Tuneful Reflections: A Comparative Analysis of Shelley and

Faiz as Romantic Poets.

Dissertation submitted to the University of Calicut in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

in

English Language and Literature

By

Keloth Harsha Jyothi

Reg. No. CCATMEG008

March 2021

P. G. Department of English

Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda

Kerala – 680125
 Declaration

I, Keloth Harsha Jyothi, hereby declare that this dissertation entitled Tuneful
Reflections:A Comparative Analysis of Shelley and Faiz as Romantic Poets,
submitted to the University of Calicut in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Master of Arts in English Language and Literature, is a bonafide
research work done by me under the supervision and guidance of Ms. Shahana K.M.,
Assistant Professor, P. G. Department of English, Christ College (Autonomous),
Irinjalakuda.

Irinjalakuda Keloth Harsha Jyothi

March, 2021
P. G. Department of English

Christ College (Autonomous)

Irinjalakuda-680125

March 2021
 Certificate

This is to certify that this dissertation entitled Tuneful Reflections: A Comparative

Analysis of Shelley and Faiz as Romantic Poets, is an authentic record of research
work carried out by Miss. Keloth Harsha Jyothi under my supervision and guidance in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Masters of Arts in
English Language and Literature submitted to the University of Calicut.

Dr. Hemalatha. P. Shahana K.M.

Coordinator, P. G. Department of English Assistant Professor

Christ College (Autonomous) P.G Department of English

Irinjalakuda (SupervisingTeacher)
 Acknowledgement

I owe my sincere gratitude to the God Almighty for His abundant blessings in the

preparation of this project report. I am happy to acknowledge my heartfelt thanks to my

supervising teacher, Ms. Shahana K.M., Assistant Professor, P. G. Department of English,

Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda, for her guidance and painstaking correction

and revision.

I do thank Dr. Hemalatha.P , Coordinator, P. G. Department of English, for the

timely help and generous encouragement.

I am very grateful to Rev.Dr. Jolly Andrews, the Principal-in-charge, Christ

College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda for the congenial research he has always tried to

foster.

My deep sense of gratitude to Fr Sibi Francis, the librarian and his staff for the

facilities they offered in the library.

I would also like to express my love and regards to my parents, teachers, friends

and all those who have helped me directly and indirectly, in the successful completion of

this project work.

Keloth Harsha Jyothi

 Contents

Chapters Contents Pages

Introduction 1-5
I Romanticism In Literatures: An Overview 6-15

II Faiz Ahmad Faiz - A Poet Beyond Romanticism 16-25

III A Comparative Reading Of Shelley and Faiz Based 26-38

On Their Ideologies Of Art

Conclusion 39-41

Works Cited 42-44

 INTRODUCTION

Poetry is as universal as language and almost as ancient. The most primitive peoples have

used it, and the most civilized have cultivated it. In all ages and in all countries, poetry has

been written, and eagerly read or listened to, by all kinds and conditions of people by

soldiers, states-men, lawyers, farmers, doctors, scientists, clergy, philosophers, kings, and

queens. In all ages it has been especially the concern of the educated, the intelligent, and the

sensitive, and it has appealed, in its simpler forms, to the uneducated and to cchildren.In

creating poems, consciously or not, poets are attempting to communicate at a powerful

emotional level to the people around. The best works transcend its cultural matrix and speak

directly to our common humanity.

The intellectual role and the duty of a writer in times of crisis is always a bone of

content in the literary world. The general answer to the question “Should the art be

political?” emphasises a humanist writing style from the writer that will inspire his or her

readership, regardless of political affiliation, to participate in the retelling of the “narrative of

the great world”. At the heart of this questioning is an affiliation to a worldly Europeanised

cosmopolitan stance that recognises the artist as a citizen of the globalised world. Sometimes

we can see a disjuncture between this global citizenship and artistic representation in times of

national crisis .Trying to work out how an artist remains true to his role as a citizen of the

world in a period of trauma we find an answer in the figure of the major Pakistani poet Faiz

Ahmed Faiz and the very famous British romantic poet P.B Shelley as examples of someone

who remained true to his art and to the representation of truth in their works. under

constrained circumstances the writer can’t help but report the real world tragedies that they

witness at such times and the aesthetics of fiction are less urgent. Here re-opens a scope for a

conversation on literature as aesthetics and literature as politics that has often divided literary
 2

critical thinking. In this context the idea of a return to the real in literary representation is an

ideal beginning for looking back to a comparative analysis of revolutionary poets Faiz

Ahmad Faiz and P.B Shelley.

Comparative literature is the study of international literary relations and it makes an

endeavour to erase linguistic, regional, national, ethnic and religious boundaries; and to foster

a global literature which facilitates an accord and understanding between literatures in

various languages, regions, nations and cultures. The texts from varied origins, languages and

cultures are given a chance to have an interaction due to circulation and recirculation through

translations and transcreation across the globe. In the same context two popular aesthetic

thinking minds P.B Shelley an English poet from West and Faiz Ahmad Faiz an Urdu poet

from East, while thinking created great literature, which is subtle and sublime with the power

of activism and humanism. They promise a transformation in the pattern of thinking of its

readers, irrespective of their place and age. The comparative study of the poetry of these two

poets shows that they are both none other than the voices of common men, crying their

sufferings and fervently wishing to improve their lot. It is a widely recognized fact that the

aesthetic of a creative writer is basically formed by his sensibility and outlook on life. P.B

Shelley and Faiz Ahmed Faiz are creative writers as well as thinkers and deal in their writings

with fundamental issues surrounding the human condition. Despite their religious, cultural

and age differences they feel and think alike in matters related to the existing human

conditions in their societies. Motivated by almost similar convictions it is only natural their

views on society are identical and to bring an awareness to change their societies should also

have affinity. Both social thinkers are romantic as they prophecy a revolt against the existing

social set-up, they live in.

Faiz is not a stranger to World literature but his poetic oeuvre is not canonical. The

poet Naomi Lazard who met him at an international literary conference in Honolulu in 1979
 3

first introduced him to an American readership. As a poet she compared him to Pablo Neruda

and Nazim Hikmet . He is popular for being a people’s poet and his verse has often been

appropriated for revolutionary political activism in Pakistan. In a preface to his second

collection of poetry Dast-e Saba (The Wind’s caress) he said: “It is incumbent upon the artist

to not only observe but also to struggle. To observe the restless drops (of life) in his

surroundings is dependent upon his vision, to show them to others, upon his artistic abilities

and to enter into them, to change the flow (of life) is dependent on the depth of his desire and

the passion in his blood”. (Hashmi 2012: 4). He is rightly considered one of the greatest poets

of Urdu and world literature as well. Faiz was a progressive poet, associated with the

Progressive Movement of Urdu Literature in India and later in Pakistan. Not only

Progressives consider Faiz a great poet and rightly so, but he is now considered great by

non-progressives or modernists as well who were hesitant before and were very skeptical

about his art. While the political and resistance tone in Faiz’s poetry has played a major role

in his popularity, but it also his poetic artistry which has made his poetry very popular among

the masses and elite class as well and this is the reason why Faiz’s poetry has transcended the

boundaries and is revered world over. The problem with resistance poetry or any resistance

art is that a poet or artist has to take extra care. There is a strong possibility that a piece of

poetry ends up as sloganeering or pamphleteering, as has happened with many. Faiz has taken

every care to make his poetry appealing while taking good care of both his political leanings

and the art of poetry.

