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Redondo Shaiel

Ms. Lauren

ENG3U h1+, English, 11, University

31 July 2021

Blood

Note the severity of the language in the fourth stanza and how it intensifies the tone

established in the first three stanzas. Comment on how this effect is achieved. What does the poet

imply with the final two lines of the stanza?

In the poem “blood” written by Naomi Shihab Nye, there is a great reflection about

how Arab people have turned themselves and their culture into a huge blood pool, owing to their

criminal acts all over the globe.

In this poem the tone of severity on the first three stanzas is achieved because of the hard words

Shihab uses: True Arabs believed watermelon could heal fifty ways [6]. This metaphoric

expression that can also be identified as a hyperbole, shows a clear feeling of poignancy with

what her own nation used to be in the past; it reveals the true nature of an Arab person back in

time.

The bottom line in the first three stanzas explain and reflect a true reality about the condition of

Arab people nowadays; that is why she feels sorrow and grief by her countrymen’s attitude.

In my opinion, I think what the final two lines of the fourth stanza means, it is that

exists a great deal of pain in the life of Naomi due to the acts of Arab people who don’t represent

what they were like before; for which, this has entailed a war for Palestinian and the region itself,
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but despite that, she expects to see a little bit of hope in the middle of that difficult time by

waving a flag. This is perfectly evident for instance, when she uses again a metaphoric language

by saying: Today the headlines clot in my blood [16]. A little Palestinian dangles a truck on the

front page [17]. In this paragraph, she continues describing through her words the reality of her

people and how has this affected her feelings in such terrible way, that she finds no peace in

anything.

In her final stanza, Nye suggests that some Arabs have acted inauthentically in recent

history, that they are anything but “true Arabs.”

Show how the language in the final stanza illustrates the frustration that Arab-

Americans face. Focus on the imagery that centres on language and the language and the various

forms of communication the characters in the poem employ.

The last stanza clearly shows a sense of frustration that doesn’t make her feel proud

of being Arab or fit into that culture because she is different, and it does not represent what a true

Arab is like. When she talks to her father about the news, she can see sadness in him, and that’s

why, perhaps, he can not withstand that situation anymore; therefore, his daughter wonders:

where can the crying heart graze? [26] and most importantly, what does a true Arab do now?

[27], referring to the peace and quietness he and she longs for, in spite of the danger and

horrifying situation their people is going through, but likewise her people’s crimes that have

made Arab people look bad before the world.

Regarding the way she recites the poem and the tone of her words, I strongly believe

she stills remembers what a true Arab was like, but besides; she and her father feels a sense of

profound sadness and pain because of this. She uses diverse ways to communicate what she
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wants. First, she tries to modulate the tone of her voice to express what she is feeling, but also;

she uses facial gestures to externalize her sentiments of melancholy and second, as she recites the

poem, she sort of tries to bring back memories from childhood that reminds her of what a true

Arab was like in the past, and so his father with his facial expressions.