Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 15

NAOMI LAZARD'S The TrueSubject:Selected Poemsof Faiz AhmedFaiz

Abdul Jabbar

Princeton edition selected of bilingual poemsof Faiz University's Ahmed Faiz in Naomi Lazard's superb translation a service to is literature. After Mohammad the Urdu Iqbal, Faiz is undoubtedly greatest ofthis NaomiLazardrightly credits Faiz as one ofthe"few poet century. of havealtered consciousness the greatpoetswhosestanceand influence the world."1 thosereaderswho don't knowUrdu, the inclusion To of Faiz' s original versesmayseemunnecessary. thosewhoknow However, Urdu would welcome this bilingualeditionas the ideal format for translations.Besides promising readerconvenient the access to the also reminded hisor her of work,thisformat keepsthetranslator original to close to theoriginal. duty remain in Lazard was fortunate have thecollaboration Faiz himself to of thisambitious Faiz rendered work in Englishprose for his project. Lazard to put it in the formof poetry. This advantage the poet's of control the translator's on rendition makesup forthe disadvantage of Naomi Lazard's unfamiliarity with the language from which she In translated. herbriefintroductory on "Translating note Faiz," Naomi herself poet of striking a and grace, has explainedthe Lazard, power and sometimes complex frustrating processof translating literature: great "Whatwas crystal clear to an Urdu-speaking readermeant at nothing all to an American.I had to knowthemeaning everynuancein orderto of re-create poem." (p. xii) the Lazard's approach, and raisetheartof translation attitude, insight to itsrightful place: From the beginning workof translation been a this has of discovery me. I havelearned for whatmyown process languagecan and cannotdo. I have also learnedthatI have infinite I for the patience translation, same patience have forwriting own poems. I have learnedthatit my doesn't matter how long it takes, how many transformations a poemmust brought be until through, the in version works thesamewaythat poemI have a English written works. It must faithful themeaning be to myself 156

NaomiLazard's The TrueSubject:Selected Poems ofFaiz Ahmed Faiz

Faiz has givenit. It must movein hisown spirit, with the same feeling tone. It musthave thesame music,the and samedirection, aboveall, itmust meanthesamething and, in English that meansin Urdu, (p xii) it It is a tribute Lazard's workthat has succeeded almost those to in she all crucialto good translation. rendition Her aspectssheconsiders faithfully the and beautythat captures pathos,longing, hope, despair,resilience, the one pervadeFaiz's poems. In Lazard's translation, heartbeat feelsis that Faiz himself.Suchan achievement indeed, of in translations. rare is, The translation one of Faiz's mostpopularpoems, "Mujh se of si mohabbat" ("Don't Ask Me Now, Beloved,"pp. 39-41) captures pehli the depthof the original. This poem marksFaiz's transition from romantic topoemsof socialconcern.In itsstature, itsintensity, in poetry its subject,its inherent to ironyand paradox,thispoem is comparable WilliamButlerYeats' "Sailingto Byzantium." The speakerin Yeats' the not to poemrenounces sensualworldof flesh becausehe wants do so butbecause he has to do so: he can no longer a partof that be world. His age has becomea barrier, it impossible fitin withthe to making worldof physical sensations youth. At thesametime,however, and his desires,whichhave not abandoned him,impedehis progress physical toward spiritual-intellectual This dilemma thereasonforhis a is goal. of his heartstill pull apology to the sages; the suppressed yearnings the of him-embarrassingly-in direction thesensualworld: O sages standing God's holyfire in As in thegold mosaicof a wall, Come from holyfire, the pernein a gyre, Andbe thesinging-mastersmysoul. of Consumemyheart sickwithdesire away; And fastened a dying to animal It knowsnotwhatit is; and gather me Intotheartifice eternity.2 of The speakerin Faiz's poem, similarly, claims what his heart belies. He declaresthathe can no longerlet his belovedconsumehis wholebeing. His love forheris now to be divided:his concern the for is the oppressed peopleclaimsitsshare. The fact, however, that beloved has neverblessedhimwithreciprocity passion. These linesfrom of the poemrevealthetruth: 157

Journal South AsianLiterature, Vol. XXVI, Nos. 1-2 of If I could have you, fatewould bow before me. None of this was real; it was all inventedby desire, (p. 39) The speaker in Yeats' poem pretendsthat he is renouncingthe physical world in favor of the world of spirit-"Monumentsof unageing intellect" -when in fact his heartbetraysa contradictory tendency. The in Faiz's poem declares that he can no longer give his whole speaker being to thebeloved because thesuffering, exploited,and toilinghumanity makes its claim on his love as well. The truth, however,is thathe has no the choice, since he has failed in getting beloved to reciprocatehis love. Both charactersin these two masterpiecesof ironyand paradox are thus makinga virtueof necessity. Lazard' s translationis faithful the original. These lines, in to particular,are superb: Your beauty guaranteedthe spring, ordained its enduringgreen, (p. 39) of However, the translation fourlines of the poem falls shortof Lazard' s achievementin translating otherlines: 1. "Tera gham hai to ghami dehr ka jhagra kiya hai."

