Intertextuality in Mahmoud Darwish's Poetry: A Case Study of the "La'ab Al-Nard" Ode

A symbol is an emblem used with the aim of expressing the existential feelings of a poet about a particular subject. The poet has borrowed such a style from prior experiences in order to use it with regard to current events. The reasons for this choice of style are the following: the inability of everyday language to express the present events and the absence of freedom in the society where the poet lives. Similarly, the Palestinian poets have made use of symbols for expressing the bitter realities of life through the compilation of modern poetry by borrowing traditional symbols. Such a connection is realized between the present and previous texts in the light of inter-textual knowledge. Mahmud Darwish is one of the poets who attempted to use various symbols in order to express the social issues of his own community. Therefore, following a descriptive and analytic method, the present study has studied the intertextuality of "La'ab al-Nourd" ode as an example in order to analyze the symbols used in this poem by focusing on the intertextual concept.