Slide 3: Subject
“Pakistani English Literature”
Topic
“Salman Tarik Kureshi’s Poetry In Landscapes of the Mind”
Presented to
Dr M. Kabil Khan & Students of M. Phil Applied Linguistics
Presenter
Muhammad Irbaz Khan
Slide 4: “Landscapes of the Mind”
Salman Tarik Kureshi, 1942
Slide 5: Introduction
‘Landscapes of the Mind’ is collection of the poems written over some thirty years back, staging the familiar theme of postcolonial Deracination. On a more personal level, the poet portrays an experience of betrayal and loss of a divided self. The poet seeks to establish an intimate connection between landscape and inscape. Jagged, yet nicely toned, ample and yet deftly structured this poetry both memorably moves and disturbs.
Slide 6: Poet’s Life and Career
Salman Tarik Kureshi Was educated at Government College Lahore and the London school of Economics. A business executive, he has traveled extensively in Europe, America and the Middle and Far East. He was a founder member of ‘Mixed Voice’ a multilingual forum for poetry and creative writing in Karachi. His work has been published in literary magazines and anthologies in Pakistan, France, the UK and USA. Salman Tarik Kureshi is presently a marketing consultant living in Karachi. He is not only a poet, but also writes about the current affairs. He is presently attached with the Daily Times newspaper. He writes about national and international political relations, conflicts and issues. But my emphasis is on his poetical traits not political traits because UN KA JO KAM HAY…..
Slide 7: The Contents of the Book
The book was published in 1997 by Oxford University Press Pakistan. Although, the book consists of 76 pages only, yet it is a treasure of geographical, cultural and national symbols. First of all, the introduction of the book is written by Kaleem Ur Rehman. There are 37poems in the collection. The most significant and remarkable thing is the title itself of each poem. Some of the titles reveal a special aptitude of the poet towards Nature or we may also call it geographically significant titles e.g. poems at serial # 4,5,6,78,9,10,11,13,14, & 24.
Slide 8: The Significance of the Title
The title of the book i.e. ‘Landscapes of the Mind’ is suggestive and full of meanings. The book is a collection of poetical works of Salman Tarik Kureshi. Poetry is the reflection of feelings, sentiments and emotions emerging and evolving in the poet’s mind or in Wordworthian doctrine, it is spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. Kureshi puts the precious words * in a poetical order for the readers to capture the landscapes of his mind. In other words, he aspires to make available and draw a pictorial scene before the eyes of his readers.
Slide 9: A Critical View
“This is finely nuanced poetry, as crisp and sharp in its diction as in its observation. Kureshi pushes at the implications of the resonances of geographical and cultural location, rewriting the past and generating rich images of contemporary Pakistan. This is a poet, whose power intrigues us into his mental and physical landscape, cradling the active memory like the timeless roots of an ancient banyan tree.” (Robert J. C. Young Wadham College Oxford)
Slide 10: Pakistani Fiction vs. Pakistani Poetry in English
Kaleem Urrehman says, ‘Pakistani poetry in English is more significant than Pakistani fiction in English. Apart from Bapsi Sidhwa, there is hardly any other novelist worth mentioning. In Poetry, however, the situation is different. Poets of a relatively older generation-Taufiq Rafat, Maki Kureshi and Daud Kamal – have written poetry that compels our interest and attention
Slide 11: Distinctive Feature
Kureshi’s poetry has a different character from that of other Pakistani poets. Perhaps this is because he is of mixed descent. His father was is Pakistani and his mother Australian. Salman Kureshi has, therefore, a command over English which is like that of a native speaker of the language.
Slide 12: Unforgettable Pakistaniness
What is Pakistani in Kureshi should not be underestimated. No doubt, he has poems on New York and other places in America, and on sites of ancient Greece, but one is hardly surprised to note that the finest poem in this selection is ‘Above Bolan’ which captures the sublimity of the Bolan Pass in its surroundings. The poem opens on this note: A Starkness unsoftened by green, Almost extravagant, In its austerity….
Slide 13: Sublimity and Imagination
And the remarkable thing is that the poem maintains the level of the sublime throughout until the end. It is a triumph of the imagination of the sublime. Many of Kureshi’s poems miss the tinge of subjectivity. In his lyrics like Garden, Station, Above Bolan, direct expression of emotions is absent. The ‘I’ is missing from them. The emotions the poet expresses are undoubtedly his, but the form of the poem impersonalizes them to a degree.
