The Role of Contradiction in Textual Cohesion: A Case Study of the Collection of Nostalgia Letters to Yasmin by Ghada Al-Samman

The Arabic poetry has been continuously changing from the past up to now. For example, it has been partly revolutionized in the terms of form. One of the recognizable elements in terms of the form change is writing the poem on the paper unusually and using writing symbols instead of the text. This kind of poem releases the poet from the bonds of the past and gives complete freedom to him; yet, the contemporary poet, when expressing his opinions and thoughts, faces some problems that cause him not to be able to speak explicitly with complete freedom, thereof, the content of the contemporary poem is not explicit like the past. Different elements such as the environment, time, political circumstances, etc. have been involved in the content of the poem. These changes led to more connection of the reader with the poet and poem in a way that the reader has been transformed into an inseparable part of the contemporary poem. In other words, the reader has the main role of understanding the untold issues of the poet. The present descriptive-analytical study aims to investigate the visual form of the poems of contemporary Iraqi poet, Boland Al-Heydari, in terms of blackness and whiteness, writing symbols, and the reasons for using them. He especially emphasizes this kind of innovation in his own poem and there are few poets in Iraq who can compete with him in creating this kind of innovation. Biaz (whiteness and empty space) that is phrased to the poet’s silence and Savad (full and black space) which is phrased to the poet’s voice and shout, are called as the main and meaningful elements of the contemporary poem in which the poet puts some spaces in widespread parts of his poem with some special purposes and motives. In the present study, the cases of using these elements in the poem have been grouped to understand the poet’s purposes from whiteness, blackness, and writing symbols. The poet sometimes prevails the blackness (of the text) to the whiteness (of the paper) and sometimes decreases it which is numerously found in Boland Al-Heydari’s poems a lot. He cannot say all of his words because of being stuck in some problems like what was mentioned. Thus, he tries to make the reader accompany him by presenting some cues regarding blackness along with creating an interactional and associated connection with the contact to take him to understand the untold concerns. The untold issues that have been mentioned only in the absolute whiteness lead to meaning production and even diverse multi-meaning from readers’ point of view. Boland Al-Heydari has used whiteness for expressing his own status. He has used the wonder whiteness to show his amazement and accompany the reader in this wonder. He has also used the location whiteness for the silence. In sum, he represents the whiteness and blackness game in his poem well. Writing symbols have a special position in the texts to simplify reading and writing. But, writing signs in the poem have different definitions. Writing symbols in Boland Al-Heydari’s poems are recognized as the signs to simplify the comprehension of the poem, but the poet wants to determine a certain affair in the poem. Boland Al-Heydari uses writing symbols in their unusual place in some of his poems, for example, the poet has used three dots at the beginning of the line to make the reader understand the subject and comprehend the poet’s intention. This, in addition to improving the interaction and connection of the contact with the poet, also increases the beauty of the poem. The notable point is that the poet looks for transforming his acoustic echo in the form of shape and wants to show his problems climax in that form (i.e. writing symbols). As a result, Boland Al-Heydari has used this form or the outward shape for more contemplation and thinking of the reader and his participation in the poem. He has used such shapes and writing symbols for infusing his word, which the usual language is not able to infuse. In fact, the poet is hidden behind the white curtains of his poem and he wants to surprise the readers using the blackness he has presented in the poem. This technique in Bolad Al-Heydari’s poems has been the basis of his poetry books and his poems are full of outspread writing symbols and whiteness and blackness. Therefore, Boland can be considered as one of the fighter poets. Had he not used such techniques, he would have been forgotten. Such outward shapes made him immortal in his poems.