Shelley cares and writes for the common people and especially the workers. He very

early on in his life develops a passionate hatred and contempt for the kind of society he lived

in. He sought to change the world by changing people‟s minds - as is reflected in many of his

poems like Song to the Men of England, The Mask of Anarchy, Prometheus Unbound and

many more. Shelley’s first long poem Queen Mab is a ferocious and sometimes magnificent
 4

diatribe against the existing social order. He is against every kind of oppression whether

political, religious, or economic as we see in his poems like Rise like Lions, Hellas, Men of

England, Ode to Liberty, and Ode to the West Wind. Shelley lived during a period of

unprecedented change. In almost every sphere of life – social, political, religious held beliefs

and opinions were being questioned and, in some cases, undermined. In science too, recent

advances have called into question commonly-held assumptions about the origins of the

universe and the place of man in the “divine order” of things. These changes are, to some

extent, reflected in the work of the other younger Romantic poets among whom Shelley is

usually grouped. Byron and Keats did respond to the political situation which prevailed in

Europe during the first years of the nineteenth-century, and many of these changes in society

are reflected in these poems; but poet of the period who engages his audience directly in such

debates and who holds firmly to the belief that poetry can actually transform the social order

into something new and better.

There is much to be found in common between the contemplations of Faiz and

Shelley on literature, aesthetics and politics. They belong to the same tribe of poets who

excelled in romanticism with a touch of ideological rendering in their poetic discourse. It is

not only this juxtaposition of romanticism with an ideological commitment of their poetry but

amazing similarities in their life-long experiences that bring them close intellectually while

they lived in different parts of the world altogether. Comparing with Shelley, Faiz Ahmad

Faiz also wants to usher in a world order based on the principles of justice and equality,

humanism and brotherhood as is made clear by the poems such as The Morning of Freedom,

August 1947, Black Out, The Festival of Bloodshed and The Dust of Hatred in My Eyes. Faiz

like Shelley also sings of hope for the hopeless, and of freedom, in spite of being held in

chains, as poems like Hold on Restless Heart bear witness. He is having a wide canvas, not
 5

limited to the state of his own country and its inhabitants but for the whole world. Poems

such as We Who Were Slain in Unlit Pathways testify to this assertion.

This paper with the help of a close reading of the selected poems of both the poets

analyses the similarities on the contemplations of Faiz and Shelley on literature, aesthetics

and politics and highlights that their poetry is revolutionary and has great social appeal and

impact throughout and forever. The first chapter discusses romanticism as a universal literary

movement. In a general perspective the glory of romanticism is always attributed to British

poetry. But Indian languages like Sanskrit and Urdu, noted for the elegance and sheer beauty

of those held, are rich with everything which defines romanticism. This unit traces the origin

and development of romanticism in Indian poetry. As the tendency to look west for

everything ideal remains as a psychological residue of colonialism, greatest artists of India

often don’t get the fame and acknowledgement they deserve. Faiz Ahmed Faiz is such a poet

who can be placed among topmost poets in the world itself. This unit analyses Faiz as a poet

beyond romanticism. Comparative methodology is often used in literature research works as

art is a common thread which connects the like minded persons and ideologies. Third unit is a

comparative analysis of Shelley and Faiz in terms of the social impact, ideology of art,

political and national consciousness in their poems. All these points are summarised in

conclusion.
 Chapter 1

Romanticism In Literatures: An Overview

It is one of the curiosities of literary history that the strongholds of the Romantic

Movement were England and Germany, not the countries of the romance languages

themselves. Thus it is from the historians of English and German literature that we

inherit the convenient set of terminal dates for the Romantic period, beginning in 1798,

the year of the first edition of  Lyrical Ballads  by Wordsworth and Coleridge and of the

composition of  Hymns to the Night  by Novalis, and ending in 1832, the year which

marked the deaths of both Sir Walter Scott and Goethe. Romanticism begins at least in

the 1770's and continues into the second half of the nineteenth century, later for

American literature than for European, and later in some of the arts, like music and

painting, than in literature. This extended chronological spectrum (1770-1870) also permits

recognition as Romantic poetry of Robert Burns and William Blake in England, the early

writings of Goethe and Schiller in Germany, and the great period of influence for

Rousseau's writings throughout Europe.

The early Romantic period thus coincides with what is often called the "age of

revolutions" including American (1776) and the French (1789) revolutions. An age of

upheavals in political, economic, and social traditions of the age which witnessed the

initial transformations of the Industrial Revolution. A revolutionary energy was also at

the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the

theory and practice of poetry, but the very way we perceive the world. Some of its

major precepts have survived into the twentieth century and still affect our contemporary

period.one of such is imagination .it was elevated to a position as the supreme faculty of
 7

the mind. This contrasted distinctly with the traditional arguments for the supremacy of

reason. The Romantics tended to define and to present the imagination as our ultimate

"shaping" or creative power, the approximate human equivalent of the creative powers of

nature or even deity. It is dynamic, an active, rather than passive power, with many

functions. Imagination is the primary faculty for creating all art. On a broader scale, it

is also the faculty that helps humans to constitute reality, for (as Wordsworth suggested),

we not only perceive the world around us, but also in part create it. Uniting both reason

and feeling (Coleridge described it with the paradoxical phrase, "intellectual intuition"),

imagination is extolled as the ultimate synthesizing faculty, enabling humans to reconcile

differences and opposites in the world of appearance. The reconciliation of opposites is a

central ideal for the Romantics. Finally, imagination is inextricably bound up with the

other two major concepts, for it is presumed to be the faculty which enables us to

"read" nature as a system of symbols.

Affinity to nature was another feature which meant a lot to romantics. "Nature" meant

many things to them. It was often presented as itself a work of art, constructed by a

divine imagination, in emblematic language. For example, throughout "Song of Myself,"

Whitman makes a practice of presenting commonplace items in nature like "ants,"

"heap'd stones, "and" poke - weed" as containing divine elements, and he refers to the

"grass" as a natural "hieroglyphic," "the handkerchief of the Lord." While particular

perspectives with regard to nature varied considerably nature as a healing power, nature

as a source of subject and image, nature as a refuge from the artificial constructs of

civilization, including artificial language the prevailing views accorded nature the status

of an organically unified whole. It was viewed as "organic".

 8

In the scientific or rationalist view, as a system of "mechanical" laws, for

Romanticism displaced the rationalist view of the universe as a machine (e.g., the deistic

image of a clock) with the analogue of an "organic" image, a living tree or mankind

itself. At the same time, Romantics gave greater attention both to describing natural

phenomena accurately and to capturing "sensuous nuance" and this is as true of

Romantic landscape painting as of Romantic nature poetry. Accuracy of observation,

however, was not sought for its own sake. Romantic nature poetry is essentially a poetry

of meditation.

Symbolism and myth were given great prominence in the Romantic conception of

art. In the Romantic view, symbols were the human aesthetic correlatives of nature's

emblematic language. They were valued too because they could simultaneously suggest

many things, and were thus thought superior to the one – to - one communications of

allegory. Partly, it may have been the desire to express the " inexpressible " – the infinite -

through the available resources of language that led to symbol at one level and myth (as

symbolic narrative) at another.

But an important thing to ponder over here is the narrow downing of these universal

tendencies into British literature. Languages like Spanish,French and Urdu are considered more

romantic in its structure and nature itself. According to Arthur O. Lovejoy “the romanticism

of one country may have little in common with that of another that there is in fact a

plurality of romanticism of possibly different thought complexes.” With the advent of a

‘modern’ kind of poetry in Hindi literature many speculations were made with regards
 9

to the influence that Western literary movements have had on Indian synonym of

Western Romanticism.

The trend of Indian romanticism ushered in by three great forces influenced the

destiny of modern Indian literature. These forces were Sri Aurobindo’s * (1872 - 1950)

search for the divine in man. Tagore’s quest for the beautiful in nature and man, and

Mahatma Gandhi’s experiments with truth and non - violence.

Sri Aurobindo, through his poetry and philosophical treatise, ‘ The Life Divine ’,

presents the prospect of the ultimate revelation of the divinity in everything. He wrote

mostly in English. Tagore’s quest for beauty was a spiritual quest, which attained fruition

in the final realization that service to humanity was the best form of contact with God.

Tagore was aware of a supreme principle pervading nature and the entire universe. This

supreme principle, or the unknown mystique, is beautiful because it shines through the

known and it is only in the unknown that we have perpetual freedom. Tagore, a many –

splendored genius, wrote novels, short stories, essays and dramas, and never ceased to

try out new experiments.

