PATTERNS OF CONNECTION IN PRISON POETRY OF EZRA POUND AND FAIZ AHMAD FAIZ

Abstract

Comparative literature allows literary works from different cultures to be understood through their comparisons relying on the idea that no piece of literature exists alone, rather the meanings are made while studying one piece of work in comparison to the other. Adopting this theoretical framework of Bassnett (1993) and Zepetnek’s (1998) principle of thematic inclusion that allows literature from the margin to be seen at par with the literature from the center, the researchers have attempted at understanding the patterns of connections between two popular prison poets i.e. Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ezra Pound. The purpose was to explore if two poets belonging to different cultures, political and philosophical affiliations, and poetic traditions and using different mediums for poetic expressions have patterns of connections. The textual analysis of the prison poetry of both the poets showed that there are certain juxtapositions in their poetry like movement from personal to political, references to history and traditions, delineation of the prison environment, freedom of expression, resistance to the oppressor and relationship with the outside world. But they have also retained their individualities through different philosophical affiliations, political ideologies, lyricism, and aims of writing poetry like Faiz is revolutionary while Pound is philosophic, and they also follow different poetic traditions. Their comparison also suggested that points of connections and departure are an extension and addition into the field of comparative literature and further analyses of works from different cultures could help in promoting the concept of world literature and looking at human experience at universal level.