Lazard's translation:The torments the world meantnothing; of You alone could make me suffer,(p. 39) This translation correctbut by stretching Faiz's one succinct line is out into two lines, it dilutestheline's power. Faiz's one line sounds like this: The griefyou caused leftno room in me for world sorrow. 2. "Teri ankhonke siva dunya main rakha kia hai."

Lazard's translation:Your eyes were all there was of value anywhere. This translation misses the metaphoric and idiomaticforceof theoriginal, which is something like this: To me your eyes were the whole world. 3. "Aur bhi dukh hain zaman main mohabbatk siva."

158

NaomiLazard The TrueSubject:SelectedPoemsofFaiz Ahmed 's Faiz

Lazard's translation: The worldknowshow to deal outpain apartfrom in The structure Lazard's lineis inexact that could of it passion,(p. 41) be mistaken mean thatthe worlddeals out pain and passion. The to the beloved,nottheworld,is thesourceof passionthat speaker equates with torment. Passionis pain,perhaps from beingunrequited. Literally in Faiz that are torments theworld besides translated, is saying there other love. 4. "Rahatain bhi hainwasl ki rahat siva." aur ke

Lazard's translation: manna theheart, and for the beyond realmof love 41). "Realmof love" is notthesameas "wasl ki rahat"(fulfillment (p. consummation sexualpassion). Moreover, of Lazard's choiceof through the Biblical allusion of "manna" is questionable because it gives a religiousslantto Faiz' s secularverse. Faiz leaves othersourcesof fulfillment The knows certain consummation for that unspecified. speaker of sexualpassionwouldbring but fulfillment, sincehis passionremains he unconsummated, tries to reduce the pain of his deprivation by himself withtheidea of other that comforting possiblemeansof finding He deep satisfaction. doesn'tsay whatthoseothermeansare. Literal translation Faiz' s line wouldbe as follows: there other of are meansof in fulfilled lifethanthrough consummation sexualpassion. of feeling These are minor shortcomings an otherwiseoutstanding in rendition thispoemof complex of beauty. A captivating is poem in Lazard's translation "SpringComes." Lazard's diction toneof exuberance and evokethemoodof theoriginal: all comes; suddenly thosedaysreturn, Spring all theyouthful that died on yourlips, days that havebeenlostin thevoid,are bornagain each timetherosesdisplay themselves. Theirscent to you; is yourperfume. it belongs The rosesare also theblood of yourlovers. The torments return, melancholy withthesuffering friends, of intoxicated embraces moon-bodied with of beauties. All thechapters theheart's of return, oppression all thequestions all theanswers and between youand me. 159

Journal South Asian Vol. Nos.1-2 Literature, XXVI, of


comes,readywithall theold accounts Spring reopened, 37) (p. In its springtime mixture memory of and desire,Faiz's poem reminds of thefamous us linesof T.S. Eliot's Waste Land: opening Aprilis thecrudestmonth, breeding Lilacs outof thedead land,mixing and Memory desire,stirring Dull rootswithspring rain.3 But thisis as faras the similarities between two poems go. The the of to to to speaker Faiz has thecapacity remember, desire,to empathize, and of he suffer, to celebrate.Unliketheinhabitants Eliot's Waste Land, is still alive spiritually emotionally. scent romantic and The of verymuch memories mixeswith comesfrom suffering the melancholy. (Melancholy of friends.) The heat of spring inflames thathas been smoldering: all dreams youth, of intoxication beauty'sembrace, of melancholy, pent-up and of sessionswiththe emotions, recollection endlessquestion-answer beloved. The poemendswith reopening theold accounts a of from "the of experience" Faiz's own words). ledger (in It is appropriate notethat to Faiz wrote poemin themonth this of of and compulsive April. The brevity Faiz's lines, its lilting rhyme, in are has Lazard,nevertheless, beenable rhythm missing thetranslation. to preserve poem's richsensory the texture.The imagesengagealmost to and intensify everysensory perception.Use of synesthesia condense hain" (which[roses] appeal-as in "jo teriyadonse mushkboo sensory to carry the fragrance of your remembrance)--contributes the aforementioned to makethispoemveryspecial. qualities Lazard's ownwordseloquently the express reasonforthispoem's "This is a smallpoem, delicate,infused withthe feeling a of appeal: kindof pain, theold pain thatflowers certain, veryspecific, suddenly with right the a has season,evenafter longtime goneby sinceit madeits " lastappearance. (p. xiii) Another truly universal poem is "The War Cemeteryin in it the Leningrad." Written 1976 in Leningrad, commemorates grief that touched nations. It thusdramatizes common has all the of humanity all of us. Faiz's veryshort but felt lines,understated strongly emotion, and a chantlike this elegiacnotecharacterize poem: 160

