1

Introduction

Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar Ghose is a typical postmodern poem. The poem

deals with the contemporary lifestyle. It is about unavoidable circumstances
that may cause an unwanted disturbance at any moment in life. Ghose
presents how his nights are disturbed twice by the siren of an ambulance. He
also presents his thoughts as he listens to the sound of the siren. Moreover, he
tells what justifies his thoughts. The poem also sheds light on the isolated
lifestyle of this age. Ghose also comments on the tension and strain that wait
may cause to human nerves. It may seem the description of a common
incident. But Ghose, like in many other of his works, leaves a lot for his reader
to ponder upon. This article, Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar Ghose, is an attempt
to look into the artistic aspects of the poem. It will prove handy for students
and teachers alike.

A Brief Biography of Zulfikar Ghose

Zulfikar Ghose, one of the prolific writers of Pakistan, was born in 1935 in
Sialkot city of Pre-Partition India. In 1947, after the partition of India took
place, Sialkot became part of Pakistan. Ghose’s family settled in Bombay in
1942. So, he lived his early childhood in a city with a Hindu majority. Since the
partition created rift and roughness in the Hindu-Muslim relations, Ghose’s
family felt insecure. The relations between the two communities became so
strained that there were outbursts of violence. These outbursts also resulted
in heavy casualties. Therefore, Ghose’s family moved to England in 1952.

Education and Careers

Ghose received his early education at a secondary school in Chelsea. In 1955,

Ghose got admission to the University of Keele. He completed his studies for
BA in 1959. At Keele, he found the company of poets B. S. Johnson and John
Fuller. He remained a member of “The Group” which included poets like
Anthony Smith, Peter Redgrove, George MacBeth, and Peter Porter. Ghose had
a successful career as a sports journalist. He also worked exceptionally well as
a literary critic and teacher.

Facebook Page MA / BS English University of Sargodha

2

Important Works of Zulfikar Ghose

The Loss of India, Ghose’s first collection of poetry came out in 1964. The
poems in this collection exhibit his nostalgia for his place of birth. A feeling of
being ‘other’ in the Western culture remains dominant in his poems. In the
same year, he published a collection of short stories, Statement against
Corpses, in collaboration with B. S. Johnson. In 1965, Ghose compiled his
autobiography entitled Confessions of a Native-Alien. Ghose’s first novel, The
Contradictions, came out in 1966. It presents a contrast between Western and
Eastern lifestyles and attitudes. Jets from Orange is another collection of his
poetry that he published in 1967. In the same year, his novel, Murder of Aziz
Khan, received extraordinary acclaim. The novel portrays a power structure
based on money and authority in Pakistan. The work Ghose is most famous for
is a series of three novels known as the Brazilian Trilogy.

Major Themes of Zulfikar Ghose

Displacement, dislocation, otherness, rootlessness, isolation, and nostalgia are

the major themes we find in Ghose’s works. His works highlight his approach
to cultural differences and their outcomes. Despite his lifelong stay in Western
society, he felt alienated. This feeling finds its vent in his literary works. At the
same time, he writes about contemporary lifestyle, social connectivity, and
complexities of the human thought process. Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar
Ghose also touches on some of these themes.

Facebook Page MA / BS English University of Sargodha

3

Facebook Page MA / BS English University of Sargodha

4

Summary of the Poem Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar Ghose

Introduction

Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar Ghose is an interesting poem. in this poem, the

poet describes how the arrival of an ambulance in his neighborhood disturbed
him. The incident took place twice in the same year. Ghose shares his thoughts
about this incident.

Stanza 1

In the first stanza of Disturbed Nights, Zulfikar Ghose describes what he

thought at the arrival of an ambulance. It is quite late in the night when he
hears the siren of an ambulance. He thinks that the ambulance has come as
part of a rescue operation in case of an accident. Ghose thinks that a person
returning home from a bar late at night might have lost control of his car. His
car might have run into a truck. The ambulance has come to carry this man to
the hospital.

Stanza 2

In this stanza, Ghose continues to think about the possibility of the accident.
He guesses that some young boys in a jeep might have met an accident.
Ghose imagines that the boys must be drinking and listening to loud music in
the jeep. They might have miscalculated a sharp bend in the road and met an
accident. Ghose also tells why he thinks so. He says that there are many
incidents of this kind reported in newspapers. The poet says that he reads
about such accidents every morning while making his tea.

Stanza 3

Soon, however, the poet’s perception begins to change when he listens to the
howl of the dogs in the neighborhood. The sound of the siren now starts
piercing through his ears and he rushes out to see what happened. He finds
the elm tree in front of his door lit up by the headlights of the ambulance.
Soon, the whole front yard is brightened by these headlights as the
ambulance approaches near. The poet covers his eyes as he feels dazzled by
the white headlights and alternating red and blue emergency lights.

Facebook Page MA / BS English University of Sargodha

5

Stanza 4

As the ambulance slows down near the poet’s house, he recalls the event
when the ambulance first came there. In front of the poet’s house, there is a
photinia hedge that he trimmed and fertilized. He stood behind this hedge
and witnessed the whole proceeding of the paramedics. He recalls how
paramedics walked into the house like late-night guests for a dinner. The
paramedics spent a long time in the house and the poet kept waiting behind
the hedge.

