32nd Annual Student Research Conference
A Postcolonial Analysis of Agha Shahid Ali’s “The Dacca Gauzes” and “After Seeing Kozintsev’s King Lear in Delhi”
Madalene H. Davis♦
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
This paper analyzes Agha Shahid Ali’s “The Dacca Gauzes” and “After Seeing Kozintsev’s King Lear in Delhi” with a focus on loss, exile, and nostalgia. Ali is conscious of these three elements in his poetry, and draws on literature from Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare to blend history and memory. In doing this, Ali creates a first person singular “I” that “transcend[s] the personal into more universal...” concentrations. He defends the claim that “[s]ubject matter is artistically interesting only when through form it has become content,” which is evident in the poems mentioned above.
Keywords: Agha Shahid Ali, Poetry, Postcolonial
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 306-5
Location: BH 251
Time: 2:30