The Myth of Palestine and Exile in Darwish's Poem "Tadihiqu Bina Al-Ardh": Barthes' Semiotic Studies

Abstract

This article discusses the poem Tadhīqu Binā al-Arḍ by Mahmoud Darwish This poem describes Palestinian myths and life in dreams. Its meaning consists of three layers: direct meaning (denotative), figurative meaning (connotative), and mythological meaning. The problem raised is the fact that only a small amount of research has actually linked the symbols found in Darwish's poems to the ideology of a lost homeland and a constant struggle. Roland Barthes' theory of semiotics was used in this study to read the signs in poetry. While symbols such as the land, wheat, mother, stone, and olive tree look beautiful, they also serve as ideological symbols that shape the story of Palestinian identity. According to Barthes, this poem is understood as a text that arranges meaning through two layers of significance thanks to the use of a descriptive qualitative approach and content analysis. The results of the study show that Darwish's poem conveys the shared experience of the Palestinian people through two main myths: Palestine as a lost holy land and Exile as a place where steadfastness and resistance emerge.  This shows that Darwish not only wrote about the suffering of others, but also created a cultural archive that preserved the collective memory and Palestinian identity. This poem concludes that literature is not just an expression of art; It is also a symbolic tool to display the history and identity of the nation.