “December, 1919” may seem to tell different stories at first glance, but they can also be seen as part of one connected narrative. First, examining “The Barrier,” I can see that it is a work that effectively incorporates the woes and sorrows of the Black race, as well as the discrimination experienced due to race. In particular, it describes the power held by whites and the racial discrimination they showed towards Blacks. In this poem, the speaker uses expressions that vivid descriptions of color to explain the differences between races, the discrimination resulting from them, power, and inequality as much as possible. By utilizing contrasts commonly associated with black and white, such as “Dawning,” “Sun-illumined,” “Glowing spark,” and “Dark,” the speaker raises their voice against the discrimination and inequality they face. Additionally, the appearance of “a river reed” suggests that, due to the discrimination and limitations imposed by whites, Blacks must simply flow along with the beautiful voice, like the rustling of reeds in the wind. Furthermore, it is evident that the speaker maximizes poetic expression through various similes.

In “December, 1919,” the speaker emerges as one who misses their mother. Moreover, the speaker desires to cry, but cannot at the moment. It has been ten years since their mother passed away, and like that time, they once again yearn to cry out loud. Here, the speaker emphasizes the continuous flow of tears by depicting them as a fountain, suggesting that their tears keep flowing constantly. But, the speaker cannot cry freely, and the exact reason for this is not explicitly stated in the poem. However, considering “The Barrier” written by the same author, where the speaker fights against racial discrimination and utilizes poetry as a tool to raise awareness of the harms of racial discrimination, one can infer that it is a situation where crying is impossible because of the hardship and hatred towards the world. Nevertheless, tears flow naturally when the faint memory of the mother, who supported and loved them more than anything, comes to mind, making it evident. However, more importantly, considering the current suffering of Black people and their human rights, as well as oppression, I can also understand the speaker’s strong determination, realizing the reason why the speaker cannot shed tears freely. Nevertheless, he must move forward; thus, he cannot shed tears.

Jisoo Jang

Forgive Me Father for I Have Sinned

 Exploring the themes of Temptation and Forgiveness Hafez writes about how he’s “Foredoomed to drink and foreordained forgiven”, which means he will be doomed to drink and will be forgiven anyway for it. By using alliteration in these lines, he shows how easy it is to get away with sinning. He also parallels ‘Fore’ in saying he’s rejecting responsibility.  He has so much love for drinking, which is a sin in the Islamic religion, so this represents the rejection of Islamic spirituality because it is not prohibited. Even though Haifez knows that there will always be temptations nearby he will choose them over being a saint and following the rules of Islamic religion. The reason is that he will be forgiven if he just pleads for it.

 Hafez also uses similes in a satirical way to signify that the woman in his poem is a temptation or the Iblis (devil) who will lead him down the bad path. For example, in “Warm as a dewy rose” this line compares the woman to a wet flower which is not warm, it’s a satirical way to express how she appears pleasing yet, she isn’t. By using the imagery of a woman Hafez shows the rejection he shows to Islamic spirituality because he doesn’t care what she’s there for he’ll take whatever she has. Since at the end of it all, he can just apologize like everyone else and be okay. 

 The poem Ode 44 by Hafez is a great interpretation of Adam and Eve of the temptation of the Apple. How the two showed great love for their God but still fell victim to the Tree of Wisdom and the snake guarding it. Haifez is woken by the woman calling him to sip on wine which is like the snake guiding Eve to take a bite of apple which she does. She bares the consequences and gets kicked out yet, in this poem, Haifez doesn’t care about the consequences and takes the sip and knows he isn’t the only man to have drunk before and will be forgiven just like the rest. 

Kelly Flores

We both are penitents

Ode 44 tells a story about love, drunkenness, and Islam. Overall, I believe that the poem portrays an acceptance of Islamic spirituality.

In the first stanza, I distinguish between the Tenor, which is ‘She’, and the Vehicle, which includes ’tilted glass’, ‘verses on her lips’, ‘Narcissus-eyes’, ‘wine-red lips’, and ‘a dewy rose’. I deliberated extensively whether to assign ‘she’ or ‘her lips’ as the Tenor, but ultimately, I chose ‘She’ for the Tenor because I believed that this first stanza praises her beauty. ‘Tilted glass’ came with ‘with,’ so I regarded it as a Simile. Additionally, since ‘and’ connects ’tilted glass’ and ‘verses on her lips,’ I considered ‘verses on her lips’ as a Simile as well. ‘Narcissus-eyes’ describes the characteristic of her eyes, hence I thought it a Simile. As for ‘wine-red lips,’ it signifies that her lips are as red as wine color, so I considered it a Simile too. Furthermore, ‘a dewy rose’ is preceded by ‘as,’ so I interpreted it as a Simile.

