Manifestations of Nature and Politics in Mahmoud Darwish’s Metaphors

This paper is an analytical study investigating metaphors, the most aesthetic device, in the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish. In this study, the researcher categorized metaphors into three main groups: metaphors of plants and trees like wheat, metaphors of birds and animals as the hoopoe, butterfly, and dove, and metaphors of abstract and concrete elements of nature. The researcher concluded that metaphors employed in the Darwishian poetry are linguistic and cultural phenomena. Darwish focuses on the use of metaphors connected with nature with the help of which he turns the sign into the signified, the subject into the object, and nothingness into something, thus transferring the land of Palestine into a poem and making this poem one with Palestine. More importantly, metaphor is a sort of manifestation of identity, a paradoxical and illogical one since it is ‘this’ and ‘that’ at the same time. It combines two entities together that are similar and dissimilar. The poet resorts to metaphor as to the most unrestrained method of thinking in order not to prove anything through reasoning, but rather to reveal a concealed and subtle truth which paradoxically affirms that “poem and land are one.”

Metaphor is a figurative trope, etymologically originated from Greek "metaphora", meaning transference of a word to a new sense or a thing regarded as representative or symbolic. The Oxford Dictionary defines metaphor as adding a new sense or meaning to a singular word or concept making it easier to understand and more interesting. Metaphor is employed effectively in Darwish's poetry for emphasis. It is an essential constituent of the narratives that Darwish talks about in his poetry. Darwish is a cultural icon who has contributed much to shaping the Palestinian identity and consciousness. He has the ability to recharge his language and reach for universal themes. His unsparing metaphors, which seem so omnipresent that they lyrically embrace every corner in his homeland, are an artistic re-creation. Darwish's main topics are his land and suffering under Israeli occupation. Therefore, his poetry, while employing metaphorical devices which are composed in the context of a conflict-ridden and globalized world, is considered a focus for many scholars because such poetry is governed by both cultural and linguistic rules. Culture is considered the most important force that governs translators in narrating Darwish's poetry in a new target culture and language. Metaphor is at the heart of a cultural narrative. We acquire metaphor at an early age and it governs our minds and regulates our daily behaviors. Lacoff and Johnason (1980) illustrate that metaphors are merely the ornaments that belong to literature or language itself. But many scholars, as Doucherty, argue that human thought processes are essentially metaphorical; we can only make sense of something by comparing it to something else. Metaphors shape our actions and our sense of right and wrong. A powerful metaphor orders the world in such a way that we can identify roles that are useful and actions that are prohibited or unthinkable because they fall outside the metaphor (Doucherty 2004). In the discipline of translation studies, translation of metaphor has intrigued a number of scholars who have tackled the issue from several points of view and in relation to different types of discourse Metaphor is regarded as an artistic tool with the help of which a poet conveys his ideas in a skillful way. It has always been regarded a major concern of all poetry. Muhawi (1995) believes that existence itself in the Arab and Islamic view is "understood through the metaphor of writing". He indicates that "what Darwish attempts is a pure gesture in which writing itself becomes the dominant metaphor. He offers us a multi vocal text that resembles a broken mirror, reassembled to present the viewer with vying possibilities of clarity and fracture." Metaphors are essential to Darwish as they are indeed to all poets. Cameron (2003, P.2) points out that "understanding how metaphor is used may help us understand better how people think, how they make sense of the world and each other, and how they communicate." Darwish`s literary work abounds in figurative language, especially image and metaphor. Darwish used metaphorical language, his poetry gradually move from metaphorical language to modern poetic expression. Darwish's later works, specifically from the mid-nineties until before his death in 2008 were pertinent to modernity. In reading his poems, one finds that he concentrates on universal themes such as freedom, love, hope, exile, death and he moves away from the local and the temporal. Freedom in Darwish's poetry is often expressed via the metaphor of birds that possess the freedom he is denied as he cannot visit his beloved homeland which he was forced to leave. In his poem "The Hoopoe" ‫),ﺍﻟﻬﺪﻫﺪ(‬ Darwish urges birds to enjoy flying wherever they want and to sing and express their joy in freedom: "You birds of plain and valley, fly! Fly swiftly toward my wings, toward my voice! People are birds unable to fly, O hoopoe of Words." (Translated by Akash and Forché, 2003: 31) Unlike birds which can soar so freely in the sky, humans cannot fly and remain constrained by the limits of time and place. In one of his last poems "The Canary", Darwish again depicts himself and his compatriots under siege in Ramallah in the West Bank as birds in a cage. The cage is a metaphor for the siege imposed by Israel and the canary a metaphor for people under siege. He writes: "We listened to the canary's words to me and you: / Singing in a cage is possible and so is happiness." (Translated by Catherine Cobham in Darwish, 2009: 139).
