Purpose, Audience and Tone
This essay offers explanation to Mahmoud Darwish’s, “A Gentle Rain in a Distant Autumn”. We will go through analysis on what he’s trying to tell us, who he is trying to talk to and how he’s delivering this message.
“A Gentle Rain in a Distant Autumn” is mainly about three matters. The Poet’s feelings and emotions towards the situation in Palestine and how he relates to it, the actual situation in Palestine and his one and only desire. The poet’s purpose is to take us on an emotional journey of his melancholy using simple terms intertwined together to form metaphors and imagery that best portrait the morbid and sad image of Palestine. He is addressing anyone who has affinity towards the subject of Palestine or otherwise.
First, he talks about a major sadness in his poem “A gentle Rain in a distant autumn” (01,02,03,04) which symbolizes the death of nature, the death of his own country. A thoughtful sadness, mourning and sorrow through the loss of Palestine dominate. Palestine remains a memory for the author, a distant memory, a cause that is losing, because of the words he uses: “running away” (14), “the birds have flown to a lime which will not return” (35),”A kiss sent in the post” (40). He even goes further to Express the beauty of his hometown “birds are blue, blue” (2), “windows are white, are white” (11) still in a sad manner followed by how demolished it is now “my country is the joy of being in chains” (39). There is a sense of imprisonment and lost lives in the poem that describes Palestine today as a country in “chains”(39), “seller of aspirin and death”(24),”Slaughtered” (42). He mentioned his “dead a fetus” (26) which means he is dead before having the chance to live because of his sadness to his country. Throughout his poem the poet’s repetition of metaphors is not for poetry’s sake only. It is for us to understand how persistent he is, and what he really wants. He mentions his only desire or all that he wants now is his “mother’s handkerchief”. A
“A Gentle Rain in a Distant Autumn” is mainly about three matters. The Poet’s feelings and emotions towards the situation in Palestine and how he relates to it, the actual situation in Palestine and his one and only desire. The poet’s purpose is to take us on an emotional journey of his melancholy using simple terms intertwined together to form metaphors and imagery that best portrait the morbid and sad image of Palestine. He is addressing anyone who has affinity towards the subject of Palestine or otherwise.
First, he talks about a major sadness in his poem “A gentle Rain in a distant autumn” (01,02,03,04) which symbolizes the death of nature, the death of his own country. A thoughtful sadness, mourning and sorrow through the loss of Palestine dominate. Palestine remains a memory for the author, a distant memory, a cause that is losing, because of the words he uses: “running away” (14), “the birds have flown to a lime which will not return” (35),”A kiss sent in the post” (40). He even goes further to Express the beauty of his hometown “birds are blue, blue” (2), “windows are white, are white” (11) still in a sad manner followed by how demolished it is now “my country is the joy of being in chains” (39). There is a sense of imprisonment and lost lives in the poem that describes Palestine today as a country in “chains”(39), “seller of aspirin and death”(24),”Slaughtered” (42). He mentioned his “dead a fetus” (26) which means he is dead before having the chance to live because of his sadness to his country. Throughout his poem the poet’s repetition of metaphors is not for poetry’s sake only. It is for us to understand how persistent he is, and what he really wants. He mentions his only desire or all that he wants now is his “mother’s handkerchief”. A