The age of romantic poetry in Hindi is known as Chhayavad, the age of romantic

mystery, in Kannada is Navodaya, the rising sun, and in Oriya it is known as Sabuj, the

age of green. Jaishanker Prasad, Nirala, Sumitra Nandan Pant and Mahadevi ( Hindi );

Vallathol, Kumaran Asan ( Malayalam ); Kalindi Charan Panigrahi ( Oriya ); B.M.

Srikantayya, Puttappa, Bendre ( Kannada ); Viswanath Satyanarayana ( Telugu ); Uma

Shankar Joshi ( Gujarati ), and poets of other languages highlighted mysticism and

romantic subjectivity in their poetry.

 10

The poets of Ravikiran Mandal ( a group of six poets of Marathi ) searched for

the hidden reality in nature. Indian romanticism is fraught with mysticism not like

English romanticism, which wants to break puritanic shackles, seeking joy in Hellenism.

In fact the romantic trend of the modern times follows the tradition of Indian

poetry, where romanticism indicates the Vedantic ( the philosophy of one Reality )

oneness between Nature and man, more along the lines of Vedic symbolism and not

Paganism. Muhammad Iqbal ( 1877 – 1938 ), the greatest poet that Urdu had produced,

second only to Ghalib, went through initially a romantic - cum – nationalistic phase in his

poetry. His best collection Urdu poems is Bang – I – Dara ( 1924 ). His quest for Pan -

Islamism did not deter him in his concern for humanity at large.

Thus, Romanticism was a cultural movement that believed in emotions, intuitions

and mystical feelings over reason and science. They tried to evoke the feelings of the

common past and shared heritage.

According to Arthur O. Lovejoy “the romanticism of one country may have little

in common with that of another that there is in fact a plurality of romanticism of

possibly different thought complexes.” With the advent of a ‘modern’ kind of poetry in

Hindi literature many speculations were made with regards to the influence that Western

literary movements have had on Indian synonym of Western Romanticism. Where few

scholars believed that the Chhayavad movement was simply a reaction to the didactic

Dwivedi Yug and had nothing to do with the Western Romanticism, others felt that

Chhayavad was an Indian kind of Romantic Movement as it was influenced by the

tender writings of Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali, which were in turn influenced by

English romanticism. In the Indian Chhayavad movement pioneered by Suryakant Tripathi

 11

Nirala. It looks at the poems of Jayashankar Prasad and Sumitranandan Pant, and tries to

trace the trajectory of Romantic Movement in Hindi Literature taking up the concepts of

lyricism and mysticism, along with their use of nature in developing a poetic movement.

The relations between two Indian languages, i.e., Hindi and Bengali, while tracing

Tagore’s influence on Hindi Chhayavadi poets. This will finally help us in establishing

the plurality of romanticism talked about and will lead us to understanding of how

genres and movements of literature travel over different cultures making them their own

and leading to newer innovations as a result of these interactions.

By their very nature romantic moments are evanescent, spontaneous, and

unrehearsed. It is sheer romantic beauty, be it of longing or rejoicing of expectant

waiting of joy or remorse of anger or jealousy, Shringara – erotic love as the Rasa Raja

is indeed a testimony of the creative imagination of the poet, singer, dancer, followed by

re-creation of that emotion by the reader, listener and spectator. Poetry in its primeval

form was oral and from that many new art forms were to emerge.

The names of Kalidasa, Bharatrhari and Amaru, among many others, are written in

letters of gold in the genre of romantic literature. Kalidasa outbeats other poets in the

description of the sublime and the beautiful within natural phenomena. Kavyesu natakam

ramyam (tatra ramyam Shakuntala, i.e. among all the literary discourses, drama is the

most charming genre and even among all the dramas Abhijnana Shakuntalam is the most

delightful one) is a popular maxim. Bharatrhari’s shringara has an unmistakable

undercurrent of vairagya or renunciation. Even when Bharatrhari speaks of the pleasures

of the moon and the beloved’s face he says, ie- once the mind has sensed
 12

impermanence, nothing is the same. Amaru paints the varied moods and nuances of love

with words that evoke colourful scenes, sonorous with music.

Ritusamharam  and  Meghadutam  set the precedent for those in the tradition.

Kalidasa’s evocation of the romantic emotion depict a graceful sensuality and restrained

passion in a world where trees yearn for the touch of a woman as much as a man

would long for her embrace, messages are conveyed through clouds and the changing

seasons are understood as the changing colours of love. The nocturnal tryst of the

 abhisarika nayika  is revealed at dawn by the  mandara  flowers that have fallen from her

hair and the golden lotuses, off her ears.

Considered the high point of Tamil literature,  Sangam  poetry, consisting of about

3500 poems, was romantic, called  aham  meaning inner or household. It also contained

heroic poetry called  puram  meaning outer or public. The Tamil poet assumed the

personality of the heroine and addressed God as she would a lover.  Bhakti shringara 

arose in the Tamil country from a bedrock of romantic poetry on the one hand and a

joyous life-affirming view on the other; it also eventually led to the creation of the

 Bhagavata Purana. The epistemology of metaphysics of bhakti is the same passionate

longing for the love of Krishna, from which was to arise  Prema bhakti  or loving

devotion to Krishna and which took the form of bhakti  shringara  of Chaitanya in Odisha

and Bengal and bhakti shangar of Vallabhacharya in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Tulsidas and Mira in the field of romantic poetry, riti kavya, celebrated the

romantic love of Radha and Krishna in sensuous and worldly terms; bhakti kavya was

entirely devotional in character. Of the other poets in this genre the names that have

influenced music and dance are those of Vidyapati, Keshavdas and Bihari. Vidyapati
 13

describes spring nights of longing that are made up of flowers in groves, humming

bees, trumpeting elephants, moonlight, sandal paste and a bed of kunda flowers.

In the genre of romantic poetry, the  Vasanta Vilasa  occupies an important place

for several reasons. Written in old Gujarati in the 15th century and illuminated by

paintings, the  Vasanta Vilasa  forms a part of the  phagu  literature and celebrates the

longing and joys of a nayika in the season of spring. Shad Ritu Varnan or the

description of the six seasons, vasanta, grishma, varsha, hemanta, shravan and shakira is

an important part of the kavya literature in Sanskrit. Kalidasa says: “Of all the seasons

vasanta or spring is most important to those in love, the blossoms of spring are like

arrows of Kama.”

The mango tree bent with red sprouts kindle ardent desire, the ashoka tree that

bears blossoms red like coral makes the hearts sorrowful, the atimukta creepers whose

blossoms are sucked by intoxicated bees excite the minds, the kimsuka grove bent with

blossoms appears like a bride with red garments.

However, Sanskrit literature did not have  barahmasa poetry which was a

description of the seasons of the twelve months in Hindi dialects. Barahmasa

 compositions of Keshavdas – Chaitra - charming creepers and young trees have

blossomed and parrots, Baisakha - the earth and the atmosphere are filled with fragrance

but this fragrance is blinding for the bee and painful for the lover who is away from

home. Jyestha - the sun is scorching and the rivers have run dry. Ashadha - strong winds

are blowing, birds do not leave their nest, Shravana - rivers run to the sea, creepers have

clung to trees, lightning meets the clouds, peacocks dance, announcing the meeting of the

earth and the sky. Bhadrapad - dark clouds have gathered there is thunder as rain pours,
 14

lions roar and elephants break trees. Ashvin – the sky is clear and lotuses are in bloom,

Kartika – woods and gardens, the sky are clear and bright lights illuminate homes, the

universe seems to be pervaded by a celestial light. Margashirsha - rivers and ponds are

full of flowers and joyous notes of swans fill the air, this is the favourite month of

Krishna. Pausha - the earth and the sky are cold, people prefer oil, cotton, betel, fire and

sunshine. Magha - forests and gardens echo with the sweet notes of birds and bees hum,

all directions are aromatic with musk, camphor and sandal. Phalguna – women and men

in every home play holi with gay abandon.

