Frost and Faiz: Two Shining Stars of the Poetic Galaxy
By Dr Ahmed S. Khan
Chicago, IL
Few poets have enjoyed the popular success that Robert Frost (1874-1963) and Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) achieved during the twentieth century.
Frost and Faiz are two great poets of the modern times. Their work has been widely read and admired. Frost is to American poetry what Byron is to European poetry, whereas Faiz, by transforming Urdu in the twentieth century, joined the ranks of Ghalib, Mir and Iqbal.
Frost and Faiz are two giants, who reinvented English and Urdu poetry in their own different modes and poetic traditions. Frost wrote about human feelings and reflections of the rural American life. Faiz addressed love, peace, social change and revolution. His poetic expressions are bursting with melody, too. His ghazals, sung by Noor Jehan, Begum Akhtar, Iqbal Bano, Mehdi Hasan, and Tina Sani, can vouch for the melody of his poetic expression. His poetry is a blend of the new and old poetic traditions. Commenting on the poetic genius of Faiz, Professor Edward Said had observed:
“The crucial thing to understand about Faiz…is that like Garcia Marquez he was read and listened to both by the literary elite and by the masses. His major -- indeed its unique in any language -- achievement was to have created a contrapuntal rhetoric and rhythm whereby he would use classical forms (qasida, ghazal, masnawi, qita) and transform them before his readers rather than break from the old forms. You could hear old and new together. His purity and precision were astonishing, and you must imagine therefore a poet whose poetry combined the sensuousness of Yeats with the power of Neruda. He was, I think, one of the greatest poets of this century” (The Mind of Winter: Reflections of Life in Exile, Harper’s).
Frost and Faiz belong to a group of introverted intellectuals who withdraw into themselves and yet produce masterpieces that illuminate the somber moments of everyone. What makes their poetry special is their ability to express their feelings in simple reassuring words. Frost, considered by many the greatest American poet, was a crowd-pleasing country sage. He pays attention to meter, diction and rhyme. Commenting on his poems, Frost said, “The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom.” Frost never could bring himself to acknowledge that the poem had not worked the way he had anticipated. This uncertainty and strong will is evident in his poem “A Late Walk.”
Out Walking in the frozen swamp one gray day,
I paused and said “I will turn back from here.
No, I will go farther --- and we shall see.”
Robert Frost was a guest at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, and read his famous poem “The Gift Outright.” President Kennedy, admiring Frost, observed, “He has bequeathed his nation a body of imperishable verse from which American will forever gain joy and understanding.”
In his famous poem “Bereft,” Frost urges readers to refrain from material riches and look towards the sky for guidance.
Something sinister in the tone
Told me my secret must be known;
Word I was in the house alone
Somehow must have gotten abroad,
Word I was in my life alone,
Word I had no one left but God.
In his last Mushiarah (poetry slam) Faiz read his poem "IssWaQt too yehLaghtahai,” which reflects the feelings of sadness and sorrow in the testing times, and aims at taking courage in the hope that things will get better.
At this moment it seems like nothing exists
No moon, no sun, neither darkness nor radiance
In front of eyes, there is some beauty behind laced curtains
In the domains of heart, some pain resides
May be it is just an illusion or something I heard
In the street, there are sounds of someone’s vanishing footsteps
Perhaps in the dense tree, in fancy boughs
No dream will ever come to seek refuge.
No estrangement, no affection, no involvement
No one is yours, for me no one a stranger
It is true, this lonesome moment is very cruel and testing
But, O’my heart, this is only just a moment,
Take courage, there is all the time that remains to live
Frost reflects on the state of loneliness in his famous poem "Acquainted with the Night”:
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
O luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
Frost echoes the loneliness and desolation of the modern times:
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street
But not to call me back or say goodbye…
Faiz illuminates the darkness of loneliness by remembering the beloved:
Last night, your lost memories sneaked into my heart
Like the spring arrives in a barren land
Like the cool morning breeze blows in deserts
Like the sickness of a person turns into wellness, without any reason
In his poem “Yaad” (Remembrance), Faiz fills the vacuum of loneliness with the fragrance of the remembrance of the beloved:
In the wilderness of my heart, O love weaver
The shadows of your voice, the mirages of your lips.
In that wilderness of loneliness
There, under the remote dust and straw of separation,
Are unfolding the jasmines and roses of your lap
Frost’s “The Dark Night of the Soul” is a symbol of despair:
One dark night,
Fired with love’s urgent longings
--- Ah, sheer grace! ---
I went out unseen,
My house being now all stilled.
The genius of Faiz is apparent in his poem “Tum he Ka’ho Kai Kar’na Hai (What’s to be done, You tell):
When in the river of pain, we
launched the boat of life,
how much vigor was in our arms
and how red our blood was.
It seemed that with the push of two hands
The boat would ferry across.
But this did not happen, In every current
there were unseen whirlpools,
and some boatmen were utter novices
and there were untested oars.
Now you can investigate,
and you may lay blame on anyone,
though it is the same river, the same boat.
Now you tell us what’s to be done,
how are we to get across?
When in our bosom we had seen the wounds
of this land, we had great faith
in our healers, and there were many prescriptions.
It seemed that in just few days
all our troubles would be over,
all wounds would be healed.
But that did not happen, our ailments
were so chronic, or our healers
could not diagnose them,
and all the prescribed cures went in vain.
Now it’s for you to investigate,
And you may lay blame on anyone.
But it is the same bosom, the same wounds,
now you tell us what’s to be done
how to heal these wounds?
And, the genius of Frost is evident in his famous poem “Once by the Pacific:”
The shattered water made a misty din.
Great waves looked over others coming in,
And thought of doing something to the shore
That water never did to land before.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
You could not tell, and yet it looked as if
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken
Before God's last Put out the light was spoken.
Faiz’s depth of imagination is reflected in his poem “Tanhahi” (loneliness):
Is someone out there again,
No, my grieving heart
Perhaps, it is some passerby, bound for somewhere.
The night is ending,
The cluster of star appears to be scattering
The flames of lamps in palaces are now attenuating
Tired of the long wait
Even the avenue has fallen asleep,
The alien dust has erased every footstep
Turn off the light
And put away the cups and wine
Lock those awakened doors
Now, no one will come here!
Frost, talking about man’s challenges in dealing with modernity, writes:
Space ails us moderns: we are sick with space.
Its contemplations make us out as small
As brief epidemic of microbes
That in a good glass may be seen to crawl
The patina of this the least of globes
The poetry of Frost and Faiz continues to provide relaxation to the minds and spirits of millions around the globe. They remain truly universal poets who provide solace to the millions of techno-stressed beings around the globe who are longing for love and peace.
Woo loogboo’hatkhush’kiss’matthay
JooIshQkooKaamsamaj’tay’thay
Yaakaam say Ashsee’Qeykar’tay’thay
Hum jee’tayjeemus’roofraa’hay
KuchIshQkeyahkuchkaamkeyah
Indeed, fortunate are those
Who considered love as their work
Or loved whatever they did
I kept busy all my life ---
Pursuing some love, doing some work
--- Faiz
(Dr Ahmed S. Khan - dr.a.s.khan@ieee.org - is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, 2017-2021. Professor Khan has 35 years of experience in Higher Education as professor of Electrical Engineering. He is the author of many academic papers, technical & non-technical books, and a series of books on Science, Technology & Society (STS); his most recent book isNanotechnology: Ethical and Social Implications).
