Akter 1

Assignment

On

Kaiser Haq’s poetry Represents Bangladeshi Culture and Post Colonialism.

Submitted By
Ripa Akter
ID: 192- 128- 002
Batch 43rd

Submitted To
Dr. Rama Island (PhD)
Associate professor,
Department of English,
Metropolitan University, Sylhet.

Date: 12 April 2020.

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Kaiser haq is a Bangladeshi writer and Bangladeshi translator. His translation from

Bengali into English. Haq has moved away from traditional verse farms and stereotypical

themes. Kaiser haqis a leading South Asian poet who write poems in English on native

context. A number of poems in his book published in the Streets of Dhaka are echo in

Bangladeshi culture mostly on urban context.

Kaiser haq’smostof poetry is post-colonial perspective. Haq is postcolonial writer and

he creates literary works which try to uphold the reality of their natives, defend the

misrepresentation and misjudgment of lifestyles and ideas of the Eastbay West , and reflect

the parts of culture of their nation and people to the world.

Haq’s cultural identity uniquely in context of Bangladeshi with a variety of individual

poetic images marked with flavors of irony and humor. A postcolonial poet should have a

cosmopolitan sensibility as well as a definite knowledge of his culture identity. By ignoring

his root and identity he can never become a notable artist.

Haq in fact, uses the tones and rhythms of everyday English and yet manages to

convince us of location as a Bangladeshi post. Post colonial writing can be a kind of socio

political movement of decolonization. The use of native vs English. Colonial language in

practicing literature in a major debate in post colonialism. Chinua Achebe’s opinion of

treating English as an international language rather a colonial one transforming it in tha own

way of the native writer, support’s haq practice. Bangladeshi poet kaiserhaq’s practices of

writing in English leads us to language debate that is a very common subject in post

colonialism. The English of the poet is transformed to fit his culture and native thoughts.

Haq claims him to be a post romantic poet who writes about the ordinary city life in a

thoughtful way. His poem windows haq’s describe about the rapidly change of city life and

city life is busy life.East and West poem haq’s represent about Asian and Western culture
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and decolonization. Another poem is ‘Senior Citizen’ he discuss the cosmopolitan people, he

also talk about cosmopolitan people who wants to be enjoy the life. In those poems haq’s

represent Bangladeshi culture and post colonial perspective. Poet has metaphorically living

description of Dhaka as building and like ghost Ships. His poem mainly comprise the urban

landscape as the poet argues that modern poetry is essentially based on the urban elements

(haq 7/4/14).

A number of poems can be taken into consideration for establishing that haq although

using English, his poems are not affected by sort of internalizing the tongue as a necessity

and western effects and influence in every context. Postcolonial perspective haq’s “Ode on

the lungi” the poem is on a common eastern male attire lungi. In this poem haq represent the

Bangladeshi culture “Ode on the lungi” is an expression of haq’s cultural identity. The poet

not only wanted to uphold a part of culture in this poem but also revolted against the

discrimination attitude of the western towards the cloth. In this poem is the best example of

post colonial response to the western impact of cultural hegemony persevering sartorial

inequality. It is an expression of haq’s cultural identity, subverting the colonial or imperial

stereotypical legacy of social structures with lungi, haq has attempted to celebrate an

uncelebrated subject associated with not only the people of his country, but also the hundred

millions of South Asia.

Haq’s poetry is fighting against a many social odds and western influences. The light

hearted compositions with deep thoughts and philosophies tinted with irony are defending the

misrepresentation of the East by west.

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Works Cited.

Haq, Kaiser. Published in the streets of Dhaka: Collected poems. Dhaka: The University

press limited, 2012.print.

Hossain, MS. “Haq’s Ode on the lungi: An Allegorical Quest for Sartorial Equality”. Harvest

28 .2013:55-27.

Achebe, Chinua. “The African writer and the English language”.15 may 2014.Web. 22 April

2016.