Slide 14: Impersonal Form: Readers’ Participation
Why so? The advantage of an impersonal form is that the reader is able to participate in the experiences the poems and the poet can communicate relatively in an easy way. Saying this is not to invoke Eliot’s theory of impersonal poetry. Impersonality here simply means that the poet curbs his egoism to render the spirit of the thing as it is. The personality of the poet is inevitably there in the poem, but it does not overhang.
Slide 15: The Question of Poet’s Mental Landscape Disturbance
Why the Landscape of Poet’s Mind disturbed? Poets and artists often have troubled inner lives. They are never quite at home in the world in which they find themselves. Kureshi is no exception to this rule. But his problems go much deeper than is usual. And his poetry reflects them. Poems such as Sword, Switchboard, Tenant, and a few others, deal with what is disturbing in his personality.
Slide 16: Association With Nature
The geographical suggestiveness of various poems of Kureshi may be due to his affiliation with Nature. Like Wordsworth, he seems believing in contemplation and meditation to get the secrets of Nature. Kureshi, like Wordsworth raises question about the origin of various objects of Nature, e.g. Perverse Rivers, As If these Clouds, Plateau or In The Plain. Kureshi observes, meditates and contemplates repeatedly till he finds the answer and concludes reality. Where then is the source of these Strange rivers, like this narrow torrent beside us? What forms these streams that start Proudly from the sides of mountains To peter out in great mud flats A hundred miles from the sea?
Slide 17: Symbolism in Landscapes of the Mind
There are many symbols found in Kureshi’s work. The geographical symbols are quite strong. In Perverse Rivers, he symbolizes the unpredictable human trend of changing course any time. Perverse rivers, whose course is unpredictable, One season through one valley, the next through another * (OA) The word perverse in the title and in the poem is enough to make it clear that the poet balks at writing his poetry. As in April, (‘the source of betrayal is at the roots’), here, too, the poet wonders about where then is the source of strange rivers. To enlarge on the lines from George Meredith that Mr Bhutto once quoted: It’s morning: but no morning can restore What we have forfeited...In tragic life, No villain need be! Passions spin the plot: We are betrayed by what is false within.
Slide 18: Rain and Clouds Symbols
In Kureshi’s poetry rain and clouds are the symbol of prosperity and self sufficiency. At the bottom of the poem Perverse Rivers, we can listen to him humbly praying for rain. This prayer is, on one side, a feeling of guilt which, the poet fears, hinders him from free creativity, from writing what could be described as his proper poetry. Grant us instead The gift of water unrestrained Mountain-rills that quicken meadow-flowers Silt laden flows along whose banks Great cities burgeon and, most of all Grey swirls of cloud to bring The clean wash of rain down our bodies
Slide 19: Kureshi and the Western Poetry
Browning’s Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came is perhaps a presence in Above Bolan and April We may compare the following line in April Here nature has been niggardly, Hard-bitten Only a few spiky plants Struggle up to shrubs With Browning I think I never saw Such starved ignoble nature; nothing throve For flowers-as well except a cedar grove! But, cockle, spurge, according to their law Might propagate their kind…
Slide 20: Kureshi and the Western Poetry
Shades of Ted Hughes can also be clearly discerned in the description of the wolf in The Crumbling Hillside Shale. Perhaps T. S. Eliot is a stronger and more abiding influence on Kureshi’s poetry. Images of sterility and dryness in April and Perverse Rivers clearly point towards The Waste Land. Kureshi’s desire for showery rain at the end of the poem Perverse Rivers can also be equated with Hopkin when he narrates the same theme in his poem, Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord, ‘Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.’ This is not to say that Kureshi is under the influence of Hopkins. In the present scenario of our national power and energy crisis, Kureshi’s insight seems functional and working to keep praying for clouds and rain in order to get filled our reservoirs.
Slide 21: Conclusion
The influence of an older poet creates a younger one. All fine poets need to have a father-predecessor and it is necessarily right. Influences haven’t created Kureshi, for, even in the poems which show the influence of other poets on him, the personal urgency which impels him to write shows through clearly. Kureshi is very much a poet in his own right and deserves to be read for what he has personally achieved through his poetry.
Slide 22: THANK YOU