Darwish invokes a sense of attachment and belonging to the Palestinian landscape, to mother nature and in this way celebrates a beautiful nature when he describes the natural scenery of Palestine. Nature and the landscape are portrayed in Darwish for both aesthetic and national patriotic purposes. For him, the land represents a homeland and a sense of identity. As Yousef points out, for Darwish, "water or the sea represented migration, movement, departure and freedom while the sky represents dream and ambitions." (Yousef, 2011, p.680). Darwish makes frequent references to Palestinian cities, villages, mountains, lakes, rivers and seas. His portrayal creates not only national feelings but also present a beautiful picture of nature in Palestine. In the early poems, Darwish's concept of home is closely connected to the Palestinian identity through his unique use of nature. He portraits his home as having unified unity with people as can be seen clearly in his poems such as " Identity Card, "The Passport, " A Lover From Palestine" , and "On Perseverance". His description of nature is unique in the sense that he uses nature to further the goals of his poems and to assign to poetry a new role in the poet's writings. That is, Darwish, as a poet, utilizes nature as a form of resistance to the colonization of his homeland. Vanasco (2008) comments "Poetry for Darwish was primarily an exercise of resistance. He uses tropes and imagery of nature which are familiar to Palestinian villagers: wheat and garlic, onions and olive groves" (p.41-50).
Darwish uses nature in two mains forms: nature as the beautiful landscape and nature as a symbol of homeland and national identity. It is in the combination of these two forms of treating nature that the term "nature" becomes a tool of resistance against the forces of the colonizer/ occupier. Indeed, in Darwish's poems where various forms of nature are used, nature becomes a symbol of national identity and a tool of political resistance. Thus, Darwish's special use of nature reveals the postcolonial sense in which this concept is used. It is a means of emphasizing the Palestinians' connection to their land and a step towards initiating some political and cultural resistance that draws upon the power of national emblems and natural symbols to reinvigorate a move towards resistance against all forms of occupation or colonization.
Like his first poetry collection, the title of Dervish's second collection of poems contains terms derived from nature. Leaves of Olives (1964) points to the olive tree which is pivotal 49 symbol in Palestinian life and traditions. Indeed, the green leaves of this tree are also used to symbolize a sense of eternal attachment between man and nature. The volume also contains various poems concerned with the depiction of the Palestinian natural world especially the different kinds of plants and trees characteristic of the Palestinian land. In these poems, Darwish delves deeply into the Palestinian psyche and national history as means of stirring the spirit of resistance among his people so as to face the power of the Israeli colonizers. It is worth noting in this context that not only his nature poems, but also all Darwish's poems can be considered as poems of resistance against the colonizer. Darwish himself is reported to have once declared "Every poem is an act of resistance" ( cited in Nasser, 2011,p.7). Darwish's main objective all the way through his literary career had been to highlight the interdependence between the land and national identity and consequently between these two values and political independence. In many of his poems Darwish depicts the fauna and flora and imbues them with the scented citrus groves, olives and figs, and fills them with references to birds, flowers, the land, the meadows, the skycap, the sea and the stars of Palestine. Darwish's poems on nature inspire communion with the land as well as the strong feeling of national belonging.
Moreover, the orange tree has an important place among the Palestinians. After the olive tree, it is the symbol of Palestinian mainland and coast as this tree enjoys peculiar quality. It is permanently green. Autumn is the season of desolation where the tree leaves fall and appear bare to the beholder, so the orange tree remains green as though such tree and other similar trees defy the processes of life by keeping their cover on. Furthermore, we find that such a tree is associated, in some odes, with man, so we find Darwish saying : "From the holes of prison I met the eyes of oranges", yet Darwish was not satisfied with this statement only but connected the oranges with his lover the homeland. In his ode "My Beloved Rises from her Sleeping", he says: "Your body adapts the oranges… and run away from me", and in "A Lover from Palestine" he writes: And, I write in my diary I love oranges and dislike the harbor And add in my diary at the harbor I stood while the world was winter eyes And oranges peel is for us… and behind me was the desert (Trans. by Hunter website, 2013) Ashour (2004) underlines the use of the oranges trees by the poet as a means of reminding the poet and the reader of the scent of the land which he was forced to quit for being a Palestinian, leaving behind him everything and holding in his hands worthless crumbs and meager peels of everything Nature and its elements, like flowers, butterflies, doves, springs, and rivers are frequently-used metaphorically in Darwish's works. It is a metaphor for the poets to transcend their present condition.
The poetry of Mahmoud Darwish is closely related to his own life experience extending from his early childhood till the period before his death. His life was marked with the perplexities of separation, attachment to his native land, resistance, imprisonment, the pain of exile, loss of identity, travel, and the dream of return. This spans the period between 1960 and mid-nineties when his themes revolved around these similar and interrelated subjects. Metaphor in that phase was used as "a means of recollecting an actual occasion" (Mansson 2003, p. 105). Consequently, these metaphors originated from close encounters with the trials and tribulations of that period.
Taking poetic texts as an example, the researchers and scholars analyzed its significance and the writing style in this article. Here the researcher refers to the existence of some common factors between this paper and articles from other scholars in the analytical method and the views on women, for example, this can be used by the researcher, especially by reviewing his analytical method, and at the same time the researcher will adopt the personal method in text analysis, to further deepen the study. On this basis, the researcher will provide more details in describing the image of women and expand it simultaneously.