In the second stanza, I considered ‘he’ as the Tenor and ‘churl’ and ‘a double traitor’ as the Vehicle. In fact, this part took me a long time to interpret because it started with ‘I’ but had ‘he’ appearing in the middle. Therefore, I regarded ‘He’ as representing an Islamic person. As another Tenor, I considered ‘we’, and ‘Drunkards’ as the Vehicle. Here, the author mixes ‘We’ and ‘I,’ which I saw as a clear indication of drawing a line to distinguish between an Islam puritan and oneself. Since ‘churl’ came from the sentence ‘he surely were a churl,’ I considered it a metaphor, as it describes the same subject, and ‘a double traitor’ was also seen in the same light, hence I thought it’s a metaphor too. Additionally, ‘Drunkards’ is a word immediately preceding ‘we,’ so it’s a metaphor. Consequently, I,’ or ‘we,’ describes how love and wine are perceived slightly differently between us and the Islamic person, but nonetheless, we are destined under God’s privilege.

In the third stanza, I saw ‘Hafiz’ as the Tenor and ‘poor penitent’ as the Vehicle. Although I also considered ‘wine and woman’ as the Tenor, when I observed the exclamation ‘Oh! HAFIZ!’ at the beginning of the stanza, I felt that ‘Hafiz’ should be the subject because the author emphasized this word. Regarding ‘poor penitent,’ since it’s preceded by ‘this,’ it indicates that the author equates ‘Hafiz’ with ‘poor penitent,’ making ‘poor penitent’ a kind of metaphor. In the last stanza, by directly addressing ‘Hafiz’ and asserting that we are both penitents, it implies that we will not live too humbly.

As the overall content of the poem portrays both the Islamic person and oneself as penitents before God, it is evident that the poem embraces Islamic spirituality.

Jisoo Jang

Resisting Temptation

For my close reading, I chose Ode 44 by Hafez. In this poem, Hafez is seemingly trying to resist the urge to give into this temptation of not only a women, but alcohol as well. He describes a women “half naked came she in her little shift” (line 2) and “filled to her frolic” with “wine-red lips” (line 5). He uses the word shift, likely with double meaning to both the sexual act of stimulating someone as well as the loose-fitting underwear. To every detail he describes in her appearance, he compares it to the wine she brought with her. He describes her lips like wine, her mood “filled”, and her laughter “brimming” (line 25). In these comparisons you can see him using many different forms of figurative language to get his point across. For example, to say she is “brimming” with laughter or “filled” with frolic would be identified as idioms. He is using these terms and phrases that do not actually occur to stress how much she frolics and laughs. He is also seen using a simile in line 26, saying that the women’s “knotted locks” (hair) are “filled like a flower with scent.” This compares the pleasant smell of her hair to flowers. Though these are beautiful descriptions, he struggles with the temptation and breaking of a promise (to God) as he gives into this half naked, beautiful women and the alcohol she brings to his bed for him. He describes the Gods as the ones who put alcohol (and women) on Earth, and into the hands of man, but will not be forgiven if they give into the temptation of the sinful act that is drinking it and sexualizing them.

With this, I find that this love represents a rejection of Islamic spirituality. Though he is describing her and the alcohol in an appealing and attractive way, he is in a constant struggle with the sin that comes with it. He seems to be cursing the Gods that provided women and wine, as he gives into the temptation of sex and drinking. He knows he will not be forgiven by the Gods for what he will do. He believes it would be rude or “churl” (line 14) to decline the offer of wine and sex, and yet it would be a sin to accept. He rejects and curses the rules of Islamic spirituality as he is frustrated with what is to come, should he give into the temptation. 

