Analysis of Daud Kamal’s Writing Style and Themes

Introduction to Daud Kamal

Daud Kamal was a Pakistani-born poet. He was born in 1935 in Abbottabad. He was the son of Chaudhry Mohammad Ali. 

Kamal received his early education from Burn Hall Srinagar and Burn Hall Abbottabad. Then he received his degree from Islamia College, Peshawar, and the University of Cambridge, England. Kamal was pretty much associated with formal educational institutes and was a Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peshawar and eventually became the chairman of the English Department. One of his most significant achievements is the Jinnah college for women which he founded in 1964. Daud Kamal died on 5th December 1987 in the US and left he was buried in the graveyard of the University of Peshawar where he taught for 29 years. 

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Literary Achievements

Kamal was always interested in Poetry and he started writing it when he was in his twenties. Kamal. Due to his achievements in the field of English poetry, he won “three gold medals in three international poetry competitions sponsored by the Triton College, U.S.A” in the 1970s. 

His works include his four major collections: Compass of Love (1973), Recognition (1979), A Remote Beginning (1985), and The Unicorn and the Dancing Girl (1988). 

 Other than writing poetry, Kamal was also known for translating two major words of Urdu poets in English i.e. Mirza Ghalib’s work which was titled “Ghalib Reverberations (1970)” and Faiz Ahmad Fiaz’s work which was published under the title of “Faiz in English (1984)”. 

Writing Style of Daud Kamal

Kamal is widely known as the T.S Eliot of Pakistan because of his writing style. His writing style is closely related to the works of European Imagist poets such as Ezra Pound and modernist poets like T.S. Eliot and William Butler Yeats based on fragmentation. 

Kamal as a Modern Poet

Daud Kamal due to his poetic style is often associated with modern poetry based on two basic features. Firstly, Kamal in his poems experimented with many themes as well as different poetic styles. For instance, most of his poems use a disrupted syntax with no rhyming scheme. This technique was well observed in his poem “Prayer Beads” in which the whole poem was composed like little fragments of a pearl necklace. 

Secondly, imagism is one of the subsets of modernist poetry. Kamal has very beautifully employed this technique in his poems by incorporating the three guidelines of Imagist poetry i.e. the direct treatment of the subject, use of lesser words, and composition of poems in a musical phrase. All of his poems exhibit this quality. For instance, the poem “Resilience” is a short poem in which the poet evokes certain images such as “Sparks from an old anvil”, “Boats on the river and the flowing almond trees”, “leaf turns with the wind” and many more with the use of lesser words written in a musical phrase. 

Themes of his Poetry:

1.     Natural and Pastoral Life

Daud Kamal is well known for his representation of natural and pastoral life. As Kamal was raised in Abbottabad, a city of KPK surrounded by beautiful manifestations of nature, these images of pastoral life are dominant in his poetry. For instance, the poem “Prayer Beads” presents before us a scene in which a river is flowing beside a willow tree. This image by the poet connects us to everyday life in Abbottabad. This poem by the writer not only presents before us an image taken from pastoral life but is also written in such a form that it gives out a visual representation of a fish. 

Under

The shade

Of a willow tree

Where the river bends

On a rock-pool

Prayer-beads rise

To the surface

From the mouth

Of an invisible

fish  

 2. Sufism

Sufism is one of the most prominent themes in the poems of Kamal. Kamal in almost all of his poems projects this notion. For instance, in his poem “Prayer Beads”, Kamal presents the imagery of a prayer bead which is, in fact, a symbol of religiousness and Sufism. These prayer beads rise from the mouth of an invisible fish to the surface. Similarly, in his poem “Resilience” Kamal presents the main tenant of Sufism “Don’t give up: nothing lasts longer than what can be endured”.  The text of the poem “Resilience' is as follow: 

Sparks

From an old anvil-

Dedicated petals of fire-

And the rafters

Blackened by generations of smoke,

Don’t give up:

Nothing lasts longer than what can be endured.

Boats on the river

And the flowering almond trees.

 

Love-

Cloudless wine-

But something is always lacking

Does man learn by suffering?

The night

Neither denies or affirms.

Glimpses (or memories) of perfection.

Cusp of the moon

Fortuitous conjunctions.

The leaf turns with the wind. 

3.  Cultural Heritage

The representation of culture through different paintings, sculptures, miniatures, and even traditional dresses are one of the most significant aspects of Kamal’s poetry. Kamal in his poem “Reproduction” highlights this notion and represents the culture of Pakistan through these cultural heritages. With the help of Mughal miniatures, paintings, and sculptures of Prince Siddhartha Gautama reflect the culture of Pakistan by highlighting the immortal nature of a piece of art. The text of the poem “Reproduction” is as follow: 

Reproductions

Of Mogul miniatures

Cut out

From last year’s calendar

And fragments Of Gandhara sculpture

Bought a song

 

Prince Siddhartha

Gone into the night

With Channa,

And old Tajiks

In their tents

Drinking China tea

 

Almond-blossoms

Fall

And a crow----

Carved out of ebony----

Pushes itself through the rain,

I sit scraping

The rust off my ancient coins. --------------

In conclusion, one may say that Daud Kamal, a Pakistani poet very rightly presents certain themes such as Sufism, nature, and man’s connection with God with the use of certain modern techniques such as fragmentation and imagism because of which he is considered as one of the most prominent Pakistani poets writing in the English language. 

This article is produced by Syeda Areeba Fatima, one of the permanent contributors to SOL Community.