Poems ofFaiz Ahmed Faiz NaomiLazard's The TrueSubject:Selected These dabs of living blood are carnationsand tulips on sprinkled the ice-cold stone. Each floweris named forone of the unforgotten dead, and for someone who weeps over him. These men have finishedtheirwork; of thereis the testament the flowers and the woman carved in granite. She is theirmothernow, She makes themall small again, Watches themsleep forever. Only she is awake, draped in her stone garland, weaving and reweaving her othergarland of sorrows, (p. 95) to of Lazard's translation this poem, despite its faithfulness the creates some problems: original, has 1. The translator reversedthe image of the opening three flowersare like dabs of livingblood lines. In Faiz's poem, the sprinkled on the cold and pale gravestones. Lazard has changed the image by makingthe dabs of blood look like flowers. In Faiz, however, it is the flowersthatremindhim of the blood of the dead soldiers. The original simile is the appropriate one because it is flowers,not dabs of blood, that we see in the cemetery. The way those flowers are sprinkledand by associatingthe visible (flowers)withthe invisibleand imagined(blood of the buried soldiers), the flowers look like dabs of blood. This simile evokes the violence with which the soldiers' lives raced to their end, leaving the bereaved countrylike a motherin mourning. In line 5, "theunforgotten translate 2. dead" doesn't correctly son vale." Faiz's words referto the dead soldiers as "oblivious "ghafil dead.") sleepers" (not the same thingas "unforgotten 3. Lazard leftout thepoem's fourth-from-the-last "Apne line: lahu ki tn ke chdar" (wrapping themselvesin the sheet of their own blood). The sons of the soil are asleep, enveloped in a sheet of blood. This line is necessaryfor the poem's total impact.

161

Journal South AsianLiterature, Vol. XXVI, Nos. 1-2 of "She 4. The fifth-from-the-last in Lazard' s translationline makes them[thedead soldiers]all small again"--doesn'texist [themother] in the original. It sounds like an unnecessaryaddition. In spite of these changes and omissions, Lazard' s translation sound. capturesthe essence of Faiz's poem and is, therefore, artistically Perhaps the most endearing and inspiringaspect of Faiz is the sense of affirmation feels even in the most melancholyof his verses. one In this respect, as in many other strikingways, Faiz resembles John Keats- that "mighty poet of the human heart" (in Keats' s own words to describe the poets he liked) who never forsook truthin his quest for Beauty. Their poems of haunting beautyand melancholybecome a means of binding us to the beauty of the earth.4 Like Keats, Faiz, too, succeeded in maintaining delicate balance betweenthe seductiveworld the of romance and the demands of social concern.5 His persona, especially in greatpoems like "SpringComes" and "Don't Ask Me Now, Beloved," two tendencies: the lover of romantic epitomizes the aforementioned in him hungersto unitehis heartbeat withhis beloved's as if only passion thatmergerwould abate the flood of his feelingsand give meaningto his in existence. At the same time, however, the social reformer him seeks to justifyhis existence by championingthe cause of toilingand exploited masses. Faiz's prison poems, composed during his confinement,best illustrate irrepressible his joy at the giftof life. All these poems end on a triumphant at least a hopefulnote. "Prison Daybreak" realistically or describes the sad scene and "mutilated voices" of thejail. The poet takes us beyond his personal grief to end the poem with hope of others' deliveranceas well: The prisoners, all of us, keep watch forour saviour who is on his way in the formof a storybook prince, arrows of hope burningin his quiver, ready to let themfly. (p. 31) Prison's dark night is the setting of Faiz's poem, "Prison Meeting." This meetingwith the beloved is probably imaginary. The blackness of thisnightis modifiedby two touchesof light-thepoet's own song and the golden streamof the beloved's glance. The hope of the 162

