Jasmin+Hussain

"We do right, we do wrong" - Kurtis Lamkin media type="file" key="Path Of Continuous Struggles.m4a" width="300" height="50" DETAILED STUDY: NAOMI SHIHAB NYE For my detailed study I wanted to learn more about Naomi Shihab Nye and her poems. Naomi was born in St. Louis Missouri is 1952. She is of American and Palestinian descent since her father was a Palestinian refugee and her mother an American that has a background of European ancestors. Naomi Shihab Nye spent her teenage years in both Jerusalem, Palestine and in San Antonio Texas. From reading Naomi’s Poems I can definitely say that her experiences with culture and differences between Palestine and America definitely shows in her writing. In her poem “Different Ways to Pray” I noticed that Naomi Shihab Nye focused on the specific ways that Muslims pray. The poem was kind of written in a free verse style. There weren’t really any patterns that consisted of rhymes or a certain rhythm. But I did notice that in the stanza’s some of the words were capitol letters and others were lowercased. From reading the poem multiple times, I noticed that there was a set punctuation in the poem. Naomi wrote the poems in sentences. Whenever ever she introduced a new way to pray or a new setting she would use capitol letters in the beginning of the sentence. //“Under the olive trees,” “A night the men ate heartily,”// Whereas when she was contentiously talking about one way to pray she stuck to the same sentence and lowercased letters even if she was starting a new line//. “When they arrived in Mecca/they would circle the holy places.”// Another thing that I noticed about Naomi Shihab Nye’s writing is that a lot of her writing is realistic writing and not that abstract. Most of the poems that I read for this detailed study were from her book //__Poems of the Middle East.__// I already knew from reading her biography, that a lot of these poems a connection with Naomi’s experiences and memories from Palestine, where she stayed with her grandmother. In her poems Naomi wrote a lot about traditional Arab culture and traditions. For example “The Words Under the Words” a poem dedicated to Naomi’s grandmother Khadra, Naomi talks a lot about the things that her grandmother did. “//My grandmother’s day are made of bread//,” Another poem where Naomi Shihab Nye focused on Arab culture in the poem “Red Brocade” I noticed that in this poem Naomi included a proverb that is commonly used by the Arabs. //“When a stranger appears at your door,/feed him for three days/before asking who he is,/where he’s come from,/where he’s headed,/That way he’ll have strength/ enough to answer. Or, by then you’ll be/ such good friends/ you don’t care.”// This poem really stood out to me because of the way it was formatted. The entre first stanza was the proverb itself. The second, third and fourth stanza was kind of a response to the proverb. From reading Naomi’s bio I think that the response is what she saw when she was living with her grandmother. //“Here, take the red brocade pillow./No. I was not busy when you came!”// I think the reason why her poem was formatted this way was so she could organize the poem in way where the poem would be less abstract.