Water as a Divine Mirror in the Poetry of Daud Kamal Cover Image

Water as a Divine Mirror in the Poetry of Daud Kamal
Water as a Divine Mirror in the Poetry of Daud Kamal

Author(s): Ali Shehzad Zaidi
Subject(s): Literary Texts, Poetry
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Keywords: Daud Kamal; water imagery; drought imagery; Pakistani poetry in English; Gandhara civilization; Islamic poetry

Summary/Abstract: In the poetry of Daud Kamal, water figures as an image of mercy, as in the Quran, and as a mirror that reflects a divine hidden presence. The rock pool evokes the memory of Gandhara and other foundational civilizations born in love and creative ferment. Conversely, the images of drought, heat, and dust symbolize a parched spiritual order. The river, a recurring archetypal image in Kamal’s poetry, represents the fluid self that is subsumed into collective identity to become a poetic distillate of history.

  • Issue Year: 59/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 21-35
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: English