Starter:
Muezzin – The official who issues a call to prayer.
Dinars – A currency used in the Middle East.
Tigris – A river running through Western Asia.
Salaam – A greeting in the religion of Islam.
Task One:
The events of the poem are very dark, but it is written in a relatively peaceful manner, especially as it presents the beauty of the environment. I believe that the theme of the poem is suffering.
• The man observed as a funeral procession passed him, in honour of man killed by poisonous gases during the conflict.
• The man heard the call to prayer, only to approach the mosque and find the dying muezzin.
• The man met two blind beggars and gave them 100 dinars, the beggars then saluted him.
• The man watched as a cruise missile flew by overhead and as a young beggar turned to see the projectile.
• After all this, the man watches contently as a child reaches to pluck yellow dates from a palm tree.
Task Two:
The repetition comes with the use of ‘As I made my way down Palestine Street’, which is the first line of each stanza. This helps to show that all these events occurred within a short space of time, and in a concentrated area. It helps to evoke a feeling of sympathy towards the people of that singular space of land.
Task Three:
The range of first person verbs, such as ‘I watched’ and ‘I heard’, build a more complex impression of the conflict, as they are used to describe all of the senses. This gives the audience a better idea of the feel of the moment and allows them to create a more vivid image of the events.
React!