--- description: How poetry explains jihadis title: Art, Not Just Geopolitics, Is Key to Understanding ISIS image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97ad2c52e39fb544/6988539e0b72e317ef6e4606/isis-fighting-graffiti.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [ISIS](/tag/isis/) ## ISIS Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Art, Not Just Geopolitics, Is Key to Understanding ISIS  by [Ian Bremmer](/author/ian-bremmer/)  ## Ian Bremmer Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 9, 2015 3:11 PM CUT  A member of the civil defense sleeps on the street in the rebel-held side of Syria's northern city of Aleppo on June 8, 2015, the Arabic graffiti in blue reads: "Those looking for life under the rubble of death". A member of the civil defense sleeps on the street in the rebel-held side of Syria's northern city of Aleppo on June 8, 2015, the Arabic graffiti in blue reads: "Those looking for life under the rubble of death".Karam Al-Masri—AFP/Getty Images  by [Ian Bremmer](/author/ian-bremmer/)  ## Ian Bremmer Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 9, 2015 3:11 PM CUT [**Battle Lines: Want to Understand the Jihadis? Read Their Poetry –** **_The New Yorker_**](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/08/battle-lines-jihad-creswell-and-haykel "undefined") --- > “” --- Art is the truest reflection of a society, what it dreams of, what it fears, and what it aspires to become. Analysts study the ideology, the politics, and the economics of jihad, but we ignore the poetry as if it’s a diversion rather than a valuable map of an inner landscape that remains unexplored. This _New Yorker_ article by Robyn Creswell and Bernard Haykel takes a closer look. It’s literary analysis as social profiling, and it’s fascinating. My pick of the week. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3914285/isis-poetry-jihadis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3914285/isis-poetry-jihadis/"},"headline":"Art, Not Just Geopolitics, Is Key to Understanding ISIS","datePublished":"2015-06-09T15:11:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:02:43.207Z","description":"How poetry explains jihadis","url":"https://time.com/3914285/isis-poetry-jihadis/","keywords":["ISIS","World","Ian Bremmer"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97ad2c52e39fb544/6988539e0b72e317ef6e4606/isis-fighting-graffiti.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ian Bremmer","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/ian-bremmer/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97ad2c52e39fb544/6988539e0b72e317ef6e4606/isis-fighting-graffiti.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SYRIA-CONFLICT aleppo","caption":"SYRIA-CONFLICT aleppo","creditText":"Karam Al-Masri—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/isis/","name":"ISIS"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3914285/isis-poetry-jihadis/","name":"Art, Not Just Geopolitics, Is Key to Understanding ISIS"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Bremmer: What Does America Stand For?","description":"As the world's only superpower, Bremmer argues that the United States must look towards the next stage of China's rise","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/LslU7mTn/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-03T22:18:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LslU7mTn.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3914285/isis-poetry-jihadis/","duration":"PT3M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3914285/isis-poetry-jihadis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```