Research Methodology
Research methodology is the procedures and methods that help the researcher renew the subject and collect and analyze the data and information, as well as the way of expressing thought and solve problems. It is the skill of organizing the right series of ideas, to write the research from beginning to end. The researcher will rely on the descriptive method and analytical method.

Descriptive Method
Here the researcher will use the descriptive method to illustrate the utilization of metaphors in Mahmoud Darwish's poems, and study his poetic works that are related to nature and politics, to arrive at an understanding of his biography and creative background, and to explain the relationship between the poet and his devotion to his homeland and the people of Palestine.

3.2Analytical Method
In this research, the researcher will adopt an analytical method to analyze the image of natural elements in Mahmoud Darwish's poetry from two aspects, artistry and rhetoric, to understand the importance of natural and political symbols in his poetry.

Metaphors of Natural Elements
Nature and its elements -flowers, butterflies, doves, springs, and sun became highly used metaphorically in Darwish's late works. In ‫ﺍﻵﻥ‬ ‫ﺑﻌﺪﻙ‬ (Now after You), such as, the sun and trees are used metaphorically: Now, after you, with an appropriate Rhyme And exile, the trees improve their posture and laugh.  Darwish, 2009b: 44) In the poem Tuesday, a Bright Day, birds and rivers are metaphors: The birds snatch seeds from the shoulders of the river.  Darwish, 2009b: 87) Accordingly, the elements of nature which are used as metaphors in the poetry of Darwish may be classified into three main categories: 1) Plants and trees metaphors. 2) Animal and bird metaphors. 3) Metaphors of abstract and concrete elements of nature.