NaomiLazard's The TrueSubject:SelectedPoemsofFaiz Ahmed Faiz

in belief theapproaching dawn preceding poemheregiveswaytoa strong of freedom: of the Morning thegrief-stricken, heart-broken, in is notsomewhere thefuture; is here it theshafts pain have flowered dawn's coral streaks. of into It is herethemurderous blade of grief is changed intosparks, against light-ray light-ray. The gift thisnight myfaith morning come. will of is that whichis larger thananypain, Ah, thisfaith thismorning is on itsway that is morebounteous thananynight,(p. 53) Lazard's translation thepoem's laststanza,citedabove, demonstrates of herworkat itsbest. Faiz's lastprison from volume starkly this is poemtobe discussed Confinement." subject thepoem,understandably, The of titled, "Solitary is thehopethat torments does notelate. The mixture "today's but of gall" with"yesterday's does notprevent poet from the bitterness," however, a raising toast: I makea toastto myfriends everywhere, herein myhomeland acrosstheworld: and "Let us drink, dearones, to human my beauty, to theloveliness earth." (p. 77) of How trueare Naomi Lazard's own wordsaboutFaiz: His "sweetness, uncut rancor despair, characteristic Faiz's poetry.It expresses or is of by thequality his heart, largeness generosity spirit. Underthe of a and of worst circumstances, of in nature held fast."(p. something his essential xvi) "The Day Death Comes" closes thisvolumeof poems. Like so other with idea ofdeath, the the and poets,Faiz toys many imagining time manner hisdeath seeing itbothmagicandagitation heart.To of and in of someone whomemotional turmoil spiritual and havekilledmany anguish times death wouldappear beloved. In that before, justlikethemurderous case, afterthe feverand fretof life, deathwould come as a relief. the of be witha fanciful simile. However, reality deathcannot dismissed after a songofthankfulnesshoneyed and mouths to Therefore, raising lips 163

Journal South Nos.1-2 Asian Vol. Literature, XXVI, of


in Faiz's about thisfatality), (thatwere perhapsinstrumental bringing linesthrob with onceagainthepreciousness concluding pain. Reaffirming of life and describing withgreat subtlety reluctant inevitable his yet withthegrimreaper, regards he deathas an assassin: meeting Whatwill it be like,theday deathcomes? likea veinscreaming Perhaps withthepremonition pain of under edge of a knife, the whilea shadow, theassassinholding knife, the out spreads witha wingspan from end of theworldto theother, 131) one (p. In translating poem,Lazardhaschanged original this the sequence the of stanzas. Faiz ends his poem withtheshadowof deathspanning world-a realisticrendition the dying person's mentalcondition. of endsthepoemwith speaker's the Lazard,however, praiseof "themeeting " the oflips/ honeyed I haveknown. Thischangemakes poemend the lips on a positive note. Limitations space don't allow discussion otherpoems that of of showLazard's adeptness a translator. of as Deserving specialattention are amongthem "Elegy"(p. 59) and "You Tell us Whatto Do" (p. 63). the of Lazard's translation these of captures flavor the poemssuccessfully in tone,mood,wordchoice,and emphasis. original From other poems, numerouslines reveal Lazard's gift of wordchoice,and striking impressive economy, imagery. Here are just a fewof them: 1. The roadof memory have walkedso long you will end a fewstepsfurther on whereit turns theway to oblivion. on Neither norI existthere. you ("AnyLover to AnyBeloved,"p. 5)

in HereLazardhascaptured four five linestheessenceofFaiz's first lines of thepoem. 2. When, havingdrunkfromthe gash of sunset,darkness comes. . . . 164

NaomiLazard The TrueSubject:SelectedPoemsofFaiz Ahmed 's Faiz

("Be Near Me," p 25) the creation underscore to The "gash of sunset"is Lazard's stunning nature thepoem's blacknight. of vampiric 3. In bedrooms exhausted desire by will rolland unroll loneliness. his someone Hourof Faithlessness," 71) ("The p.

