Wisdom in Contemporary Palestinian Folk Poetry: Mūsā Ḥāfiz’s Diwan “The Pain of Years” as a Model

Abstract

Palestinian folk heritage is deep-rooted and significant, often expressing the experiences and concerns of the Palestinian people. Palestinian folk poetry has preserved many of the components of this heritage despite the significant changes that have occurred in Palestinian society in light of recent digital development and modernity. Evidence of this is the prevalence of folk poetry among a wide segment of various social groups in contemporary Palestinian society. The Palestinian folk poet, Mūsā Ḥāfiz, from the city of Jenīn, is perhaps the most prominent of these influential poets in the field of modern Palestinian folk poetry. His poetry collection, “The Pain of Years” is replete with poems that address various real-life themes and issues, reflecting the people’s suffering. This study aims to pause on the theme of wisdom in the diwan to attempt to describe it and analyze the social values that Palestinian folk poetry advocates for preserving and rooting in a rapidly changing reality.

The study aims to uncover the type of folk social norms and values that the poet Mūsā Ḥāfiz employs in his diwan, “The Pain of Years,” and to identify and understand their place in their social reality from the perspective of the poet and contemporary Palestinian folk poetry.