Surdas brought out the subtle nuances of philosophy and romance, in the

togetherness and separation of the gopis, who are at once lovers and devotees at the

same time. Surdas is able to bring out the subtle nuances of the Vaishnava philosophy

of  bheda – abheda, different and yet not different, of transcendence and immanence.

The lyrical forms of Western Romanticism meet the sensibilities and aesthetics of the

Urdu poetry indigenous to the East. Appearing in the mid-eighteenth century, Urdu was derived

from Sanskrit, although it borrowed equally from the Persian language.  The Perso-Arabic

tradition began in the Middle East, based partly in the mystic culture of Sufism. Sisir Kumar

Das, author of A History of Indian Literature: 1800-1910 Western Impact: Indian Response,

comments that Indian sensibility welcomed with open arms the “gorgeous epics and the beautiful

mystic lyrics” born from the Perso-Arabic movement (50).

It is therefore no surprise that Urdu blended these elements in the creation of its verse.

The Urdu tradition took elements of both Sanskrit lavishness, the language from which it was

primarily derived, and Persian mysticism. Of Urdu poetry, Das writes “verbal grandeur,
 15

overelaboration, and exaggeration took priority over feeling and simplicity and directness” (64).

Of key importance to The Tale of The Peries, Das further comments, “the poetic world moves

around [the lover], [the beloved], [the lover’s rival], [the cup bearer] and [the religious leader]…

equally predictable are the elements of nature, the flowers and the birds, from which the poetic

images are derived. Poetic forms, elegant and neat, admirably suited for this well-ordered,

sensuous, and chiseled world, appeared to be fixed forever” (92). He emphasizes the characters

around which Urdu verse revolves, but also the timelessness of the mystical world they inhabit.
 Chapter 2

Faiz Ahmed Faiz -A Poet Beyond Romanticism

Faiz Ahmad Faiz was one of the most prominent poets of the Indian sub-continent who

won unparalleled global acclaim. He symbolised all that is humane, dignified, refined, brave and

challenging in Pakistani society. His poetry written in Urdu and Punjabi reflects his intellectual

resentment and resistance against an unjust and archaic social order which he rejects on rational

grounds as anti human; yet it has no bitterness. He remains loving and loveable, respected and

respectful. His poetry articulates the aspirations, anguish, pain and suffering of not only the

people of Pakistan but that of the whole world, as well as their unremitting resolve to create a

better and just society. His was the voice of sanity, for he sought peace in a troubled world.

Faiz’s poetry has long reflected a syncretic spirit, both across place and across time. It

found a place among many local cultural traditions and also beyond. He not only

navigated the space between Hindu and Muslim, but was also deeply influenced by

British poets like W.H Auden. Faiz’s poetry merged styles across centuries, weaving

together classical forms like the 14th century ghazal ( notably drawing from Punjabi

poetic ideals like loss and longing, as well as from Sufi philosophy ) with 20th century

forms like free verse that the British had been importing into the subcontinent since the

Raj took hold of it a century earlier.

Faiz’s works responded to contemporary moments of crisis and made his poetry

distinctively critical in two ways. His verses both challenged structures of power and the

failure of governments to heed the concerns of the downtrodden, and they reflected a
 17

new direction for poetry itself, a revolutionary one. Most importantly, Faiz adopted and

adapted the forms, images, and themes of Urdu poetry to criticize and galvanize readers

against the oppressive political regimes threatening the subcontinent while the British were

drawing their line in the sand and splitting the land apart.

Faiz’s poems issue a social and collective call through their use of a universal

 hum  ( Hindi for “I” or “we”). His characteristic style of free verse, referred to as  nazm 

within the Urdu poetic tradition, assumed a revolutionary aesthetic, opening for his

readers new possibilities for becoming actors in and on the world.  Nazm  departs from

the formal genre of  ghazal, classical love poetry that either celebrates or mourns love.

In the lyrical fervor of  nazm, Faiz transformed emotion into motion, such that erotic

poetry and revolutionary poetry blurred. Traditional tropes like devotion and separation,

and peace and madness, became mobilizing forces for critiquing state oppression and for

upholding an ethos that empowered the exploited to rise up. This is why we must take

him up again in our present, paroxysmal moment.Faiz lived in the times of literary giants

like Josh Malihabadi, Sardar Jafri, Kaifi Azmi, Majaz Lakhnawi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Pablo

Neruda, Nazim Hikmet and many others. Faiz was their equal, and can rightfully claim a place in

this galaxy of world-renowned poets.

Here we see Faiz as an intellectual, a nationalist with a humanistic vision and a symbol of

hope for the newly born State. He expresses joy on August 15th on the day of creation of this

State yet expresses deep sorrow over communal riots. He calls it a cruel contradiction that the

day of joyous thanksgiving is also the day of mourning. He however expresses the hope that our

present sorrows are but a passing phase and must not be allowed to damage our national heritage

that is permanent and enduring.

 18

He consistently supported leftist causes, but refused to join the Communist Party. He took

high-profile positions as the vice president of the Trade Union Federation of Pakistan and as

secretary of the Pakistan Peace Committee, but remained close with many of the country‘s top

military leaders, with whom he had become friends when he served in the Moral Welfare

Directorate of the Indian army during World War II. Faiz had been the new nation‘s most visible

writer, as both poet and journalist, in the years following the 1947 Partition of British India into

India and Pakistan, and he had initially supported his new nation as described by Quaid-i-Azam

Mohammed Ali Jinnah. However, after witnessing the communal violence in Punjab during the

Partition, the assassinations or mysterious deaths of the leaders who led Pakistan to

independence, the corruption and social intolerance of the new government under Prime Minister

Liaquat Ali Khan, and the tyrannical rule of the police in Punjab, Faiz‘s early enthusiasm for the

possibilities of a Muslim state quickly faded. He assumed the editorship of the Pakistan Times in

1947, where, V. G. Kiernan writes, he ―made use of prose as well as verse to denounce

obstruction at home and to champion progressive causes abroad; he made his paper one whose

opinions were known and quoted far and wide‖ (Kiernan 1971, 24). Until that very morning,

however, Faiz had considered himself as immune from government oppression. The prison

superintendent finally found a cell in solitary confinement for Faiz and ordered him away. For

the first time, Faiz realized he would be tried for conspiracy to overthrow the government. By the

next day, the London Times would characterize him as one of ―the most dangerous and

influential leftist figures in Pakistan‖ (March 10, 1951). Over the next two years he would face

trial before a secret tribunal that held the power to condemn him to death before a firing squad;

he would also compose the remarkable poems of his second book, Dast-e-Saba (Fingers of the

Wind).
 19

Faiz's tone is introspective along the conventions of ghazal, the favorite form of

traditional Urdu poetry. But Faiz also expresses feelings of other political prisoners when he

writes: "I make a toast to my friends everywhere, / here in my homeland and across the world:

'Let us drink, my dear ones, to human beauty, / to the loveliness of earth.'" (From 'Solitary

Confinement') Through his own suffering, he senses the plight and suffering of others: What if

I'm unhappy? / The whole world is unhappy; / this pain isn't just yours or mine, / this is our

heritage, my dear. In one of his prison poems Faiz parallels his own fate with the authoritarian

system outside the prison: If you look at the city from here/ there is no one fully in control of his

senses. / Every young man bears the brand of a criminal,/ every young woman the emblem of a

slave.(From 'If You Look at the City from Here') A supporter of the Palestinian cause, he

dedicated Meray Dil, Meray Musafir (1980) to Yasser Arafat. In spite of his Marxist beliefs, Faiz

did not burden his poems with ideological rhetoric. He fused classic traditional forms with new

symbols derived from Western political ideas. However, in an interview Faiz has criticized the

view that a poet "should always present some kind of philosophical, political or some other sort

of thesis..." Like Muhammad Iqbal, he reinterpreted the most important theme in the Urdu

ghazal, the theme of love. The word ghazal comes from Arabic and has been translated as "to

talk with women" or "to talk of women."