Metaphors of Plants and Trees
Trees are part of plants that are common in the poetry of Darwish including all the trees he saw or even didn't see like: olive trees, fig, orange, lemon, grape, palm, and cactus. These trees witness for the land and the memories. The trees of childhood and first home turn the land into a fertile one in spring. (Ahmed Al-Zubi, 1995:38)Plants and trees are closely associated with land, representing a parallel line of identical signs and together, constituting the same symbol. Two notes can be deduced from these plant symbols: first, the references (vine, flowers, strawberry, wheat, wheat ears, grass, palm, jasmine, bushes, hibiscus, fig, basil, pomegranate, reeds, cotton, oak, willow, roses, cypress, bramble, almond, etc.) have accounted for the diverse plant environments in Palestine (those of the desert: willows, brambles; those of the mountain: cypresses, pines, thyme, basil, olives; and those of the plains: vines, flowers, wheat, pomegranate, figs, oranges). Second, these plants are symbolically classified into plants with historical significance (for example, olives, sycamores, carobs, strawberries and oranges), and plants with modern significance (e.g. almonds, grapes, peaches, corn, wheat and roses).
By this diversity, the poet meant to let his poetry breathes the scent and identity of the homeland:

The Wheat Metaphor
Wheat occupies the first place among the crops in the world. It has grown in Palestine ever since ancient times. It is thought that its origin is Yemen and Ethiopia. Ancient Egyptians held festivals at the time of harvesting the crop, then they would present it to the gods. The priests used to present wheat wreaths and put them on the Pharaoh's head. Wheat, in the poetry of Darwish, represents hope; it is also connected with the return to the homeland, and the return of refugees. Jerusalem calls its children to come back and harvest joy and happiness after exile and misery. The dream of the Palestinians is to change the tears of sadness into happiness. Bread is another form of wheat; it is the need of both the poor and the rich. Darwish is proud of his mother's bread. In his poem 'I belong to my mother's bread', it seems that he ties the smell of bread (life) with the smell of the mother. He balances between war and wheat. Destruction and war never stop the growth of wheat on the land of Canaan (Al-Zubi, 1995:40). Death was not the end in the poetry of Darwish, but it was the beginning of life.
It is noteworthy that Jesus described his own life using the analogy of a grain of wheat being planted into the earth and dying to bring forth new life: "Very truly I tell you unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (John 12:24). These lines reflect his creativity in employing metaphor in his poetry. The experiential points of contact in the poem; bread, mother's touch, coffee, stove, clothing line, daily prayer etc. are conceptual formations that intrinsically address the existence of those same experiences in the audience of Palestinians. These meanings become dialogic when considering the cognition of conceptual formations; mother's bread for Darwish undoubtedly is constructed from a specific set of cultural 'artifacts'; the smell, the color, the shape of a kitchen.
The poet virtually lives in his homeland, sings with the birds, breathes with the trees and flowers, and mingles with people there. This lively interaction with the homeland is depicted in the blossoming of the almond trees. Obviously then, the relationship between the poet and the plants is not that of a person who enjoys nature as much as it is an organic relationship that involves national aspirations.

Metaphors of Birds and Animals
Metaphors of birds in the poetry of Darwish contrasts their freedom to his suppression. Darwish is restrained from visiting his beloved homeland. The poet, who is unable to travel and express himself freely, is more like a bird detained in a cage. In ‫ﺍﻟﻬﺪﻫﺪ‬ "The Hoopoe", he urges birds to enjoy flying wherever they want to, and to sing, and express a sense of joyful freedom:  Darwish, 2009c: 71) In one of his last poems ‫ﺍﻟﻜﻨﺎﺭﻱ‬ "The Canary", Darwish again depicts himself and his compatriots under siege in Ramallah in the West Bank as birds in a cage. The cage is a metaphor for the siege imposed by Israel and the canary a metaphor for a people under siege.
We listened to the canary's words to me and you: 'Singing in a cage is possible and so is happiness'.

