Linguistic Deviation in Ibrahim Nasrallah’s Green Wood

The most prominent literary characteristic of Ibrahim Nasrallah is the fact that he attempts to make unique works which attract readers and make them reflect on his poetry which has Palestine as its main theme; deviation from literary norms is considered as one of the tools consciously used by him to reach this goal. This study examines his poetry collection Green Wood in order to highlight the way his utilization of artistic methods and linguistic deviation, i.e. leaving the rules of standard language, provides him with a distinct poetic language which is able to consciously convey his ideas and feelings about Palestinians and express their pains artistically. The findings demonstrate that Nasrallah uses various ways to deviate from the common language in order to foreground his text. Reading the poems in the aforementioned collection affirms the fact that metaphor and hyperbaton are used by the poet more often than simile, synesthesia, and paradox and this shows his considerable attention to semantic deviation—a technique which he frequently uses in his works. This focus on semantic deviation demonstrates his power to create meanings for his ideas and feelings about Palestine and to present these thoughts and emotions to the reader. Furthermore, using new collocations and visual aspects of writing imply the power of his creative thought to visualize the meanings and transfer his concepts to the reader. Thus, in Green Wood, foregrounding and creation of new meanings by relying on linguistic tools lead to creation of dynamic speech and improvement of the literary value of the work; and while it makes the process of understanding of meaning lengthy, it makes readers distant from superficial understanding and involves them in a deep exploration for understanding substrata of meaning. So, semantic deviation plays a constructive role in this respect and as it has great influence on the reader.