Stanza 5

Ghose recalls how the front of his house looked on the first disturbed night.
Owing to the constant headlights and flashing emergency lights, it gave the
look of a stage. It seemed that the technicians were testing the lights on the
stage before the beginning of the performance. The poet remembers how a
paramedic came out to wheel a stretcher up the driveway. It reminded the
poet of seeing a UPS technician wheel a package up the same driveway some
time ago.

Stanza 6

The poet comes back to the description of this second disturbed night. He
watches two paramedics go inside another neighbour’s house and then come
back. They repeat the action three times. The paramedics move about with
their heads bowed down. They resemble country tax appraisers who come in
their white utility van to evaluate the property.

Stanza 7

Unlike the previous disturbed night, the paramedics have not come for the
stretcher yet. The lights of the ambulance parked in front of his house trouble
his eyes. He thinks of going inside. But his curiosity keeps him waiting for the
paramedics’ next action. He stands there behind the photinia hedge and feels
how tense the wait can be.

Facebook Page MA / BS English University of Sargodha

6

Analysis of the Poem Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar Ghose

Introduction

Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar Ghose is evidence of the poet’s extraordinary

command of description. The poem also reflects his imaginative faculty.
Ghose’s use of contemporary idiom in his depiction of an event shows his up-
to-dateness in employing modern diction in poetry. Also, the way he connects
this disturbed night with a similar one is an example of his genius in
comparison. The analogies he creates for the events on two different
occasions are everyday but exquisite. The poem is an exhibition of Ghose’s
ability to say a lot between the lines.

Themes

Contemporary Lifestyle

Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar Ghose presents a glimpse of the contemporary

lifestyle. Ghose wakes up to the sound of the siren of an ambulance. What
comes to his mind is the usual perception about some road accident nearby.
He guesses about the nature of the accident. He thinks that someone
returning home from a bar on this humid night may have run his car into a
truck. Drink and drive cases are common not only in Western countries but
also in ours now. He further imagines that some young guys in a jeep may
have been drinking beer and dancing to loud rock music. In the enthusiasm of
the moment, they may have lost control of the vehicle at some sharp bend.
Ghose refers to newspaper reports about such accidents. These accidents
occur due to the contemporary lifestyle of visiting bars, driving while drunk,
and fondness for youthful adventures.

Social Connectivity

This poem presents a deplorable condition of social connectivity in

contemporary society. People are so engrossed in their lives that they do not
know what happens in the neighborhood. With the arrival of the ambulance,
the poet comes to know that there is an emergency with a neighbor. Even
upon the arrival of the ambulance, no one seems to notice the situation.
Associated with this theme is the theme of isolation. In the modern urbanized

Facebook Page MA / BS English University of Sargodha

7

world, despite so much hustle and bustle, man is aloof. People have no time to
know about the cares and worries of others around them. The thread of
relations has become very weak and unreliable.

Wait and Anxiety

Disturbed Nights ends with Ghose waiting to see the true magnitude of the
issue for which the ambulance has come. The lights of the ambulance are
teasing his eyesight. He feels like going inside his house to relieve his eyesight.
But the anxiety that arouses out of inquisitiveness to know more about the
incident keeps him standing there. Between the lines, Ghose comments on the
pattern of life. Human beings spend their whole life waiting for something to
happen. They want to be clear about the circumstances. But if the wait goes
on for a long time, it causes tension and anxiety.

The Structure of the Poem

Disturbed Nights by Zulfikar Ghose consists of seven stanzas of six lines each.
This structure of six lines in a stanza is called a sestain. In Urdu poetry, we use
the term “musaddas” for it. However, in a sonnet, the final part of the poem
consisting of six lines is called a sestet.

Zulfikar Ghose has employed free verse in this poem. It means that the poet
does not observe any strict rhyme scheme and meter in the composition of
this poem. The syntax of the poem is simple. At the same time, there are
reflections about past events and some generalizations. The diction of the
poem is simple with exquisite use of contemporary idiom. The imagery of the
poem is lucid and realistic.

Ghose’s Experiment with the Form

Critics find Ghose’s works comparatively complex. The reason is his

experiments with the narrative mode and structure of the genre. In Disturbed
Nights, we find hints that Ghose incorporated the stream-of-
consciousness technique which is generally employed in novels. This
technique empowers the author to look deep into the minds of the characters
he depicts. It exposes the conscious part of the human psyche. The characters

Facebook Page MA / BS English University of Sargodha

8

depicted with this technique face a sense of indecisiveness. Ghose presents

how his thoughts wander from one to the other in a series of associative
events and references. The siren of the ambulance makes him think of some
accident nearby. The arrival of the ambulance in the neighbourhood makes
him recall a similar event some time ago. The lights of the ambulance take him
to the world of theatre. The memory of the stretcher man reminds him of the
UPS technician.

Conclusion

Disturbed Nights by Zulfikart Ghose is a poem worth-reading. While depicting

an emergency in this poem, he does not compromise the pleasing factor of
the poetry. The diction and imagery of the poem attract the attention of the
readers.

Facebook Page MA / BS English University of Sargodha