The Dove Metaphor
The dove metaphor is another beautiful metaphor created by Darwish when he compares Salaam (peace) between the Palestinians and the Israelis with the dove of two strangers sharing their last cooing, and when he compares this peace with an apology from the stronger to the weaker. He says: Salaam is the dove of two strangers sharing Their last cooing on the edge of the chasm Salaam is the apology of the mighty to the one Who is weaker than him in weaponry and stronger in extent In this stanza, Darwish expresses his personal opinion about the peace treaty between the Palestinians and Israelis. The image shows that this peace is useless, invalid and can never be attained because both parties are not equal in terms of power; furthermore, they are like strangers who can never meet. Darwish falls back on a universal symbol of peace in this poem. He thus moves from the local to the universal. According to Mena, Darwish's work includes a universality born from specific suffering that reaches across the boundaries of language and nation to inscribe the national within the universal" (2009:11).
Doves do not only symbolize the Palestinian nostalgic memories, but also the poet's psyche and the ideal world he is dreaming of. Thus, the pigeon may represent the poet's land as much as it mirrors the poet's own self. Such an intimate attachment brings about an organic consolidation between the poet and the pigeon so that each of them personifies the other and depicts what goes beyond the senses of the other. In his poem ‫ﻳﻄﻴﺮ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺤﻤﺎﻡ‬ "The Pigeons Fly", in which poet and doves merge with all the elements of nature. The poet, thus, could chirp among the flocks of pigeons, either in search for peace or in a bid to have a dream come true. The poet found in the pigeons' determination, courage, loyalty and yearning an avenue for Palestinian self-expression.
The pigeons that fly and land, then fly and land represent the dream of peace that entices the poet and his lover or that illuminates and flickers in the lives of the Palestinians who wait for this flip-flopping peace in order to return to their homeland and get rid of the nightmare of occupation. The poet (the dove) has for long been wandering in the sky in search for his homeland, so that he could settle in and meet with his estranged sweetheart. However, after waiting for so long, the doves are no longer flying, simply because they have gone and they will never come back.

The Butterfly Metaphor
The butterfly is associated with beauty and tenderness, confusion and irritability. In the past, the butterfly was seen as a pertinent emblem of the soul because it began as an earthbound caterpillar, died in a later stage, and was then resurrected as a beautiful winged creature. Darwish used this creature to construct a number of poetic forms. In the poem ‫ﻣﻘﻌﺪ‬ ‫ﻗﻄﺎﺭ‬ ‫ﻓﻲ‬ 'Seat in a Train', Darwish has only the "rightness of butterflies" as a recompense for his evershifting life: All the passengers return to their families, But we don't return to any home.
We travel in search for nothing, So that we may restore the rightness of butterflies.

‫ﻟﻸﻫﻞ،‬ ‫ﻳﻌﻮﺩﻭﻥ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻘﻄﺎﺭ‬ ‫ﺃﻫﻞ‬ ‫ﻛﻞ‬
‫ﺑﻴﺖ،‬ ‫ﺃﻱ‬ ‫ﺇﻟﻰ‬ ‫ﻧﻌﻮﺩ‬ ‫ﻻ‬ ‫ﻟﻜﻨﺎ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺼﻔﺮ،‬ ‫ﻋﻦ‬ ‫ﺑﺤﺜﺎ‬ ‫ﻧﺴﺎﻓﺮ‬ ‫ﻧﺴﺘﻌﻴﺪ‬ ‫ﻛﻲ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻔﺮﺍﺵ‬ ‫ﺻﻮﺍﺏ‬ (Translated by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forche`in Darwish, 2003: 41) In this stanza, Darwish begins to draw a picture of reality, but soon he goes beyond the tangible to the abstract. He starts with a concrete topic (travel), and then he takes the reader to fathom the abstract significance of the travel (the impact). The linkage he establishes between the goal of travel and the 'zero' suggests the wandering condition resulting from the loss of identity. The poet tries to overcome this state of vagrancy in order to start over again from scratch.
In his building of the meaning, the poet developed his native butterfly to become a symbol of the land: And on the roof of women's joyful trilling come planes The planes The planes snatching the lover from and scarf's of moaning the butterflies embrace The butterfly in this poem is not only an insect. The description involves a whole life with different stages: once it breaks out of the cocoon, it becomes free -following light until it burns out.
In another poem titled‫ﺣﺎﺿﺮ‬ ‫ﻳﻨﻘﺼﻨﺎ‬ ‫ﻛﺎﻥ‬ "We Were Missing a Present", Darwish compares the flying of butterflies to the mirage of swift peace to show that peace for which Palestinians have been waiting for a long time was just a mirage and that all their hopes of ending the occupation are blown away with the wind, as demonstrated in the following stanza.

