Fatmir Terziu: Reflection and the Antithesis of Poetic Thought in the Cycle “Under the Shadow of Memory” by Nexhbedin Basha

Reflection and the Antithesis of Poetic Thought in the Cycle “Under the Shadow of Memory” by Nexhbedin Basha

The poetic cycle “Under the Shadow of Memory” by Nexhbedin Basha is constructed upon a dual axis: reflection as an act of consciousness and antithesis as a continuous clash between being and absence, memory and oblivion, light and shadow. From the opening poem “The Shadow”, the lyrical subject is placed in front of an “other” that is simultaneously the self, a presence that follows, mirrors, and challenges. This dual relationship clearly evokes the thought of Martin Heidegger, who conceives being as something thrown into the world, always in relation to temporality and the “shadow” of death. The poetic question “But when I die?!” is not merely rhetorical; it is an ontological rupture that shifts poetry from description into philosophy.

In this sense, the shadow is not only an aesthetic metaphor but an existential structure: it represents memory without “taste or dimension,” yet extending beyond space and time. Here, poetry becomes a reflection on what Michel Foucault would call the dispersion of the subject across discourses, an identity not fixed, but constructed through traces, memories, and constant refractions.

The antithesis becomes more evident in the poems dedicated to parents and homeland, where physical absence clashes with a permanent spiritual presence. In the verse “I hold you in my eyes, at dusk and dawn,” time itself is transcended: the parents no longer exist in empirical reality, but in a symbolic dimension that renders them eternal. This resonates with the Freudian concept of the return of the repressed; according to Sigmund Freud, what is lost in reality returns in transformed form within consciousness and dreams. The poet does not lose his parents, he reproduces them in language, image, and emotion.

Meanwhile, the poem about the homeland, Dibra, constructs another antithesis: between idyllic memory and the present reality filled with longing and absence. The homeland is at once a “drunken song” and a “pain that follows like a shadow.” This tension between idealization and reality can also be read through Slavoj Žižek, who emphasizes that human desire is not tied to the real object itself, but to how that object is constructed in imagination. The poet’s Dibra is not merely a place, it is a construct of desire, a space where identity is projected.

In the titular poem “Under the Shadow of Memory”, the antithesis reaches its peak: friendship and loss, closeness and rupture, memory and disillusion intertwine in constant tension. Memory here is not consolation but burden, a “shadow” weighing upon existence. This aligns with the Heideggerian idea that memory is not merely recollection, but a mode of being in the world, a way of living with the past as an active part of the present.

Poems such as “Exile” and “The Lonely Penguin” extend this reflection into the social and existential plane. Exile is portrayed as an impossible separation: the body departs, but the root remains. This internal division creates a fragmented subject, living in-between,a condition that Michel Foucault would interpret as shaped by historical and discursive forces. Meanwhile, the lonely penguin becomes a figure of resistance, an individual who refuses conformity,a metaphor for integrity in a world marked by “hypocrisy.” Here, the antithesis lies between the crowd and the individual, noise and silence, where silence emerges as a deeper form of truth.

In the spiritual dimension, the poem “The Night of Blessings” introduces another layer of reflection: the relationship between the human and the divine. Here, antithesis is not conflictual but harmonizing, a search for light within darkness. In this sense, the poetic cycle does not remain confined within existential crisis but opens toward the possibility of redemption through faith and aesthetic experience.

In conclusion, Nexhbedin Basha’s poetry unfolds as a space where reflection and antithesis coexist in creative tension. Shadow and light, memory and oblivion, presence and absence are not resolved but remain in continuous dialogue. It is precisely within this tension that the strength of this poetry resides: it does not offer answers but raises questions, and as Martin Heidegger suggests, “questioning is the piety of thought.”

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