Taufiq Rafat (25 October 1927 – 2 August 1998), was a prominent Pakistani poet and author. It is generally accredited that Rafat introduced Pakistani Idioms into English literature. Taufq belongs to the second phase of Pakistani English Literature in the sense of origin or evolution. Before Rafat's appearance in the literary scene, Pakistani literature was considered an imitation of British literature.
He was one of the towering figures who made Pakistani literature distinct from the British. He wrote many poems and published them in collections. Taufiq Rafat like his contemporaries Daud Kamal and Alamgir Hashmi was the representative of Pakistani culture especially interior Punjab. You can read A Brief History of Pakistani Literature in English for further in-depth discussion.
Taufiq Rafat has written many famous poems like Kitchens, This Blade of Grass, Ducks.
Let's start to interpret the poem to trace the
Pakistani marriage culture.
Structure of the Poem
The poem 'Wedding in the Flood' has five stanzas
and the narrator changes after every stanza. The poem can be divided into three
descriptive parts.
1. Girl's departure and her
parents worry
2. The pot licking myth and
rain as a tragedy
3. Dowry (Tin Trunk, a cot, and
a mirror)
Overview
In this poem, we will find out the Pakistani culture, the economic situation of Punjab, and some of the ironic situations developed by the poet. The poem is rich with images.
First Stanza
They are taking my girl away forever,
sobs the bride’s mother, as the procession
forms slowly to the whine of the clarinet.
She was the shy one. How will she fare
in that cold house, among these strangers?
This has been a long and difficult day.
The rain nearly runied everything,
but at the crucial time, when lunch was ready,
it mercifully stopped. It is drizzling again
as they help the bride into the palankeen
(palanquin)
This girl has been licking too many pots.
Two sturdy lads carrying the dowry
(a cot, a looking glass, a tin-trunk,
beautifully painted in grey and blue)
lead the way, followed by a foursome
bearing the palankeen on their shoulders
Now even the stragglers are out of view
The first stanza is narrated by the mother of the
bride and she is worried about her daughter's departure. The celebration is
slowly going to end. The mother thinks that how her shy daughter will adjust
herself to a new house among different faces. The rain has always been an
encumberment on the day of the wedding. In this poem, it stops at the time of
lunch but soon it comes down when the palankeen was ready. It is
superstitiously considered that this bride might be licked to many pots. Now
the poet throws light on the dowry (a cot, a tin trunk, and a mirror)
attractively decorated. The mother of the bride is narrating that four people
lifted the palankeen and take her daughter away from her house.
Now she is unable to see the slow pace people as
well. Palankeen also symbolizes the funeral that picks up by four people. It
shows that according to the mother her daughter has been taken away forever.
Second Stanza
I like the look of her hennaed hands
gloats the bridegroom, as he glimpses
her slim fingers gripping the palankeen’s side
If only her face matches her hands,
and she gives me no mother-in-law problems,
I’ll forgive her the cot and the trunk
and looking glass. Will the rain never stop?
It was my luck to get a pot licking wench.
The second stanza is narrated by the husband. The
bride's hands are hennaed which makes her husband happy and he thinks if her
beautiful hands match her face, he will accept her without any problem. In the
last lines, the poet makes fun of her by adding that it was my luck to have a
pot-licking wife. This stanza shows another picture of our society that in
rural areas boy is not let to see his fiance till marriage. Same here the
husband just imagines her beauty by seeing his wife's hands, which are attractive.
Third Stanza
Everything depends on the ferryman now.
It is dark in the palankeen, thinks the bride,
and the roof is leaking. Even my feet are wet.
Not a familiar face around me
as I peep through the curtains. I’m cold and
scared.
The rain will ruin the cot, trunk, and looking
glass.
What sort of man is my husband?
They would hurry, but their feet are slipping,
and there is a swollen river to cross.
The third stanza is narrated by the bride
herself. The bride thinks about the journey that it is dark inside. It has been
raining, by the dint of its fast flow, the roof is leaking. She couldn't speak
about it due to shyness. Outside the palankeen there is cold and a scene of
horror. She is worried about her dowry and makes fun of her
husband. There is a big journey to do and the situation is getting
worse.
This stanza also depicts Pakistani culture that
on the marriage day bride cannot speak. It is very obvious in interior Punjab
and other rural areas.
Fourth Stanza
They might have given a bullock at least,
grumbles the bridegroom’s father; a couple of
oxen
would have come in handy at the next ploughing.
Instead, we are landed with
a cot, a tin trunk and a looking glass,
all the things that she will use!
Dear God, how the rain is coming down.
The silly girl’s been licking too many pots.
I did not like the look of the river
when we crossed it this morning.
Come back before three, the ferryman said,
or you’ll not find me here. I hope
he waits. We are late by an hour,
or perhaps two. But whoever heard
of a marriage party arriving on time?
The light is poor, and the paths treacherous,
but it is the river I most of all fear.
This stanza is narrated by the father of the boy. He complains
over the dowry that the bride brings things just for her own use. It would be
better if she brings a couple of bullocks and so on. The myth of licking too
many pots is again stated by the father of the boy. The party is still on the
way to the bridegroom's house. The paths are very difficult and it gets dark
everywhere. Plowing is an old tradition of Punjab and it's been shown here
by the poet.
Fifth Stanza
Bridegroom and bride and parents and all,
the ferryman waits; he knows you will come
for there is no other way to cross,
and a wedding party always pays extra.
the river is rising, so quickly jump aboard
with your cot, tin trunk, and looking glass,
that the long homeward journey can begin.
Who has seen such a brown and angry river
or can find words for the way the ferry
saws this way and that, and then disgorge
its screaming load? The clarinet fills with
water.
Oh, what a consummation is here:
The father tossed on the horns of the waves,
and full thirty garlands are bobbing past
the bridegroom heaved on the heaving tide,
and in an eddy, among the willows downstream,
the coy bride is truly wedded at last.
In the last stanza, the poet shows that parents
are keenly waiting for the bride while on the other hand, the river goes on
rising. In the last lines, the poet shows the scene of the journey towards
home. The river gives rise and up in an aggressive way and finally they cross
the river and this girl is wedded.
Theme
Man proposes, God disposes
Cultural depiction
Flood is symbolic of sweeping the arranged
marriage tradition which has been erased by the sudden explosion of modernism.
Everyone dies in flood meeting with the ends they thought of in sexual and
economic perspectives, canceling all the human success and dignity.
I couldnt get the theme of this poem but rest of the analysis is too good... Every point is clear.
ReplyDeleteI am unable to understand how the last stanza shows the death scene of all.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the analysis was explained well.
ReplyDelete