A Comparative Analysis of the Discourse of Resistance in The Will to Live by Abū al-Qāsim al-Shābbī and Palestine Is Ours by Shihāb Muḥammad

Situated within the framework of the American School of Comparative Literature, this study examines the discourse of resistance in contemporary Arabic poetry, focusing on the linguistic and discursive mechanisms through which resistance is articulated. The analysis is grounded in close, text-centered reading while remaining attentive to the historical and social contexts in which the poems emerge, without assuming any direct relationship of influence or intertextual transmission between the texts. Within this framework, resistance is not approached as a merely reactive response to crisis, but as a coherent semantic system through which poetic language gives form to experiences of steadfastness, perseverance, and collective agency.Methodologically, the study adopts a descriptive–analytical approach based on a close reading of two poetic odes and a comparative examination of the shared constitutive elements of the discourse of resistance. The analysis shows that, despite differences in historical and social conditions, both poets construct a common constellation of concepts underpinning this discourse. These include the foregrounding of collective agency, the articulation of will as inseparable from the continuity of life, the rejection of stasis and submission, and the reconfiguration of horizons of hope and futurity.The findings indicate that these elements are articulated differently in each text according to their contexts of production. of return. The study thus highlights the capacity of contemporary Arabic poetry to articulate the discourse of resistance across diverse semantic horizons while remaining grounded in shared conceptual foundations.