Metaphors of Abstract and Concrete Elements of Nature
Natural features such as mountains, seas, and rocks are frequently used in Arab culture and Arabic literature as metaphors for perseverance and power on the basis of their strength and solidity. It is common to hear an expression used by the symbol of revolt Yasser Arafat like ‫ﻳﺎ‬ ‫ﺭﻳﺢ‬ ‫ﻳﻬﺰﻙ‬ ‫ﻣﺎ‬ ‫ﺟﺒﻞ‬ "Oh mount! Winds will not rock you", ‫ﺍﻟﻼﻋﺐ‬ ‫ﻫﺬﺍ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺪﻓﺎﻉ‬ ‫ﺧﻂ‬ ‫ﻓﻲ‬ ‫ﺻﺨﺮﺓ‬ "That a player is a rock in the defense field" or ‫ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ‬ ‫ﺗﺤﻄﻤﺖ‬ ‫ﺻﺨﺮﺓ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻤﺤﺎﺭﺏ‬ ‫ﺫﻟﻚ‬ ‫ﻛﺎﻥ‬ ‫ﺃﻣﻮﺍﺝ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻐﺰﺍﺓ‬ "That warrior was a rock on which all waves of invaders broke". In ‫ﺍﻟﻌﺎﺋﺪﻳﻦ‬ ‫ﺍﻧﺘﻈﺎﺭ‬ ‫ﻓﻲ‬Awaiting Those Returning, a poem published in 1966, Darwish himself and the rock "represent the stable and enduring ideal of perseverance" in the land. He "stubbornly resists the dangerous temptation to give up the hope of the loved ones' return and remains patiently waiting on the rock" (Mansson 2003, p. 113): The steps of my loved ones are the sighs Of the rock beneath a hand of iron wait with the rains In vain looking in the distance I will remain on the rock…under the.  Darwish, 2000: 87) For Darwish, this fall of grace is linked to a very long-suffering in exile. It is linked to a metaphor of long roads and paths. In ‫ﻛﺎﻟﻨﺎﺱ‬ ‫ﻧﺴﺎﻓﺮ‬ (nusaferu kalna:s) "We Travel Like All People", he says: We said to our wives: Give birth to hundreds of years, So that we may end this journey Within an hour of a country, Within a meter of the impossible. Your road is long, so dream of seven women To bear this long journey on your shoulders.  Darwish, 2003: 11) Noah or his ark is taken as a metaphor for Darwish's undesired journey or exile, while olive trees and doves are metaphors for peace, Eden or the earthly 'paradise lost' for Palestine, and ultimately Adam for Palestinian refugees. Similarly, the roots of trees extracted from their earth are a metaphor for the Palestinians expelled from their homeland and exiled elsewhere. In the poem ‫ﻣﻄﺮ‬ (Matar) "Rain", he says: In a more complex metaphor, Darwish describes feelings of longing, love, wine, and the history of his heart as exiles. He places the word exile at the beginning of the sentences in a reversed structure to highlight the importance of the word "exile" which adds more beauty and power to the metaphor.
Longing is the place of exile; our love is a Place of exile, Mostly, the land is the core element of conflict. The majority of Arabs in Palestine are farmers and this constitutes the essence of the tragedy. Darwish was able to gently touch on this theme, extracting from it all what he could, ultimately turning every phenomenon into a symbol that is valuable and unique. He could generate new values representing the insisting tradition and nobility inherent throughout the history of Palestine. The abundance of words related to land, and exile is done purposely to express his strong relation with the homeland, and his own story of struggle with the occupation. "A physical union between the author and land is the culmination of an attempt to express through symbols an entrenched between the Palestinians and their homeland, a relation that can be maintained and reinforced relations in the face of Israeli rhetoric invoking the land." (Parmenter 1994: 83).
In the following example Darwish draws sarcastically a beautiful metaphor of the Palestinians, by comparing the Palestine's identity to the gravity of earth, and comparing the Palestinians to people floating in space between clouds, trying to forget their need of having an identity. In his poem entitled "The Hoopoe", (Alhudhud) Mahmoud Darwish adds more metaphors of earth and heaven to make a statement about Palestinian exile that longs for a place under the sun: The further we move away, the closer we come To our reality and the walls of exile.
Our sole desire is to cross them.
Towards the duality of heaven-earth, earth-heaven.
The poet compares exile to a building with a fence and walls surrounding Palestinians from all sides. He displays the state of tough siege in which his people-the Palestinians-are living; even in their exile outside Palestine they are besieged and living in hard conditions. Darwish narrates the story of Diaspora, it does not matter how far the Palestinian go, the fact that not everyone welcomes them and the fact that they are besieged in their external exile.

