Fatmir Terziu's ballad poem
By Dr Shpresa Gjergji
Foreword
"The hiccup of the stone" by the well-known poet, Fatmir Terziu, is a "ballad" poem, which I would call, because there is a life inside it..., but mostly, because everything written is deep in content, special in structure, very philosophical in the symbolism used, a gem in the treasury of today's poetic creations, and missing in Albanian school textbooks.
This "ballad" poem comes so easily to the reader, because our poet is already affirmed with the style and philosophical sense of writing, but with the symbolic context of the "stone", it brings a new philosophical dimension, which speaks of the root, existence, survival, culture, tradition, and the strength that carries the philosophical connection of stone with man. From the very beginning of the poem, we noticed:
"I feel strongly the knocking of the medallion object,
the cradle rocks,
speechless,
we walk years away together."
A long journey that won't make a fuss, a whole life of sacrifices, struggles, challenges, and achievements, that communicates in sync with the language of the eyes. The language of the eyes is the language of the heart, of the mind, it is the language of understanding that gives value to the relationship. A deep language that "carves the stone in peace", that is, slowly and wisely with time, with life, expressing change through continuity...
SYMBOLISM
a.- Stone
A symbol that proves endurance, the stone an ideal support in life, the stone that turns the pain into silence, the stone that "turns its hiccups into a song", in this poem is a strong emphasis, extraordinary to express the author's world. If I were to compare it with the "stone" of Ali Podrimja (Poet from Kosovo), I would add that this "stone" absolutely has the weight of life, it has the voice of a poet, it has worries, resistance to challenges and the beauty of the song of the soul. Moreover, in this poem, the symbolism of the stone is beautifully combined with that of the "hammer", which carves the stone, which looks like a challenge, but which takes on a special meaning. Life without challenges has no meaning, just as stone without a hammer would not be carved...
"...expensive hammer,
wants to sing me lullabies from his treasures,
weight nothing"
b.- Hammer
Another symbolization in this poem is not strange, even for the author "his weight is nothing"...
It has a rare metaphor, it has an implicit conclusion, which takes you on a path where the reader wants to feel the peace and the song, the life, and the dream, to understand the Holy Book and the proud wall (centre), to hear the cradle and the lullaby, the hiccup of the stone (memories) and seek the old time...
Oh, how much there is to say..., so not in vain, I called it "ballad poetry"!
"Hammer" as a unique symbolism, seems to personify challenges. Without challenges life would be monotonous, with challenges dreams gain meaning, but when they are overcome, the weight of the hammer is meaningless. This means that the poet is as strong as the "cornerstone", he holds everything he has built himself. The strength of endurance and the figurative comparisons used give the poem its indomitable and manly spirit.
STONE’S HICCUP
This is also the prominent title of the poem, but it was not for nothing that I left the symbolism of the "hiccup of the stone" for later, this is because I wanted to stop longer.
"Hiccup" in the popular form means "remembered by someone", every time you get hiccups, we say that someone definitely remembers you. Are you saying that the corner stone was occupied by hiccups and this someone was the hammer, that this someone was the "carving", or the challenges of life have not left the poet alone?!
Well, the metaphor is deeper... There is an explicit world, all implied details, within the context of this journey, which undoubtedly constitute the "attitude", give vitality to the poem, bring meaningful, symbolic, and philosophical values to this unique brilliant poem of the poet Fatmir Terziu.
ME (the poetic self)
"The poetic self" comes as an added symbolism: "...even me definitely", the poet is himself against experiences, it is his distinct individualistic personality, which sees the world with "teeth" when there is "pain", because for yes, this journey is life, dream, thoughts, struggle, challenge, "the cornerstone that is carved in peace, stands wordlessly in the corner of the wall"...
Even here, it comes as a parallel to the wall, to express the resistance, the inexhaustible strength in what characterizes him (the poet).
FIGURATIVISM AS AN EXPRESSION OF A HIGH POETIC LEVEL
First, I would call loudly, to say that this poem embodies struggles, trials, undisputed victories, achievements and above all an optimistic world full of strength of the poet, to sing that "song", which "with pain and holds with his teeth", to live happily with what the Universe has given him the opportunity.
There is something that leads me to a "trough full of purified water", it is precisely the eyes of the soul, their inner language in this journey:
"...together,
we read,
The Holy Book written in dreams,
on the foundation on which the proud wall stands..."
We notice that our poet is a believer and follows this path with faith in the "Bible" (Holy Book) as an undivided guide... it even implies that he has a good friend by his side with whom he goes through "challenges" and "battles" when he says: "how many times have we been together"; "we walk years away together".