Lazard's simplewordsepitomize loneliness here. the The onlyareain which Lazarddoes notsucceedis in capturing musicof Faiz. Therereally no wayto that is musicwithout usingrhyme and and without fixedmetrical formal the that pattern evokesand then in herfreeversetranslation, the satisfies reader'sexpectations. Lazard, uses no rhymes, Faiz invariably whereas does. Another reasonfortheabsenceof Faiz' s musicin Lazard is the latter' muchlongerlines compared s in withthe line length Faiz. An is "In Your Eyes and Mine" (p. 107). Faiz' s poemmoveswith example Lazard's version moveshaltingly. reasonis that One eagerspeedwhereas Faiz' s veryshort linesand a ballad-like and urgethepoem rhythm rhyme forward. That drumbeat effect and thatstrident motion absentin are Lazard's translation. Those who knowUrduwill easilyunderstand my point,but forthosewho don't knowFaiz's language,theselines from will elucidate point: Mariner" this Coleridge's"Rimeof theAncient Aboutaboutin reeland rout The deathfires dancedat night And thewaterlikea witch'soil Burn' greenand blue and white. d The musicof these lineswouldbe lostifwe wereto lengthen linesor the takeaway their metrical their and regularity, rhythm, their rhyme. One feels acutely this loss of music especially in Lazard's translation thosepoemsin whichFaiz utilizes of pronounced rhythmical in effects addition rhyme.Besides"In Your Eyes and Mine" (already to another suchpoemis "Why Talk abouttheDay?" (p. 127), in discussed), which Faiz attains specialimpact a balance,short lines, through rhythmic

165

Vol. XXVI, Nos. 1-2 Journal South AsianLiterature, of fastbeat, and rhyme. This is how Faiz's poem sounds in transliteration, with the accents marked/: ab kia us din ka zikr karo jab dil tukreho jai ga or sare gham mitjain gay jo kuch paya kho jai ga jo mil na saka wo payain gay (lines 1-5, p. 126) And here is Lazard's translation those lines: of Why talk about the day into a thousandpieces, when the heartwill splinter and all sorrowswill be ended, when everything achieved will be lost, we when everything were denied will be granted? we (lines 1-5, p. 127) The translation captures the substanceof Faiz's lines but misses Faiz's rhythm, rhyme,compulsive beat, and pace. Anotherpoem, "Leningradka gorastan" ("The War Cemeteryin shortlines (some only for Leningrad,"p. 95), is remarkable its extremely threewords long), its chantlike,elegiac, and meditativetone. Lazard's translation rendersthe poem's substanceand emotionvery well but fails to convey the aforementioned qualities of the original. of Some aspects of Faiz's style,moreover,are manifestations folk impulses endemic to his cultureand embedded in the people's psyche. classics, Throughsubliminalassociationswithfolksongs and withliterary Faiz's poems gathertheirspecial power. Now theseaspects of Faiz-like the catchy chantlike recurrentbeat of some of his verse- are almost impossible to satisfyin a translation. Lazard herselfperceived the problemof translating work whose a doesn't know: language the translator 166

/ / /

/ /

/ /

../

../

Poems ofFaiz Ahmed NaomiLazard The TrueSubject:Selected 's Faiz A naturalproblem thatcomes up over and over again in froma literaltextis the one of makingit more translating more since the literaltextis usually a summation, specific, or less general, of the original meaning, (p. xv) By "literaltext"Lazard here means not Faiz's poetryin Urdu. That she couldn't read because she doesn't know the language. What she means of by "literal" is Faiz's prose translation his own poems, which became thebasis of Lazard's translation.A prose rendition a poem-even when of done by the poet himself- not the same as the original poem. A is translation like this is prose, not poetry,and is, therefore, devoid of the meter,and sound of the originalpoem. rhythm, rhyme, A question that needs to be addressed is that of the so-called note, Lazard mentionsthe passivityof Urdu poetry. In her introductory of difficulty capturingthe inherent passivityof much of Faiz's poetry: In thepoetryof Faiz thisproblemis intensified because his in Urdu is singularlydevoid of active verbs. language abound. A greatpart of Images and passive constructions my work has been findingactive ways of expressing in English what Faiz has expressed more passively in Urdu, (p. xv) However, what Lazard regards as the translator'sdrawback of passivity in Faiz's verse is sometimesnot really a drawback. Whereas Lazard's pointabout the infamouspassive voice is valid in general, in some cases the nerveless passivity may bettersuit the verse. For example, in one instance, Lazard's changing the passivityof Faiz's poem robs it of its appropriatetone. The poem in question is "A Scene": The weightof silence crushes doors, walls, windows: pain streamsdown fromthe sky; tells its malancholylegend moonlight thatmingleswith the roadside dust. Bedrooms lie in semi-darkness, and life's harp strumsits worn-outtune in soft,lamenting notes, (p. 115) Lazard has changed the original in two ways:

