24th Annual Student Research Conference
"When the Dream is Over": A Psychoanalytic Reading of Agha Shahid Ali's "I Dream It Is Afternoon When I Return to Delhi"
Ashley L. Wolf
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
The speaker in Agha Shahid Ali's poem, "I Dream It Is Afternoon When I Return to Delhi," recounts his nightmarish dream of returning to Delhi after being away. The imagery is both literal and figurative as demonstrated in the lines "I run past the Doll Museum, past headlines on the Times of India" and "Once again my hands are empty." The newspaper headlines, bus ride, and movie theater are all actual things that are being dreamed about. His empty hands and the beggar women weeping for him are symbolic of his fear of loss. This terror is embodied in the fact that the women and children who have nothing themselves pity him. By using Freud's interpretations of dreams, this paper will take a close look at the fear the speaker has that evokes the images within this dream will turn into reality.
Keywords: Dreams, Psychoanalysis, Memory, Agha Shahid Ali
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 15-5
Location: VH 1408
Time: 10:30