Lost Home and the Poems of Pain: A Study of the theme of Exile in Selected Poems by Agha Shahid Ali

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of the poetic representations of lost homeland and exile in the poetry of the exiled poet, Agha Shahid Ali. It endeavors to bring into focus the question of home and exile and the idea of writing and living far away from home, which may approach the correlation between the state of exile and the poet's sense of pain and loss. The paper concentrates exclusively on the collection the Country Without a Post Office (1991) which narrates a special experience of exile. The paper applies theoretical perspectives on the exile and the emotional states associated with it such as loss, pain, nostalgia and longing for home. It examines the different approaches employed by the poet in depicting pain, suffering and agony for his homeland.