"Behind Bars" in a Time of Turmoil

A Perspective on Fadwa Tuqan's poem "Behind Bars"

         At the beginning of the twentieth century, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire.  After World War I, it became its own country, only to be divided in two after World War II.  Fadwa Tuqan was born into a prominent Palestinian family in this volatile situation, and her poetry grew out of struggles with identity.  One of Tuqan’s lesser known poems, “Behind Bars,” deals with her feelings toward her mother but alludes to other layers of meaning.  Tuqan’s poem skillfully weaves together linguistic elements to create a vivid and unique image that details one person’s life experience within the larger conflicts in her homeland, still universally fascinating readers through giving a glimpse of human emotion, allowing us to see how Tuqan uses poetry in her life.

To begin, Tuqan attempts to deal with and act on some traumatic events that have happened to her by detailing them in poetry, in the process creating a very unique work. Written in first person, the poem describes the speaker's experience in prison as she visualizes her mother.   In the Against Forgetting Anthology, the speaker references the time before her arrest, saying "and my mother was near me,/ blessing my painting" (Forche 541).  The speaker then describes what she believes her mother is experiencing, such as "I see here/on her face silence and loneliness now" (Forche 541).  Probably expressing what Tuqan is feeling, the speaker yearns to escape her prison and run to her mother.     Not only does Tuqan set her poem in an unusual experience,  she does so with very startling imagery.  The poem begins with her mother’s phantom hovering before her, combining a mother, an intrinsically comforting image, with a ghost, something that tends to disturb people from any culture and may serve to shake up the reader.  Tuqan’s skillful figurative language also demonstrates the unique way her mind works as a poet.  She compares her mother's forehead, the seat of the intellect, to the light of stars, something that tends to be thought of very romantically.   This metaphor adds a tone of reverence to the poem.  Another surprising addition to the poem was the metaphor of “roses/grown with blood,”  changing the tone yet again as the author refers to her arrest.  Not many poets would talk about roses as nurtured in blood, and this ambiguous image gives Tuqan’s poetry mystery and distinction.  As a reader, one may have trouble understanding why the poet chose the phrase she did, or why the speaker’s mother blessed the painting.  In the very end of the poem as translated in Against Forgetting, Tuqan surprises the reader by yearning for not her mother's face, but the touch of "her arms and the face of day."  These hidden meanings are left to the interpretation of the reader, who will draw on personal life experience and knowledge to fill in the blanks. 

On another note, Tuqan’s poetry breaks many barriers in the Arab world, especially in the way she utilizes language. Not only is she a female poet, which is not often heard of or accepted, but according to the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, she also writes in free verse in Arabic.  This violates the traditional form of Arab poetry, which, according to an article on Arab Poetry in AL-Bab: An Open Door to the Arab World, is normally composed within strict forms of rhyme and rhythm.  Her experimentation creates a new and fresh form of her art.  Fadwa Tuqan’s poetry is unique not only for the unusual personal situation she is describing, presumably from jail, but also individual because of the trailblazing way she manipulates language.

Next, Tuqan witnessed a tumultuous era of her land. Born on March 1, 1917, she lived to see her country taken over by outsiders and the state of Israel created in 1948.  A rapidly changing reality was part of Tuqan’s growing up years, as disputes abounded between Arabs and Israelis on land claims. With these circumstances, Contemporary Authors online suggests that it would be natural for Tuqan’s poems “trace the development of the Palestinian people, from despair to steadfastness to resistance” (“Fadwa Tuqan”).  A time of severe political oppression in Palestine appeared in many of Tuqan’s works, as she responded to and pushed back against the dictates of foreign powers.  She lived through the Arab revolt of 1936-1939, as militants directed attacks toward the British establishment and Jewish settlements. While the reader of "Behind Bars" may not know all the details of the unrest that Tuqan experienced, she may get a sense of turmoil as Tuqan connects her written "letters in a book" to her arrest.   Tuqan’s first volume of poetry was published  in 1952, titled Wahdi ma al-Ayyam, or Along with the Days. As more wars broke out, Fadwa responded to the injustice and complexities of the Six-Days War and the Yom Kippur War, as Jewish people took more and more Palestinian land away.  Her memoir, published 1985 as Rihlah Sa’bah, Rihlah Jabaliyah, records some of this, as well as the repression she felt from her family.  Her memoir was her first work to be translated into English, as A Mountainous Journey.  The larger context of Fadwa Tuqan’s works lead to the rich and varied poetry that she produced, especially evident as her poem “Behind Bars”  showcases her control of imagery and metaphor.  She experienced more severe discouragement both in her home and in the political atmosphere than most people ever experience, and this combined with her creative spirit to explode into masterful and powerful works.  

Finally, Tuqan’s poetry is intensely emotional, touching many readers through the use of her style elements and personal life.  The imagery of the satchel and old uniform, gathering dust, draw the reader more fully into the poem.  In “Behind Bars,”  Tuqan’s mother is central to the poem just as almost all mothers are central to their children’s lives.  Drawing on shared experiences of being separated from people we love, mothers especially, Tuqan lays out a very simple but heart-wrenching experience.  As a reader, the repetition of the phrase  “silence and loneliness”  harbors an acute sense of the pain of separation.  The repetition of the phrase makes it seem like the ringing of a question asked to the hollow air in an empty building.  One can almost feel Tuqan’s longing for her mother:  that emptiness that can only be filled by a loved one.  Helplessness also preys on the reader, as one feels the constriction of being under arrest and no longer making choices for oneself. However, there is little literature on this particular poem, and the reader may feel lost when faced with the emotional burden of roses grown from blood and no explanation for these carnivorous flowers.  Tuqan’s arrest is also shrouded in mystery, laying down more questions.  However, these questions draw the reader back again and again, feeling the raw emotional power resonate with the unanswerable inquiries.  Perhaps this marriage of emotion and curiosity is what makes the poem so powerful.

          In conclusion, Tuqan’s artfully developed poetry and personal images combine with the unique situation of her homeland, creating an emotional atmosphere that touches a wide range of readers. Her unique free verse and feminist themes emerged as a cry against the restricting society in which she was raised, calling for room for change and creativity.  She pushed boundaries with innovation, challenging injustice where she saw it by responding with art.  Her poems could never be shot down like an enemy, and indeed, the former Israeli defense minister commented that “reading one of Tuqan's poems was like facing twenty enemy commandos” (“Fadwa Tuqan”).  The art of words performed an action more sacred and insidious than the violence of  a fighter:  instead of killing people, it changed their minds.  These poems, written for their own sake, added beauty and truth to the world, which always hungers for beauty and truth.  As Contemporary Authors Online explains it, “In the face of anger, despair, and occupation, she held out hope and determination.”  This is what gives Tuqan's poem "Behind Bars" its meaning in a context of death and violence:  it becomes a way to healing and life.

Works Cited

Amawi, Abla M. "Fadwa Tuqan." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East. Gale, 2004. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

"Arabic Poetry." AL-BAB: an Open Door to the Arab World. 18 June 2009. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. <http://www.al-bab.com/arab/literature/poetry.htm>.

"Fadwa Tuqan." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

Forche, Carolyn.  "Behind Bars, Sel." Against Forgeting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness.  New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc,  1993.