As a literary figure, not a little cultivated in this poem (our poet is very "fin", has professional ability and an extremely developed literary intuition) I would single out the comparisons "like a soul", like on paper, like a tangle, like a pain; the metaphoric expressed through symbolism, the parallelism expressed in the verses:
"The seasons become one,
understandable as on paper,
the verse enters the poem as a tangle...", where the years are placed in a poetic parallelism with the verses of the poem, a great meaning, just like the verses, the "weathers" (years, this journey) are an expression of a life to live many and many feats, achievements, accomplishments, challenges, etc.
Through the antithesis used:
"...collect the stone hiccup from ancient times,
and now turn it into a song..."
Two opposite things, the hiccups, and the song, where a spirit of positivity stands out, to illuminate the optimistic poetic soul of the poet, where he knows how to direct the poetic verse with details, where the subtext is not missing.
THE SUBTEXT
I wanted to look at the subtext from two perspectives:
First, in the metaphorical aspect and that of the use of the phraseological unit. In both of these aspects, I would emphasize that the deeper the philosophical side of the communication with the reader, the deeper the metaphor used.
Secondly, symbolism, which especially gives metaphorical meaning to the expression. For example, that in the title "Hiccup of the stone" (memories, experiences) metaphorism gives a uniqueness to the creation, or "cornerstone" we mean metaphorically "stance, ability, strength"; or when "the cradle is rocking" it obviously means that the years are full of blessings, the family has grown in number over the years; or "I strongly feel the knocking of the metal object", it is clear that the poet has many achievements; or "plucks spiders from the boards locked between them" when overcoming the challenges that come his way, etc.
Thirdly, I also see the phraseological unit used vigorously and with the poetic and oratorical style and skill of an experienced linguist, where I would once again link it to what I expressed above, which I called the poem "The Hiccup of the Stone", ballad poetry. Here I mean that the poet expresses so much within a poem that it seems that within the verses there is an invisible prose, a novel in itself, and that the elements of the explicit and the implicit are combined to bring it to the "Fatmirjan" (Fatmir Terziu’s) style. ", so read as in a ballad.
The most prominent are phraseology of the type based on metaphors such as:
1. "we walk years away together",
2. "expensive hammer,
3. asks me to sing lullabies from his treasures",
4. "pluck the spider",
5. "whisper with the tongue of the eyes",
6. "the language of the eyes makes a mess in the foundations",
7. "I and the hammer with one mind",
8. "The hiccups of the stone seek in the vigil
9. the age huddled in there",
10. "travel in thoughts",
11. "the verse enters the poem like a tangle,
12. collects the hiccup of the stone from the old time", etc., etc., phraseology these, which give good dough to the poem and make it deep and meaningful.
IN CONCLUSION
The poem "The hiccup of the stone" by the academic poet, Fatmir Terziu, comes with multiple poetics, symbolic, philosophical, metaphorical values where the phraseology used gives the poetic verse values and dimensions of a creator with a unique fatherhood, and that his thought and soul creator stands very high in the expression of this verse.
The style and the word as a function of the whole have a consolidated frame, the poem comes complete, everything is the product of an awareness and intuition that basically has the seal of Fatmir Terziu! Such poems raise the bar to reach such heights and call the caste of poets to analyse and study its form and content in order to confront, accumulate and reflect on themselves, to be articulated and guided in their poetic product.
Thanks for this missing poem, our poet Fatmir Terziu, who returns to us after the "Golden Pen" recently won at the International Festival of Borås, Sweden!
Pleasure and duty to read you! Hearty congratulations! (Dr. Shpresa Gjergji)
The poem "The Hiccup of the Stone"
Author: Fatmir Terziu
I strongly feel the knocking of the medallion object,
the cradle rocks,
speechless,
we walk years away together,
expensive hammer,
asks to sing me lullabies from his treasure,
weight nothing,
pluck spiders from the boards closed between them,
the photograph as a soul brought to light,
whisper with the tongue of the eyes.
The language of the eyes messes up the foundations,
carve the stone in peace of the corner,
me and the hammer with one mind
we drip a little water on his smooth forehead, as
the hiccup of the stone asks at the beginning,
the age huddled in there.
Inside we travel in thoughts,
I, the hammer, and the Cornerstone together,
we read,
The Holy Book written in dreams,
upon the foundation on which the proud wall rises,
and on the mahogany, they bless the pot laid,
How long have we been together?
The seasons become one,
understandable as on paper,
the verse enters the poem like a tangle,
collects the stone hiccup from ancient times,
and now turns it into a song,
where the stone, the hammer and I definitely,
we sing it like a pain held in the teeth.
Dr Shpresa Gjergji: You deserve it, your work has considerable value and as such should be evaluated with analyzes and studies which will serve in the future for future poets. Proud of you!