Faiz often addressed his poem to his "beloved," who can be interpreted as his muse, his

country, or his concept of beauty or social change. "Your beauty still delights me, but what can I

do? / The world knows how to deal out pain, apart from passion, / and manna for the heart,

beyond the realm of love. / Don't ask from me, Beloved, love like that one long ago." (From

'Don't Ask Me Now, Beloved') The traditional beloved of ghazal cannot offer an answer to

human suffering and social problems – "Bitter threads began to unravel before me / as I went
 20

into alleys and in open markets / saw bodies plastered with ash, bathed in blood. / I saw them

sold and bought / again and again. / This too deserves my attention."

As was his habit and his lifelong philosophy, Faiz was able to relate his internal,

subjective world to the larger world around him. And so he describes how the decade of the

1920s was one of carefree prosperity in the Subcontinent, in which both poetry and prose

acquired a flippant, non-reflective style, a perpetual celebration of sorts. Of the poets of that era,

Hasrat Mohani, Josh Malihabadi and Hafeez Jullundhri are prominent, while in prose the

prevailing philosophy was art for art‘s sake‘ – a forceful rejection of the position that the artist

must try to change social conditions. It is the object of our Association to rescue literature and

other arts from the conservative classes in whose hands they have been degenerating so long to

bring arts in the closest touch with the people and to make them the vital organs which will

register the actualities of life, as well as lead us to the future we envisage.

In 1934, Faiz finished his college education and started teaching at Muhammedan Anglo

Oriental (MAO) College in Amritsar. This was where he became friends with Sahibzada

Mahmood Uz Zafar and his wife Rasheed Jahan, who were teachers, writers and progressives.

They persuaded Faiz to join the PWA, and his life and outlook were transformed forever. Thus

began the second phase of his first poetry collection, with the remarkable poem Do not ask of

me, my beloved, that same love‘. This was Faiz‘s first experiment with blending love for the

beloved‘ into love for humanity, of turning the pain of separation into pain for all those who

suffered under the dark, bestial spells of uncounted centuries‘, in which he declares, ruefully:

There are other griefs in this world apart from that of love

And other pleasures apart from that of union.

 21

Faiz‘s most forceful declaration of his allegiance to the ideas of social justice, and

opposition to exploitation and injustice is his poem ‗Speak‘. It is a call-to-arms for all writers

and artists. According to his close friend and interpreter in the former USSR, Ludmilla

Vassilyeva, Bol‘ is the poetical motto of Faiz‘s life generally, written immediately upon his

return from the first PWA conference in Lucknow in 1936. In it, Faiz captured beautifully the

longing of the oppressed people ready at last to face their British rulers in a fight to the end:

Speak, your lips are free

Speak; your tongue is your own still

Speak, Truth still lives

Speak, say what you must!

In Speak‘, Faiz points to the cruelty of nature and the wailing of the children of the

poor‘, the oppression of society and the rising tide of the independence struggle‘. How, he asked,

could artists ignore concrete realities and cruelties? Fiaz lamented that some artists termed

writings on unpleasant realities propaganda‘, refusing to consider them art. He remained a

worshipper of beauty, but endeavouring to create a beautiful society was more worthwhile still.

How can one sing praises to the beauty and fragrance of the rose while ignoring entirely the

careworn hands of the gardener? Henceforth, Faiz‘s life and poetry would be dedicated to people

of state.

This day and the anguish of this day

For this wilderness of yellowing leaves which is my homeland

 22

For this carnival of suffering which is my homeland. His poetry was a forceful rejection

of art for art‘s sake‘, and a commitment to challenging injustice. In the new state of Pakistan,

Faiz took the lead in putting forward the demands of workers, women, peasants and the poor,

through his work with the trade unions and his editorship at the Pakistan Times. For his troubles,

he was arrested on trumped-up charges in the notorious Rawalpindi conspiracy case. Over the

next two years, he would face trial before a secret tribunal that held the power to condemn him to

death before a firing squad. He would also compose the remarkable poems of his second book,

Dast-e-Saba (The Breeze‟s Hand), declaring to his jailers:

Why should I mourn if my tablet and pen are forbidden,

when I have dipped my fingers in my own blood until they stain?

My lips have been silenced, but what of it? For I have hidden

a tongue in every round-mouthed link of my chain.

The book begins with a short introduction by Faiz himself, a small polemic on the

responsibility of the artist. The poet‘s work is not only perception and observation, but also

struggle and effort,‘ Faiz writes.

The Pakistani government was busy celebrating Pakistan‘s fifth anniversary of

Independence on 15 August 1952, he felt, the ordinary people of Pakistan had nothing to rejoice

about. Mohammad Ali Jinnah had died just a year after Independence. Liaquat Ali Khan, the

prime minister at the time Faiz had been arrested in 1951, had soon thereafter been assassinated

in public. A long period of political turmoil and instability culminated in Pakistan‘s first military

government, in 1958.
 23

After his release, as his fame grew, so did the fear of successive governments in Pakistan

about what Faiz represented. This was especially true after he was awarded the Lenin Peace

Prize, the Soviet Bloc equivalent of the Nobel Prize, in 1962. He was warned by the military

government not to accept the award since, by this time, Pakistan had become an ally of the US,

and all left-leaning, progressive voices had been silenced or were heavily censored. Faiz

proceeded to Moscow anyway to receive his award, and his acceptance speech ranks as one of

the great humanist, peace-loving documents of all time. In it he said, ―Human ingenuity,

science and industry have made it possible to provide each one of us everything we need to be

comfortable provided these boundless treasures of nature and production are not declared the

property of a greedy few but are used for the benefit of all of humanity … However, this is only

possible if the foundations of human society are based not on greed, exploitation and ownership

but on justice, equality, freedom and the welfare of everyone … I believe that humanity which

has never been defeated by its enemies will, after all, be successful; at long last, instead of wars,

hatred and cruelty, the foundation of humankind will rest on the message of the great Persian

poet Hafez Shirazi‘. Every foundation you see is faulty, except that of Love, which is faultless.

He was arrested several times during the reign of General Ayub Khan. The pain of

ordinary people of Pakistani has been expressed in a poem, The soil of my land‘, that became

immensely popular, and is still quoted widely today:

Blessings be upon the soil of my land,

where they have decreed the custom

That men should walk no more with heads held high.

 24

In 1965, Faiz got arrested several times. In 1971, after the partition of Pakistan and

Bangladesh, the creation of the new government of Pakistan assigned him as a cultural advisor.

In this period of time, he created Pakistan National Council of Art and institutes of community as

well as cultural ancestry groups. There are still many achievements and extraordinary activities

where he played an important role through his work. His message through his poetry was not

only the resolution to face and fight for the malfeasance, but also he wants to provoke a cogent

determination in the people of Pakistan, and this was his main goal for which he suffered a lot.

Faiẓ lived during a time of political strife. It is these political episodes of Faiẓ‘s life that become

the locus of interpreting his poetry. Faiz the revolutionary takes center stage and his text becomes

secondary to his political being.

A few more days, my friend,

just a few more days, we‘ll have to live under this oppression

let's put up with it a little longer (We can't cry);

such is our sad heritage, how helpless we feel !

