'Mountain' in Shirkoo Bikas's Poetry: Signification and Symbol

Mountain has been regarded as the preserver of identity for Kurds. The Kurdish language and literature are rich in vocabulary regarding mountain, in a way that there are more than 200 words for it in Kurdish language. Living in the mountains from 1985 to 1986, Shirko Bikas, contemporary Kurdish poet, wrote ‘mountain poetry’ against the Baath regime. He has formed a symbolic stock of vocabulary different from the general vocabulary of mountain in his poems. He has used the symbol of mountain in different ways, sometimes in an artistic way and sometimes as a motto. Symbol, as an artistic trope, is intertwined with ambiguity and vagueness. In poetry, a symbol is an artistic arena to oppose social and political injustice and oppression. Using the mountain as a symbol in his poetry, Shirko Bikas has given a wide variety of meanings to it, such as freedom, poverty, body and soul, struggle, city, and sacredness, which are all different from the meaning and symbol of mountain in the general vocabulary. The prominence of narrative in Shirko Bikas’s poetry has led to the narration of history in the form of poetry. This has caused a little weakness in the poetic characteristics, discourse, and sacredness of the mountain.