Critical analysis of Naheed Qamar’s poetry

Modern “free verse” opened gateway for the expression of thoughts and emotions. Apart from regular meter and rhyme scheme, it simply seems to craft but literally it is a very tough job. In Urdu, after Nazar Muhammad Rashid, Meera Jee and Majeed, only a few poets succeeded to establish their uniqueness because this form of poetry requires a complete command over language, vast knowledge and expertise in modern techniques.

Naheed Qamar’s very first collection of poetry (Ek safar udasi ka) published in 2002 and got reception overwhelmingly by literary circles. Her poetic work appreciated by many literary persons including Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Zafar Iqbal and Bano Qudsia etc. She at the very young age, crafted profound nuance verses. Almost after one and a half decade, (2016) her second poetic collection named “Zindagi kay Hashiaye par” (At the Margine line of life) got published. Naheed used method of assembling fragments and broken images to portray a complete picture. She knows how, when and where a word should be placed.

In preface (Harf e Awal), she opted six lines of persian/urdu poetry (three each) of Usman Marwandi (1177-1274) and Allama Iqbal (1877-1938) and woven a story which indicates the mood & taste of the book. i.e. spiritual, social and emotional collapse of humanity. The froward started with the line “the wind unfolds the veil, the dead bodies are on the shoulders of poem, there is a state of unconsciousness” and a sense of disillusionment about life. A wide range of allusions is used to convey the dark gloomy world.

The very first poem has question mark on present (Asr e Nau ko/kis Zaman ki ramz pr taveel den) because the past is complexed and the future seems embroiled. She uses assembling/breaking images technique to dig out the lost truth. Heap of shatter images helps the readers to profound parallels between current issues and previous (historical) problems. Collection’s 4th poem titled “lands are the wounds of rains” presents the delineation of an arid land. As a modern poetess, Ms. Naheed created cantos in such a clever way that even anti-romantic content comes across as romantic. In the poem “Tragedy gets in order” (Huznia tarteeb paa hy), she alluded the catastrophes of the humanity specially poet’s own people. Verses, while reading, engage the reader’s sense. Naheed’s over acrching style resonates with wisdom and foresight. The entire tone of the poem is sad and regretful. Personal agony and collective suffering present collaterally. The best example in this regard is “Hum Prinday Koi”(We are birds). This is a series of monologues which contain history & Mythology. Post-independence events including wars, disputes etc played a significant part in bringing about social, emotional and psychological collapses. People are living life of listlessness and apathy. She reinforces her thoughts by lamenting the poems with mythic structure drawn from orientalism and religious study. The birds as metaphor convey multiplicity of meaning. From the Babylonion Emperor to the second Caliph of Umaid and even up to the invasion of U.S into gulf & South Asian regions, there is no change happened in the context of cruelty and lawlessness. The main concern of Qamar’s poetry is the common man and his sufferings. She looks annoyed with science & technology as well as religion & mythism. The former gives poverty, hunger and the later, provides only dreams. “Surma - e- toor bhe/ Zrf - e Mansoor bhe / Junbish- e- chashm -e- hairan ki tafseer hen / klb huzm mein / Motakif roshni / Muntazir hy ab / Masjidon key Minaron pe atki azanein / utarey koi” who will bring down the Azan (Call for prayer) which has been got stucked in the minaret of the mosques. Hope against hope is unseen help. “Fitna-e-yas froshan se na haro / k abi / aatish - o- feel k qissey men / Ababeel bhe hay” verses show vivid picture of individual isolation and civilizational decay. Naheed enriched her cantos with dream like scenes which create random effects. This collection has given a wealthy harvest of diction for the readers. The poetess is very well aware of modern poetic devices and has mastery command over the use of language. She illustrates stare realities in artistic collage. She arranges the words in lines so smartly that they produce rythem and cadence. Lines are full of quotations footnotes and exegeses. Her poems depict the drastic societal change; moving from spiritual to ........ verses make sense timelessness and listlessness by using ancient mythology. Naheed’s ideas reflect the despair of human life, the life barren civilization which has been marginalized. she tries to focus on the boredom alienation of the people. The inner self and the outer self are existed in and between the text. Man cannot avoid the modern predicament and the only escape is to face it. Naheed’s poetry creates a stir in the contemporary poetical scenario. It is loaded with learning and reader can feel a world of intellectualism.