Sarah M Rix

Love is Ethereal

by Cifriana Mina Dela Cruz

Ah! Today we’re talking about love, I guess. Specifically, we’re talking about how love can manifest as a spiritual experience. So recently, we were assigned to read a poem that explores the theme of love and how it relates to Islamic spirituality. This particular poem, Rumi’s “Like This” uses figurative language to describe the love between two people as a spiritual experience.

The basic structure of the poem would describe either a religious reference or the sky, then use simile to compare it to a loving gesture or action. There are a few examples come to mind here. One of them is “clouds gradually uncovering the moon” and “loosen[ing]… the strings of your robe.” Here the robe acts like the clouds and the moon the body. The image is clear, between two people in love, one revealing yourself to your partner is as beautiful as looking up its light for the world to see. This powerful imagery illustrates the body as ethereal and radiant. Another is the comparison between the miracle of Jesus raising the dead and a kiss. This implies a kiss between two lovers as invigorating, igniting, in a way bringing their dormant love… back to life. The whole poem uses simile to describe the ethereal experience of two lovers becoming one. It takes aspects of spirituality and religion to describe this supposed worldly experience as something more, however it also draws a fine line.

I think that this poem could be seen as rejecting Islamic spirituality. While love has religious aspects, it isn’t the same thing. I honestly can’t tell if it uses the references as a way to twist the meaning of them to fit their experience, which is why I think this love (lustful or not, I’m not really sure) is in a way mocking them. Furthermore, the line “I am a sky where spirits live” can be interpreted as rejecting it. I think this is in reference to God himself, and by equating a mortal to a God continues this mockery of spirituality. The tone of the poem feels like a rejection to religious values from what I know, and although I’m not well-versed in Islamic practices, it seems to go against the idea of a purer love.

Persian Poetry and Figurative Language

In Hafez’s Ode 44, he uses figurative language to represent in several ways. In the first stanza, he refers to his lover as being “as warm as a dewy rose.” I think this is trying to depict how the lover being scantily clad has made her cold to the touch since dew generally forms in cold conditions. That and that the narrator, hereafter referred to as “Hafez” finds it appealing since he uses the word “warm” which has positive connotations in the context of love and making out rather a more intuitive word like “cold” or “cool.” Hafez also metaphorically refers to Heaven as a “churl,” perhaps talking about promiscuity in the second stanza since a churl is someone who is crass or uncouth. Then, Hafez in the last stanza describes his lover’s hair as “O knotted locks, filled like a flower with scent” using the simile to fully convey the experience to us. Finally, Hafez ends with a personification/synecdoche describing how this lover has derailed a “poor penitent.”

I think Hafez’s love rejects Islamic spirituality because, even though I’m not familiar with Islam, his poem talks a lot about being the irresistability of one’s lusts and desires as well as being inebriated, two things not endorsed by most religions. This is illustrated in the “churl” metaphor and the final “how have you ravished…” personification/synecdoche. The “warm as a dewy rose” and “filled like a flower with scent” similes also describe and romanticize the sensual aspects of love. Finally, the last stanza is all about Hafez being unable to keep his promise of penitance, the keeping of which is important in most religions.

Evan He

The Delicacy of Love

Love is a delicate subject, people have different ways of showing love. One of the ways where people where successful in portraying love is through literature. Poets have expressed their feeling towards their loved ones through the use of the poem’s figurative language. To exemplify this, Hafez expresses the rush of love he feels towards a girl through the use of figurative language in his poems “Ode 487 ,” and “Ode 44.”  

The use of figurative language in both poems helps in delivering Hafez’s message to the reader. Hafez focuses on the use of imagery in both poems to help deliver his point to the reader. This can be seen through line 14 in the poem “Ode 487.” Where the poet employs the use of a very detailed description of her eyes and actions. Similarly, imagery is also seen in line 8 through the poem “Ode 44,” as the Hafez is describing the physical appearance of the girl. On the other hand, a personification is seen in the first line in the poem “Ode 487,” Hafez gives a wine glass human traits as it is able to sing in his head, showing the amount of pain he is in as he is not able to win over the love of his life. On the other hand, Hafez uses a simile in his poem “Ode 44”  which is found in the sixth line “warm as a dewy rose,” emphasizing on the beauty of his lover. As a student that grew up in the middle east, Islam was the most popular religion in Palestine. Both of these two poems contradict the two ideas of being able to be sexual (have sex) with a girl or have the ability to drink. Both of these poem contradict two of the basic ideas of Islam, thus, rejecting the Islamic spirituality.