People in prisons, emotions in chains,

thought held captive, speech not free

but we still live on ... our life, a beggar‘s tattered clothes patched constantly with pain. (From

Few more days‘)

Faiz’s poetry is deeply rooted in its antecedents of Persian – Arabic, English, Punjabi and

Urdu traditions. Faiz’s poetry offers several hidden layers of meaning, complex and more
 25

interesting. The distinctive feature of Faiz’s poetry is that he presents his argument or any idea of

revolution/freedom not in a direct voice which is often the mark of resistance poetry but he used

the metaphors, images, etc of an ongoing tradition of Urdu and Persian and made them relevant

to the immediate context. For example beloved/mahboob becomes the long pending freedom,

longing/wisal is seen as the long struggle for freedom and if we quote other examples like

“morning, dawn” becomes the symbol of both union and freedom of people; night\shaam is seen

as the reflection of darkness not only of unrequited love but ignorance of people etc. So we can

see Faiz is at its core a broken lover/majnoon and struggle for union with Laila is transposed

from personal ambition to the collective dream of oppressed people, and the light/roshni which

will break through the darkness/anadera. Thus, poetry and politics become one with the same

weapon of form and content recurrent in romantic as well as the poetry of witness. Injustice,

inequality are key and burning issues Faiz had dealt with in his lyrics. His poetry inspires the

society to combat against capitalism, bourgeois’ and against the oppressive ruling class who are

on the verge to exploit the common masses for their selfish gains.

Faiz conforms to the hallmarks of good writing as set by Nietzsche: Of all that is written,

I love only what a person hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt finds that

blood is spirit.
 Chapter 3

A Comparative Reading Of Shelley And Faiz Based On Their

Ideologies Of Art

Poetry might be defined as a kind of language that says more and says it more

intensely than does ordinary language. poetry exists to bring us a sense and a perception of

life, to widen and sharpen our contacts with existence. Their concern is with experience. We

all have an inner need to live more deeply and fully and with greater awareness, to know the

experience of others, and to understand our own experience better. Poets, from their own

store of felt, observed, or imagined experiences, select, combine, and reorganize. They create

significant new experiences for their readers, significant because focused and formed in

which readers can participate and from which they may gain a greater awareness and

understanding of their world. Literature, in other words, can be used as a gear for stepping up

the intensity and increasing the range of our experience and as a glass for clarifying it. This is

the literary use of language, for literature is not only an aid to living but a means of living.

Keats in The fall of Hyperion asks what benefit the poet can be to the world, and

asserts that poetry is not useless and that the true poet is a sage; a humanist, physician to all

men, not a dreamer. In Alastor, Shelley also shows the dangers of being a dreamer and of

idealistic self-absorption, asserting the need for poetry and the poet to connect with the world.

By implication Alastor argues that poets and poetry must be socially engaged if they are to be

fruitful. Queen Mab is an astonishing debut poem for a twenty year old poet, innovative in its

formal variety, bravely radical in context. His radical and revolutionary creed is surfaced as

he writes: Let priest-led slaves cease to proclaim that man Inherits vice and misery, when

force And falsehood hang even o‟er the cradled babe,

 27

Stifling with rudest grasp all natural good. (iv. 117-120)

Like William Blake, Shelley saw injustice linked in one poisonous system which must be

uprooted as he says in the same poem :

Let the axe

Strike at the root, the poison-tree will fall;

And where its venomed, exhalations spread

Ruin, and death, and woe, where millions lay

Quenching they serpent’s famine, and their bones

Bleaching unburied in the putrid blast,

A garden shall arise, in loveliness

Surpassing fabled Eden”. (iv. 82-89)

The same Queen Mab divines a bright future for mankind. God, Heaven and Hell are the

three words which tyrants exploit now, but the time is not far off when the inherent good of

man will triumph over evil as: Every heart contains perfection‟s germ (v. 147)

Shelley admits himself in his preface to Prometheus Unbound: “I have what a Scottish

philosopher characteristically terms “a passion for reforming the world” and that comes

through strongly in his writings. In Song to the Men of England one can understand as it does

give a sense of Shelley’s ardent concern for social improvement by bringing the awareness

among masses:

Men of England, wherefore plough

For the lords who lay ye low?

Wherefore weave with toil and care

The rich robes your tyrants wear? (1-4)

The seed ye sow, another reaps;

The wealth ye find, another keeps;

 28

The robes ye weave, another wears;

The arms ye forge, another bears.(17-20)

Then he admonishes them to change their way of doing things by being brave, and leads them

to a revolt as he writes

„Rise like Lions after slumber

In unvanquishable number-

Shake your chains to earth like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you-

Ye are many-they are few(378-382).

One of Shelley‟s most well-known poems Ozymandias is an attack on tyranny and power.

Other related socio- political issues are taken care of in many of his poems, which include

attacks on aristocracy, law, militarism, poverty, labour and money. He had an extraordinarily

acute sense of the inequalities promoted by a social system based on financial competition.

His writings have made a universal impact upon the minds of people living on earth as he

dislikes every sort of inequality and exploitation. Particularly relevant here are his notes to

the long poem Queen Mab published anonymously in 1812, that were used throughout the

19th century by working-class educational organizations, in which, for example, he attacks

wealth as „a power usurped by the few, to compel the many to labour for their benefit. (p.80)

Shelley’s awareness of the economic motor generating social injustice is a crucial part of his

political analysis, of which he speaks also in his political essay A Philosophical view of

Reform where he denounces merchants and bankers as „a set of pelting wretches. (p.613) His

works influenced great thinkers and his words are like sparks scattered from a dormant but

unextinguished fire, capable of flaring into fiery life at any moment. His works like Queen

Mab and The Mask of Anarchy are quoted by great philosophers like Harriet Taylor, Karl

Marks and Engels to name only a few. The Revolt of Islam, Prometheus Unbound, Lines
 29

Written among the Euganean Hills, Ode to liberty and Ode to Naples are a reflection of his

political ideas and his utopian millennial views. In these works Shelley is seen as

assimilating, utilizing and expressing all the contemporary political and economic issues. He

therefore, represents the earlier application of literature for political theory and political

propaganda to supply the basic doctrines for Marxism. The development of literature was not

sudden or an independent process existing in a vacuum for Karl Marx for whom Shelley

remained, in a sense, the pioneer :

“Marxist critics of Shelley frequently sight Marx‟s declaration that the real difference

between Byron and Shelley is this; those who understand and love them rejoice that Byron

died at thirty six because if he had lived he would have become a reactionary bourgeois; they

grieve that Shelley died at twenty -nine, because he was essentially a revolutionist and he

would always have been one of the advance guard of socialism.”

The most striking affinity between Shelley and Faiz is their revolutionary creed and

fervor. The bases of their revolutionary faith are surprisingly identical. They base their

premise on this optimistic faith in a coming better future and never allow their readers to

give-up but to believe in as Shelley argues well at the conclusion of Ode to the West Wind:

If winter comes, can spring be far behind?( 70 )

A common thread of thought runs through both the poets and like Shelley, Faiz in all his

poetry emerges as a revolutionary and wishes to usher in a world order based on the

principles of justice and equality, humanism and brotherhood. The poem When Autumn Came

speaks out the prevailing oppression and exploitation in society as:

This is the way that autumn came to the trees:

it stripped them down to the skin,

left their ebony bodies naked.

It shook out their hearts, the yellow leaves,

 30

scattered them over the ground.

Anyone could trample them out of shape

undisturbed by a single moan of protest.

The birds that herald dreams

were exiled from their song,

each voice torn out of its throat. ( Faiz. 1988. 1-10 )

Here autumn -a season of decay is connected with the idea of oppression by upper

class Faiz believes in social revolution and wants a change from a class-based society to a

classless society. It tells us the intensity of the oppression –with trees probably representing

the poor people. Autumn represents a period of hopelessness, a time when the upper classes

torment and humiliate the lower classes (stripped them down to the skin).the upper class

humiliates them so mercilessly that they didn‟t even have the courage to protest. Even if they

protest they are not heard. So Faiz basically talks about social cruelty, violence, injustice,

economic inequality on part of oppressors inflicted on the oppressed. This is only one of the

interpretations but there are many examples as in Don’t Ask me for that Love Again Faiz

breaks radically from Urdu’s usual manner of looking at the Beloved, asking that his social

commitment be accepted as more important than their love.

All this I’d thought, all this I’d believed

But there were other sorrows, comforts other than love.

The rich had cast their spell on history:

Dark centuries had been embroidered on brocades and silks.

Bitter threads began to unravel before me

As I went into alleys and in open markets

Saw bodies plastered with ash, bathed in blood.

