The Absent Self: Alienation as Identity in Mark Strand and Raad Zamil's Poetics.

Abstract

This study examines how Raad Zamil, an Iraqi poet, and Mark Strand, an American poet, both employ alienation as a constitutive element of their poetic identities, turning existential exile into a defining characteristic of selfhood. Despite their differences in language, geography, and cultural background, Strand and Zamil share preoccupations with the themes of absence, shadow imagery, and the fragmented self. Through close reading and comparative analysis, this study demonstrates how alienation serves as the foundation for poetic identity rather than merely a condition to be overcome. Zamil's work reflects the particular traumas of war-torn Iraq and exile, where physical displacement corresponds to psychological fragmentation. Strand's poetry, conversely, negotiates metaphysical estrangement within American postmodernism by portraying the self as unknowable and alienated. To express identities that exist in negation and doubt, both poets utilize shadow metaphors, mirrored selves, and intentional absences. This comparative research demonstrates that the shadowy, alienated self represents a crucial mode of contemporary identity construction in poetry, revealing how alienation functions as a generative poetic force across diverse literary traditions. The findings contribute to current debates concerning identity theory, displacement literature, and the function of negative space in meaning construction.