Pattern poetry and ludic relief in Zeina Hashem Beck’s oeuvre

This article analyzes the playful use of language and poetic form developed by the Lebanese poet Zeina Hashem Beck as a kind of ludic relief from discomforting topics, such as war, physical and mental illness, death, assault, and exile, predominant throughout her texts. Examples of shape poetry and less obvious defamiliarization strategies are studied alongside unique forms like the triptych and the duet. The selected experiments with translingual poetics and innovative structures demonstrate an increasing playfulness, reminiscent of Doris Sommer’s invitation to “bilingual games.” Our analysis begins with Hashem Beck’s first collection, To Live in Autumn (2014) and ends with the most recent one, O (2022). Even the title of this last book, related to the themes of love, mother, body, home, and joy, but also signifying a portal, illustrates the ludic treatment of language at the center of this study. Close readings of graphic elements explain, on the one hand, why the poet might experience the writing of poetry as replenishing, while she finds the writing of non-fiction draining. They illustrate, on the other hand, how the cathartic effect of poetry can be heightened through verbal and formal playfulness.