Introduction
From the Diary of an Almost-Four-Year-Old is the poem by Hanan Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi who expresses in her work the horrors of the military conflicts and the sufferings of the civilians. The poem touches your feelings as the author describes the thoughts of the small girl who is only four years old but who has already gone through a lot in her life.
The aim of this essay is analyze the poem From the Diary of an Almost-Four-Year-Old by Hanan Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi.
The explication of the poem
The main idea of the poem is the sufferings of the innocent civilians and children during the war. The plot of the poem represents the expression of the world perception and the feelings of the child who has been injured by the soldier and has lost one eye.
From the first stanza, we get to know that her medical treatment will come to an end and it will be her last bandage. She asks herself about what it likes to see with one eye. “I wonder will I see half an orange, half an apple, half my mother’s face with my one remaining eye?” (Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi n.pag.). The following poetic techniques can be noticed in these lines: the rhetoric question, exposition which provides the background to the poem’s plot, and the comparison.
The second stanza is emotionally intense. We get to know about the feelings of this girl. “I did not see the bullet but felt its pain” (Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi n.pag.). She also tells us about the soldier who has made her an invalid. She says that she will never forget his image but she has not understood the look in his eyes (Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi n.pag.).
In these lines, we can notice such literature technique as hyberbole as she said that she “felt the pain exploding in her head” (Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi n.pag.). The author used a hyperbole because the bullet did not actually explode in her head but she felt like that.
In the third stanza, she says that she imagines him in her mind. That is how she knows that she has another set of eyes, the ones which she has in her mind. In this stanza, the following techniques have been indentified: allegory and metaphor.
The forth stanza tells us about her thoughts of what the surrounding world will look like when she will receive a new glasses as a gift on her birthday. The dramatic irony can be noticed in her words. She says “maybe thing will look round and fat in the middle – I’ve gazed through all my marbles, they made the world look strange”.
In the last stanza, she says about her thoughts when she has heard about a nine-month-old baby who has also lost an eye (Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi n.pag.). She asks herself a question whether the same soldier has injured both of them. Finally, she expresses a pity for this child as she is old enough and she has seen a lot of life, although she is only four (Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi n.pag.). The following poetic techniques can be noticed: the rhetoric question and hyperbole.
Conclusion
In order to summarize all above mentioned, it should be said that From the Diary of an Almost-Four-Year-Old is a poem by Hanan Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi who expresses the sufferings of children during the war. Such literature techniques as rhetoric questions, allegories, metaphors, irony, and hyperboles have been identified in the poem.
Works Cited
Mikha’il ‘Ashrawi, Hanan. From the Diary of an Almost-Four-Year-Old. n.d. Web.