167

Journal South AsianLiterature, Vol. XXVI, Nos. 1-2 of 1. The original is a fragment-apparently to match the so nature of its thoughtcontent. Impressions are seldom impressionistic enclosed in complete thoughts. Lazard has changed Faiz's fragmentary lines into complete sentences,thus takingaway the burdened, subdued, muffled tone and the teasingincompleteness the original. of of 2. By changingthepassivity theoriginal,moreover,Lazard ends up introducing inappropriately an strident note of action in a poem thatis still life portrayalof a nocturnalscene. Faiz's "Doors and walls, crushed underthe weightof silence" becomes, in Lazard's translation, "The weightof silence crushes doors, walls,windows. " And all incomplete thoughts(impressions) of Faiz become complete sentencesin Lazard's translation. In writingthis review I have constantlyfelt how easy it is to to criticize, how difficult create. Whenever I feltthatNaomi Lazard's the translation was deviatingfromtheoriginal,I triedto translate problem lines. Even thoughI am a native speaker of Urdu with equal command of English, I discoveredthatin mostcases I couldn't have done any better and in numerouscases I couldn't have done as well. Of all formsof because of the restraints to literature, poetryis the mostdifficult translate of meter, rhythm, and rhyme. Robert Frost's words come to mind: the Poetryis what is lost in translation. In Naomi Lazard's translation, poetryof Faiz Ahmed Faiz has been preserved,not lost.

168

Naomi Lazard'sTheTrue Selected Poems Faiz Subject: ofFaizAhmed

NOTES 1. NaomiLazard, The TrueSubject:SelectedPoemsofFaiz Ahmed and New Faiz, translated introduced NaomiLazard (Princeton, by Princeton Press, 1988), p. xi. Subsequent Jersey: University citations thisworkwill be givenin thetext. to WilliamButlerYeats, "Sailing to Byzantium," The Poems of WilliamButler Yeats, ed. Richard J. Finneran(New York: MacMillanPublishing 1983), p. 193. Company, T.S. Eliot,"Waste Poemsand PlaysofT.S. Eliot Land," Complete York: Harcourt, Braceand World,1952), p. 37. (New The following linesfrom to that Endymion point a feeling surfaces in Faiz' s worksas well: repeatedly A thing beauty a joy forever: of is Its loveliness it increases; will never Pass intonothingness;. . . on are Therefore, everymorrow, we wreathing A flowery bandto bindus to theearth, of dearth Spiteof despondence, theinhumn Of noblenatures, thegloomy of days, Of all theunhealthy o'er-darkened and ways Made forour searching,(p. 103, lines 1-3 and 6-11) This quotation from Keats as well as thequotations note5 are in takenfrom JackStillinger's edition The Poems ofJohnKeats of HarvardUniversity (Cambridge,Massachusetts: Press, 1978). John both and painin thecomplex Keats,finding pleasure beauty of human celebrates poet'srole. The poetmakesus the existence, the in experience joy thatis inherent beauty despiteall thepain and suffering theworld. Of numerous in of expressions similar in linesof "Prison cometo feelings Faiz, theconcluding Meeting" mind. In these linesFaiz celebrates "faith the which larger is than /this thatis ... more bounteous thanany any pain, morning night."

2.

3. 4.

169

Journal South Asian Vol. Nos.1-2 Literature, XXVI, of


5. Keats' "The Fall of Hyperion" contains criticism thoseartists a of whodon'tleave thesecurity their of dreamworldand thusfailto In ameliorate suffering humanity. Keats' view, nonecan the of reach the high stature a truepoet "But those to whom the of " miseries theworld/ miseries, willnotletthem of Are and rest. (p. 481, lines 148-149)The truepoets "feelthegiantagonyof the likeslavestopoorhumanity,/Labourmortal for world;/And more, lines 157-159) As if there wereanydoubtabout good." (p. 482, thepoet's roleas a healer, Keatsgoes on to declare: . . . surea poetis a sage: A hunanist, to physician all men(p. 483, lines 189-190) The poetand thedreamer distinct, are sheeropposite, Diverse, antipodes. The one poursouta balmupontheworld, The other vexes it. (p. 483, lines 199-202) Like thepoemsof Keats,Faiz's works also contain recurrent this conflict between sensualromanticism agitates spirit the but (that also leads to beauty)and stark realism(that demands acceptance of thenatural orderand leads to consolation healing). and

170

Вам также может понравиться