THE POLYPHONY IN FADHILA MESSAI POETRY

THE POLYPHONY IN FADHILA MESSAI POETRY

Many literary theorists like Bakhtin had doubted the possibility of polyphony in poetry due to its monophonic nature but the answers were big and fast against Bakhtin from his Russian friends(Anwar Jaber; The Literary Expression; 2017). 
Polyphony means the presence of multiple visions and ideological sounds in the text where the author voice is not clear, and this type of writing needs narration, so it can find itself in the narrative poetry. (Anwar Jaber, Expressive narrative 2017). 
Fadhila Messai is a Tunesian poetess writes free poems with narrative basis, and this narrative nature make the way so easy for the occurance of polyphony in her poetry. Here we will deal with the polyphonic elements in Fadhila narrative poetry.
In her poem "DEPARTURE" , there are very obvious polyphonic features in a narrtive poetic text. We don’t need so much to show the narrative structure of the poem where the author say:
"On the third day of June
My life departed
He chose the dark nothingness
To be his abode
Then my heart departed
Followed by my body
I remained alone"

And with this style the poem continues its narration.

The polyphony has textual elements; like the appearance of more than one idea, more than one vision and more than one voice with conflict and serious discussion.If the text appears with a harmony in its vision and ideas, there will be the monophony.In polyphony the voice of the author is minimal and may disappear totally or at least it is one of the multiple voices.The polyphony in poetry is a very artistic creation.

In "Departure" we find multiple voices and visions:
The first voice; the voice of the author; "My and I": "My life departed....... / Then my heart departed /Followed by my body/ I remained alone"
The second voice; the voice of "HE' : "He chose the dark nothingness/ To be his abode."
the third voice; the voice of "telephone: "A telephone beside me / Has made/A solemn promise / Never again to ring"
The fouth voice; the voice of Majunun: 'Majnun, whom the deserts of trials have /banished Wept for my condition"
The fifth voice ; the voice of Ablah :"And Ablah called me saying/ O my kinswoman"
The sixth voice; the voice of "She" : "She said: yes indeed/ ....She said: it is quite so"
The seventh voice; the voice of "You": You shall count the years as seconds / You shall plant thorns in one hand"

In fact the polyphony in this poem reaches its transfiguration at a dialogue part where we find this piece:
"I said: my heart and life
She said: yes indeed
I said: my joy and sorrow
She said: it is quite so
I said: my today and yesterday are both gone
She said: as you say"
Despite the agreement but the presence of this type of expression reflects the deep polyphony and represents the transfiguration of the paratextual factors in the text. The text is not just that we see on the paper but there are deep factors from the past and from the future; from the author and from the reader; these factors have pressure on the writing, and they have a paratextual world. (Anwar Jaber; The Lietrary Expression; 2017)
We can see the primary and united deep message for all these voice but poetry is a mirror and the paratextual factors consciously and subconsciously try to appear with full transfiguration. Although the author chooses that style of dialogue and narrative to express her message but this style also reflects the deep presence of these voice in the author paratextual world. 


The poem:
DEPARTURE
Fdhila Messai

On the third day of June
My life departed
He chose the dark nothingness
To be his abode
Then my heart departed
Followed by my body
I remained alone
By myself, roaming the streets of void
And pacing the labyrinthine capsule of time

He neither said goodbye
Nor thank you sweetheart
The journey came to an end
Yet he neither explained nor apologized
A year went by slowly
As if it were a thousand years

Months and holidays
Rolled away with a retarded tempo
While , I, at his door
Waited for his homing pigeons and red roses
A telephone beside me
Has made
A solemn promise
Never again to ring

Majnun, whom the deserts of trials have banished
Wept for my condition
And Ablah called me saying
O my kinswoman
Take as a good example
Myself and Antarah
Qais and Lubna
Al-Majnun and Layla
And the rest of the lovers
Throughout eternity

I said: my heart and life
She said: yes indeed
I said: my joy and sorrow
She said: it is quite so
I said: my today and yesterday are both gone
She said: as you say
And by the way
You shall count the years as seconds
And count the sand and the stones
You shall plant thorns in one hand
And cactus flowers in the other
And still wander: where is the pain