Conclusion
Metaphors in Darwish poetry are both a linguistic and cultural phenomenon. They serve a purpose that goes beyond embellishment and poetic delight to persuasion and a serious statement of identity. Elements of nature are politicized in a manner that extends their original denotative fields of meaning to embrace rich connotations of homeland and exile. The poetic art of Darwish thus goes beyond the local to the universal.
The impact of nature is quite vivid in the literary works of Darwish. This is because Palestine is different from other countries in the region due to the presence of four climatic region: mountainous areas, valleys, desert, and coastal plains. The diversity of climate has a tremendous impact on the literary works of Darwish and this diversity is clear in the use of different metaphors in his poetry. Such metaphors reveal a great deal about the attachment of the poet to his homeland. He invokes a sense of attachment and belonging to the Palestinian landscape. While reading his poems, one notices that he is celebrated the beauty of nature in his homeland. Language for Darwish are home and self. It is outside of place and time, because with it "they carried the place…they carried the time". Darwish said: "Poems can't establish a state. But they can establish a metaphorical homeland in the minds of people. I think my poems have built some houses in the landscape. (Darwish, M. Interview "The politics of Poetry").
It is really striking that Darwish uses metaphors to give us a picture of nature and the landscape for both aesthetic and national patriotic purposes. Metaphors of nature promote not only national feelings but also a present of fantastic picture of nature in Palestine. Nature is closely connected to Darwish`s homeland and this is central to Eco criticism, the interconnections between man and nature. Darwish's poems, particularly those he wrote in the exile illustrate the Eco postcolonial perspective. The poems about nature show how Darwish's identity as Palestinian cannot be separated from nature. This illustrates that identity and home are expressed through natural elements in Darwish's poetry.
It can be said that metaphors of nature are employed in his poems as a form of resistance to the colonization of his homeland. He uses various images of nature that are familiar to his people whether they are residing in cities or villages such as wheat and olive groves. Reading the literary works of Darwish is a feast for both the spirit and heart as the reader needs both intellectual ability to grasp the idea behind different metaphors and then evokes sublime feeling connected with the poet`s love of his homeland and the aspiration of the people of Palestine to return to their homes. Metaphors on nature establish a harmony with the land as well as a strong feeling of national belonging. The metaphor used in the poetry of Darwish reflects the strong linkage and spontaneous overflow of a powerful sense of inseparability between Palestinians and their land. The expression "my roots were deeply entrenched" (borrowed from the world of plants) confirms the strong attachment of the poet to his homeland and its people. In his attachment to the land, Darwish embodies the place as a key constituent of the Palestinian identity. For Darwish place is associated with the city, the village, the field, the sea, all of which form the geography of the homeland, In the description of the place, Darwish wants to highlight the vital importance of the history, geography, and culture of the Palestinian people. In this reference, the sea of Palestine is always vivid in his poetry.
In Darwish`s poetry, he employs nature, the unique Palestinian and Arabic fauna and flora to extend his interrelationship between identity and land to manifest the strong and deep relationship between man and nature. In this sense, this study also attempts to explore Darwish's application of environment to reflect his perception of the home through the utilization of nature of his homeland Darwish`s poetry as a whole reveals how he draws upon nature and humans to engender resistance against the occupation of his homeland and the displacement of his people from their homeland.