I saw them sold and bought, again and again.

 31

This too deserves attention …

And you still are so ravishing- what should I do?

There are other sorrows in this world,

Comforts other than love.

Don‟t ask me, my love, for that love again. ( Faiz. 1995. 11-24 )

At another place in one of his famous ghazals he says that:

This rapture of simple routines life‟s common struggles

Have surpassed my memory of love

It‟s proved more enticing just to survive

Even more than you my love. ( Faiz. 1995. 7-8 )

Like Shelley, Faiz is also sanguine about a better future, a beautiful tomorrow. This is

the very asset, that gifts him with optimism instead of grief and sorrow. This optimism

doesn‟t blind his eyes from dreaming of a beautiful future and from the hope of a new dawn.

In one of the ghazals concluding couplet,Faiz prophecies the same hope as:

be grateful to autumn

to its cold winds

that are seasoned postmen

carrying letters as mere habit

from spring

its custom to announce this

that it will surely come. ( Faiz. 1995. 9-10 )

And in It Is as Though Nothing Exists Anymore he is optimistic and tells about that no doubt

terrible period is on but endure as

Even though this dire moment is upon us

Remember, my heart, it is only a moment. ( Faiz. 1988. 11-12 )

 32

Conscience enhances its verification and corroboration because of the intensity with which

he gives a glad tiding of transmogrifying his Kashti Veeran (wasteland) into a green and

verdurous peace of land.

The conclusion of Prison Meeting is saturated with hope as:

The gift of this night is my faith that morning will come.

Ah, this faith which is larger than any pain.

this morning that is on its way

is more bounteous than any night.( Faiz. 1988. iii. 10-13 )

And the same thing is prophesied in the last couplet of a ghazal:

Once again the breeze knocks on the prison door.

It whispers, Don‟t give up, wait a little, Dawn is near. ( Faiz. 1995. 7-8 ).

Faiz Ahmad Faiz in one of the quatrains is sanguine enough that his words would

definitely guide them to make an appeal and impact on the minds of the common masses to

awaken them, to rage a war against the sea of troubles as:

Though they have stolen my paper and pen, I don’t grieve.

I dip my fingers into my heart‟s blood.

Though they have gagged me, it hardly matters.

I have given voice to every link in my chains. ( Faiz. 1988. 9-12 )

Edward W. Said while commenting on the greatness and influence of Faiz Ahmad Faiz writes

that:

“Faiz was read and listened to both by the literary elite and by the masses. He was, I think,

one of the greatest poets of this century and was honored as such throughout the major part of

Asia and Africa.”

Themes poems declare Faiz and Shelly are saturated with their enthusiasm for a

passion which is closely allied to their commitment to bring social change. The impact of
 33

their poetry is working universally throughout societies to set them free from the shackles of

injustice, inequality and bondage.

Both Shelley and Faiz believe in the universality of art. It is due to this reason that

both the poets did not confine themselves to the cause of the oppressed in their own

respective homelands. Shelley has clearly indicated his universality of art in his support for

the poor and oppressed Irish people suffering under the British rule in 1812. In “An address

to the Irish people'', “A declaration of rights” and Statement Boast Wealth”, Shelley strongly

supported the Irish people and motivated them to raise their voice against injustices.

Similarly, Faiz, though a Muslim, supported the struggle of American scientist in his poem

“Ham Jo Tareek Rahon Me Maray Gae” (An Elegy for the Rosenbergs) who were arrested for

sharing information about the American Nuclear Energy programme to the Soviet Union. In

another poem, “Irani Talaba kay Naam '' (For the Iranian Students), Faiz explained the

sacrifice of the Iranian students and paid tribute to them for embracing martyrdom for the

sake of liberty and national independence against France and Britain.

Apart from the similarities in the universality of their art, there lies a slight difference

between the approach of these two poets. Shelley is more outright in his expression than Faiz.

There are two major reasons behind this fact. Firstly, Shelley lived in England (Western

culture), where the culture, society does not take part in the individual’s life [20]. On the

other hand, Faiz lived in Pakistan (Eastern culture), where the society plays a major role in

the individual’s life [17]. Therefore, individuals, particularly the writers, poets and

intellectuals are too conscious to express their feelings and are not as direct in their

expression as compared to the western writers [11].

Moreover, Pakistan had been under the influence of two military takeovers during Faiz’s

time. The writers and the poets were not allowed to speak or write against the military or
 34

higher authorities. Therefore, the writers, poets and individuals adopted hidden means to

express their agony and anger over the false state apparatuses of their time. These hidden

means were adopted in the form of symbols, metaphors and imagery of various kinds.

Another reason for Shelley's direct expression is the biographical factor. Shelley was an

aristocrat. He was the son of a parliamentarian named Sir Timothy Shelley. On the other

hand, Faiz was the son of a retired barrister. Therefore, Shelley criticized all sorts of

injustices in a direct way. He pointed out the names of the tyrants fearlessly. without covering

them in a sheath of general words. Both Shelley and Faiz were dedicated and brave

supporters of liberty, a political stance that immediately bloomed into a wild anti militarism:

their contempt of war was one of the strengths that pushed them into poetry.

However, when Shelley was composing poetry against the Napoleonic wars during his early

age, he could not control his anger and criticizes the statement in a direct manner, in his poem

Queen Mab, “War is the statesman's game, the priests delight,

The lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade” [22].

His first and characterizing political campaign was about Irish religious and political liberty -

and it is here where the revelation of Poetical Essay is generally applicable. Shelley

distributed it in backing of Peter Finnerty, the Irish writer imprisoned for defaming Viscount

Castlereagh, the Anglo-Irish politician who was sent to Ireland in 1797 to pound the United

Irishmen opposing British tenet. Castlereagh's ruthlessness made him the most abhorred man

in Ireland. Shelley was a proclaimed admirer of the United Irishmen, and the occasions and

identities of the 1798 defiance were pivotal to his political and scholarly advancement. His

tolerating scorn for Castlereagh was venomously communicated in his poem, “the Mask of

Anarchy”:
 35

“I met murder on the way

He had a mask like Castlereagh

Very smooth he looked, yet grim;

Seven bloodhounds followed him” [22].

The use of the words “murder”, “bloodhounds” clearly show Shelley’s out

righteousness towards his ideological art. He also directly points out the name “Castlereagh”

which indicates his direct approach in criticizing the tyrant.

On the other hand, Faiz’s expression is mild and indirect. Though he is against

tyranny and oppression, he hides it in different expressions. For instance, in his poem “Not

enough” the expresses his grief and hatred against tyranny and war in the following words,

“the tear stained eye, the storm tossed life,

Come today in fetters to the marketplace,

Walk with waving hands, run in a drunkard’s dance,

Clothes besmeared with blood and heads begrimed with dust!” [8].

The use of the phrases such as “waving hands”, “drunkard dance” clearly indicate

Faiz’s hidden ideas regarding his grief over the weak state apparatuses of his time. The line,

“Clothes besmeared with blood and head begrimed with dust!” indicate that Faiz does not

want the oppressed class to be oppressed by the hegemonic class. Even though oppressed

class was not allowed to speak against the hegemonic class in his time, he encouraged the

people to come out with “fetters”, blood stained clothes and heads “begrimed with dust” to

resist against tyranny and oppression, since their fetters, blood clothes and dusty heads will

show their deplorable condition even if they were banned to speak for their rights. However,
 36

unlike Shelley, who directly mentions the names of the tyrant, Faiz is seen to be indirect, thus

pointing out the sufferings of the common people due to the cruel state apparatuses of his

time.

Through the textual analysis of their poems, it is starkly evident that both poets wrote

to inspire a revolution and liberty among the citizens of their nations. They expressed and

painted vivid imagery of the sufferings and agony of the downtrodden folks who were

suppressed under the weight and power of the ruling hegemonic social class. There is a

certain sense of yearning present for a positive social and political change, revolution and

transformation. Both the poets articulate the tumult of dispossession and destitution. In

pointing out the flaws of the country’s social fabric, there is a need for social reconstruction

in their denouement of tyranny and oppression.

