Submitted by: Mudassir Ghaffar (bsf1904199) Qammar Abbas (bsf1904315) Anas Shoukat

(bsf1904227) Ayesha Yasin(bsf1904359) Program: BS English Semester: 8 th (M) Session: 2019-23

Submitted to: Ma’am Farzana Ashraf University of Education Township Lahore

DAUD KAMAL’S SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Daud Kamal, also known as the T.S Eliot of Pakistan because of his writing style was born in
Abbottabad in 1935. He studied in Burn Hall, Cambridge School located in Srinagar and after
partition he returned to Abbottabad. For higher studies he went to the University of
Cambridge. After returning, he took up the profession of teaching English in the University
of Peshawar, where he was associated for 29 years of his life.

Kamal began writing poetry in his early twenties but never published. His wife Parveen
stated in an interview that

“Every time I told him to write, he would say ‘it impedes the tempo of my thought.”

The first poem produced by Daud Kamal dates back to August 1, 1965; an anagram where
the first word of each line spells out ‘Ayesha’, the name of his first daughter.

Daud Kamal’s writing style is deeply influenced by the imagist poets of 20th century, like W.B
Yeats and Ezra Pound. According to his daughter Fatima,
“Poetry for him was Yeats and Pound, I have never seen one enjoy reading others’ poems
as much as he did,”.

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 example, 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. 
Translation of Urdu Literature:
Despite being inspired by the European poets Kamal did not let go of his ‘Pakistani’ identity.
Kamal was equally inspired by Faiz’s poetry. He translated Faiz and Ghalib’s poetry in English.
His translations, which are internationally recognized and used as a standard to teach Urdu
literature in English, are Ghalib: Reverberations, 1970, still considered to be one of the best
translations; and Faiz in English, published in 1984

Dr Nasir Jamal, Vice Chancellor of Kohat University, praises the writing style of Daud Kamal
stating,

“The translation of poetry is like a half open window, borrowed smiles can never
enchant…but Kamal is an exception to this rule” 

‫گل کرو شمعیں بڑھا دو مے و مینا و ایاغ‬

‫اپنے بے خواب کواڑوں کو مقفل کر لو‬

‫اب یہاں کوئی نہیں کوئی نہیں آئے گا‬

Fill the cups and drink to the lees

The bitter wine of loneliness

Lock up your slumber less doors, dear heart!

For, now no one will ever come again

(Loneliness, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated by Daud Kamal)

Daud Kamal won three gold medals and two certificates of recognition in the international
poetry competition in the US, the Faiz award in 1987, and a posthumous Pride of
Performance award in 1990.

Themes of his Poetry:

Kamal was not unaware of what was happening around him. His poetry has a unique sense
of history and the need to connect to the culture of the past – images of monasteries,
miniature paintings, carts and antiques are recurrent themes in his poems. As Carlo Coppola
pointed out, Daud’s poetry is like
“a primordial scripture of people betrayed not only by kings and priests but by weather,
geography, history, foreigners, and most treacherously by each other”

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 project 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. Similarly, in
his poem “Resilience” Kamal presents the main idea 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.
 
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” With the help of Mughal miniatures, paintings, and sculptures of
Prince Siddhartha Gautama reflect the culture of Pakistan and also highlight the immortal
nature of a piece of art.