Is It Really Love?

The poem “Ode 44” by Hafez describes a unique situation in which love is the main focus. In this work of art Hafez uses metaphors, similes, and personification in order to convey the feeling of falling in love. The author describes a woman as somewhat of a temptress by using words such as “half naked” and “wine-red lips”, which represents the visual aspects of what Hafez believes love is like. This is why this poem describes this type of infatuation as a woman pouring wine, since this visualization happens to be one of temptation and loss of inhibition. 

Hafez uses figurative language in a very interesting way in order to describe what love is like between two people. The author uses a simile in the line “warm as a dewy rose” in order to represent the woman in which this poem embodies. This simile is used to describe the comfort of intimacy and how love creates a warm sensation within each person who experiences it. Hafez also uses personification in the line “narcissus-eyes all shining for the fray”, which is used to describe the visual change in a person’s eyes when they become infatuated with another person. The phrase “narcissus-eyes” is also very unique since it shows that the author sees love as a selfish feeling instead of the free emotion most people relate it to. This idea that love can be a singular temporary feeling that does not necessarily have to be shared with another person. When it comes to Islamic spirituality this poem seems to go against the traditional views of Islam since it focuses on the temptation of love instead of the positive views that most people associate with that emotion.

Jamey Cain

MEN, WE KNOW YOUR WEAKNESS

Diane Tarabay-Rodriguez

I was completely drawn to Ode 44 by Hafez. There was great use of figurative language that allowed me to clearly visualize the beautiful women he was so vividly describe. Hafez talks about the women with wine red lips with such fascination. One can instantly tell that he is intrigued by her. He states, “Narcissus-eyes all shining for the fray, Filled full of frolic to her wine-red lips, Warm as a dewy rose, sudden she slips Into my bed – just in her little shift”. He uses personification and a simile. His use of personification allowed me to illustrate the woman’s lips and eyes in my imagination. The use of the simile described the women warmth. Throughout the poem, the use of personification helped Hafez bring the writing to life. By giving objects human qualities he was able to effectively get his message through. Through the use of figurative language, the poet captured my attention, and It helped me create a clear image of the poem. This poems tenor was lust and the vehicle was wine. In other words, lust is like wine, its very easy to give into.

The poem would be interpreated diffrently if the poet was a non-Muslim because there are religious belives that are tied to this poem. In her article, “The Erasure Of Islam From The Poetry Of Rumi”, Rozina Ali talks about how there are a lot of versions of Rumi’s work that has been futher adjusted from the original. Each translator needs to be able to make his/her audience comprehend a poem that might be based on a completely different system of beliefs and culture. In other words, they need to adjust it in order for the reader to understand the foreign. If this poet was not muslim, I would not take his sin too serious because I wouldn’t attach him to a religon that is strict in it’s moral and religious codes. Knowing his tradition and heritage, allows me to understand that he committed a horrible sin. I’m very educated on the Musim religion and I know that those types of sins are extremely frowned upon.  Also, I would instantly interpret it based on my christian beliefs.

Lily of the Nile

Her mind was compressed, beaten down for a while.

Filled to the brim with such horrible feelings,

That stuck to the walls and hung from the ceilings.

Seeping out through her mouth like blackened bile,

Her mind was a landfill, stacked high with trash piles.

Mounds that were made by people, unfeeling.

Strength from her body and mind, they were stealing.

A verminous Lily of the Nile*.

Her mind was at ease, once the meds kicked in.

It had filled with life, no longer compressed;

The thoughts in her head corroded and thinned.

Within each and every line, it was pinned:

“You cannot come in, you cannot infest.”

Her mind and her soul could now be with the wind.

*Lily of the Nile: A flowering plant species that is “pest-hardy, neither being much attacked nor drastically affected by common garden pests. However, since the early 21st century Agapanthus in the far south of South Africa have fallen victim to a species of Noctuid moth... The larvae of the moth bore into the budding inflorescence and as they mature they tunnel down towards the roots, or emerge from the stem and drop down to feed on the leaves or rhizomes. A severe attack promotes rot and may stunt or even kill the plant; even plants that survive commonly lose most of their inflorescences and fail to produce the desired show of flowers.”