In his popular poem “Mujh se pehli si muhabbat mere mehboob na maang” Faiz

sketched realistic imagery of the masses who are devoid of even the necessities of life and

roam around the alleys and streets of the bazaars to earn a minimalistic wage to feed hungry

stomachs. The uneven and unequal distribution of wealth, property, resources and capital

forcefully drives the people stuck at the bottom of the economic ladder to try their hands at

criminal undertakings such as prostitution. The lack of sufficient resources and money leaves

the downtrodden masses without proper education and awareness, leading to a life of moral

degradation and crimes. They are unwillingly plunged into the vicious circle of

hand-to-mouth lifestyle, which brings forth a torrent of unchecked and uncatered diseases and

pestilence as they are unable to attain healthcare and other social facilities due to lack of

financial support. In contrast, the bourgeoisie lives a life of lavishness, luxury and leisure,

through their unflinching control of resources and riches. The ruling class exists in a bubble

of flourishing funds and swarming supplies, therefore possessing the time and energy to

indulge in whims and romantic overtures. Faiz Ahmed Faiz denounces such forms of
 37

personal love to draw attention towards more pressing needs and miseries of the proletariats.

He writes, “Aur bhi dukh hain zamaane mein mohabbat ke siwaa” (There are afflictions

which have nothing to do with desire). In this way, Faiz strays away from the traditional Urdu

poetic conventions as stated by Dr Narang:

“Faiz demonstrates how a fine poet can transcend the circumscribing restrictions

placed upon him by the conventions, for he has not only infused the conventions with

socio-political meanings but at the same time retained their universal structures – erotic,

mystic and spiritual” (Narang 69).

Percy B. Shelley also through poems like “England in 1819” straightforwardly

attacks the aristocratic class by addressing the King and pointing out moral deterioration

among the royals by lighting a fire to scandalous rumours of inbreeding. He highlights the

corruption and debauchery of societal and political institutions, i.e., army, religion, judicial

system and parliament. These institutions are formed for the upheaval of justice and

providence of security to the people; however, their actions provide the opposite acts of

oppression and anarchy. This is a striking example of how the ruling class controls and

manipulates to keep their power in authority and shifts the tide of resources to their favour

due to their immense wealth and political connections. This manoeuvring of stockpiling

assets leads to the constant competition between the two social groups along with afflictions,

poverty and crime for the commoners, as emphasized in the poem of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The

Bourgeois or the tiny elite who are frantic in numbers suck out the peace and property of the

people and leave them to indisposition through imposed harrowing taxes. When the starved

masses protest against the injustices, their voices are crushed and their spirits stabbed, just as

Shelley hinted at the dreadful Peterloo Massacre. Immersing the assumption of conflict

theory regarding revolution and change on a mass scale, Shelley yearns for the proletariats to

rise against the atrocities and incite a glorious revolution and transformation. The revolt and
 38

revolution thought by Faiz while writing this poem is brought about in the form of partition

of the subcontinent in 1947.

Both Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Percy B. Shelley appear to be disillusioned by the

governing organization of their country and inspire revolt and dissidence. Both detail the

plight and poverty of the proletariat. Their works depict universalizability and everlasting

elements as both poets are time, circumstances and nations apart. Both champion social

change and are idealists and reformers as they appear to be committed towards social

altruism.

However, they differ in respect to the part-subject matter regarding the selected poems, as

Faiz talks about personal love and utters metaphorical praises in awe of the beauty of his

beloved. In contrast, there is no mention of any romantic substance in Shelley's selected

poem, who directly taunts and calls out the monarchs for their atrocities and inefficiency.

While Faiz is more subtle and indirect in hinting towards the neglect of the administering

body. He describes in detail the result and consequences of economic disparity by clueing at

the dark side of poverty, i.e., human trafficking, prostitution and death. On the other hand,

Shelley briefly talks about poverty and starvation while highlighting the corruption and

unscrupulousness of societal institutions. He also alludes to the past incident of the Peterloo

Massacre in an attempt to inform the consequences of the protest of the starving masses.
 Conclusion

You who wronged a simple man

Bursting into laughter at the crime,

...........................

Do not feel safe.

The poet remembers.

You can kill one, but another is born.

The words are written down, the deed, the date. (Milosz 103)

The writers, particularly the poets, have been linked with rebellion since old times,

whether the rebellion was against conventionality, society, injustice or oppression. In many

cases, straightforward expression of politics can be easily discerned but to decode the apparent or

veiled politics in a work of art prerequisites a more intricate understanding, so as not to diminish

the craftsmanship of the artist. While excavating the politics in art, one cannot overlook the

medium which has its own importance. The politics in a work of art is further complicated by the

major demand that a work should reflect the engagement and the responsibility of the artist in a

society. “The poet today must be twice-born. She must have begun as a poet, she must have

understood the suffering of the world as political, and have gone through politics, and on the

other side of politics she must be reborn again as a poet” (Rich 21). The nexus between politics

and literature has become much more complex than ever. Talking about the politics of writers

means to attach them with certain kinds of commitments. It will not be an exaggeration to say
 40

that all literature is political. Chantal Mouffe asserts that “one cannot make a distinction between

political art and non-political art, because every form of artistic practice either contributes to the

reproduction of the given common sense – and in that sense is political – or contributes to the

deconstruction or critique of it. Every form of art has a political dimension” (Mouffe 100). Even

the works that lack in politics can be defined as having a political stand. Literature must serve as

a vehicle for revolutionary ideas. As Leon Trotsky aptly remarks:

Art is an expression of man’s need for a harmonious and complete life . . . his need for those

major benefits of which a society of classes has deprived him. That is why a protest against

reality, either conscious or unconscious, active or passive, optimistic or pessimistic, always

forms part of a really creative piece of work. Every new tendency in art has begun with rebellion.

(Trotsky, Art 56).

To many, poetry is a viable vehicle for articulating political dissent and resistance against

faulty dominant ideology. While others think of poetry as passive and generally not in the

business of “doing things.” This paper was an attempt to analyse two strong representational

poets of their times PB.Shelley and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The impact of their poems on society was

the first point detailly analysed . If poets are not aware of their audience — and which by

extension means that they are uncertain of their affiliation with society — the poetry still would

like to have an addressee. Consequently, poets bend toward politics, and sometimes they turn

away from it; but whichever way, they are cognizant of a life outside themselves. Shelley in his

“A Defense of Poetry” says that poets have crucial roles “according to the circumstances of the

age.” They “were called . . . legislators, or prophets: a poet essentially comprises and unites both

these characters. For he not only beholds intensely the present as it is, and discovers those laws

according to which present things ought to be ordered, but he beholds the future in the present”
 41

(3). In other words, they are not just people who think of ways to write new poems, but people

18 who imagine new ways of being and perceiving the world. Poetry plays a significant role in

the political critique and is not merely a discursive category constituted only by poems regarding

romance and fantasy, but also a historical struggle along with social function and meaning. There

is an ideological relationship between literature and the power structure of society. The

connection of art and politics is so obvious that once the notion of art is established; the concept

of ideology becomes unavoidable.

PB Shelley and Faiz Ahmed Faiz have written poetry for the general benefit of all.

Though belonging to different social, political and cultural contexts, both the poets share

common feelings of revolution and removal of tyranny and oppression. Both are humanitarian in

their artistic commitments. They wrote poetry to make the world at large, a better place for the

downtrodden. The remarkable thing about Shelley and Faiz is that in spite of their overwhelming

revolutionary ideas, they never allowed ideological epiphany to bound their art to their own

national boundaries. They believed in internationalism of art; a quality lacked by many

revolutionary poets of their time. Their art is universal and everlasting— for two centuries in

case of Shelley and Faiz, for nearly half a century. Both the poets inimitably articulated the

suffering of the people, the agony of dispossession and exile.

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