Damascus-SANA: The Syrian revolution pushed poet Safiyah al-Dagheem to direct her poetry more closely toward the suffering of Syrians, expressing their issues and pain, based on her belief that words are a means to defend rights and convey the voice of the oppressed. Al-Dagheem鈥檚 experience combines emotional poetry with revolutionary verse, using words as a tool for expression and documentation throughout the years of the revolution, relying on her readings and human experience to build her poetic voice.
Early Upbringing.. Cultural Competition and Early Passion for Poetry
The environment and society played a role in shaping al-Dagheem鈥檚 personality, framing her intellectually and defining her inclinations. She grew up in a family characterized by competition in every cultural, literary, or intellectual field, which drove her constant pursuit of excellence and leaving a unique mark different from others. Her passion for poetry began early, during middle school, though she knew nothing about poetic meters at the time, leading her to occasionally make simple metrical errors that might go unnoticed by non-specialists.
After learning something about the science of prosody in high school, she began writing measured poetry. She tried to counter every poem she admired, which firmly embedded the music of the meters in her mind. Among the poets who influenced her most were the innovators Nizar Qabbani, Omar Abu Risha, and Badawi al-Jabal, along with many contemporary poets.
Self-Made Culture.. An Experience That Matured with the Revolution
Al-Dagheem never felt inferior to those with advanced degrees, although she wished to complete her academic studies, which were prevented by circumstances that stopped many girls of her generation in her regions from continuing their education. This wish was a form of self-empowerment, anticipating unjust conditions she might have to face. She was self-made in building her literary and cultural identity from a young age, aided by her father鈥檚 library, which contained mother books and their derived works.
Her experience in its true sense, which gained a clear mark or, rather, a qualitative leap, was born with the birth of the revolution. Her deep feeling for the oppression of the marginalized drove her to speak on their behalf. Circumstances surrounding a person inevitably affect them psychologically, as they are part of this suffering. Those who can defend people鈥檚 rights must use what they master: the poet through poetry, the prose writer through prose, and the novelist through novels. Thus, every individual fulfills their role through their tools.
From Protests to Poetry.. A Personal Memory at the Heart of the Revolution
The revolution changed many of her concepts, but not her concept of poetry. I have always believed that poetry is a general human message, or at its lowest, a literary and artistic experience. The poem that summarizes the revolution stage in her experience is "Skyward," consisting of forty lines. She strove hard to develop herself in the field where she found herself, but what came before the revolution is one thing, and what came after is another.
Nevertheless, the general trajectory of her experience shows continuous elevation, as noted by observers and critics. She considers her best collections so far to be "In the Absence of the Pit" and "What the Wound Revealed," and she currently has more than one collection ready for printing, which may be the best among them as it represents the essence of her experience thus far. My family and I joined the ranks of the revolution from the first moment, participating in protests. I personally wrote banners with revolutionary slogans and wrote anthems sung at the time by Raed al-Hamoud, known as Qashoush Jarjnaz.
She also organized protests for children and women, filmed them, and sent them to media channels. She lived with her family through difficult conditions, including shelling, raids, destruction, and arbitrary arrests, along with all the atrocities one can imagine, which clearly manifested in her poetry. Al-Dagheem鈥檚 literary journey translates the phenomenon of "poetry of resistance and commitment" in the contemporary Syrian scene, as her poems shifted from individual emotional expression to a public rights record documenting the abuses of the fallen regime and the intellectual鈥檚 ability to lead awareness discourse.
A Scream That Condenses the Pain of Experience
The bitter experience of displacement and the darkness of shelling in rural Idlib turned into literary energy that deconstructs the narrative of the fallen regime, supports transitional justice pathways, and provides current generations with cognitive foundations to protect the collective memory of Syrian society. In conclusion of the interview, al-Dagheem quoted the Quranic verse: "Oh, I wish I had died before this and was a forgotten thing," as a phrase that summarizes what those harsh years left within her.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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