Uncovering the Environmental and Aesthetical Roots of Nature in Taufiq Rafat's Poetry: An Ecopoetic Critique

Abstract

The relationship between poetry and nature enjoys timelessness. But the poetry relating to beauty, spirituality, and preservation of nature secure a special place as ecopoetry among other poetic genres. Taufiq Rafat's poetry is no exception when it comes to describing the natural landscapes, flora and fauna,seasonal variations, and human civilization to showcase the relation of man with nature. This study attempts to scrutinize the ecopoems from Rafat's poetry collections Arrival of the Monsoon: Collected Poems 1947-78 (1985) and HalfMoon: Poems 1979-1983 (2008) from two different perspectives of ecopoetry, i.e., environmental poetry to discuss rights of nature and ecophenomenological poetry to discuss nature for nature's sake propounded by J. Scott Bryson and Jonathan Bate, respectively. The study addresses political issues of identity construction through Tuanian topophilia – a sense of belonging with the place through comparative images from the natural world –, environmental abuse or revised sublime such as urbanization, poor management of the residential areas,industrial agriculture, uncertain climate change, deforestation, scarcity of water,extinction of wildlife, and loss of natural habitat, etc. – a postcolonial inheritance– leading to an identity crisis, and reconstruction of lost identity through nature-friendly living under the former sub genre and imaginative impulse revived through the effects of sublime and beautiful on the tired soul of Rafat to create the feelings of respectful awe and love under the latter one.