Urdu Poetry

Social Realism, an artistic movement introduced in the second quarter of the twentieth century, influenced an entire generation of artists all over the world. It explores the themes ranging from poverty to anti-state demonstrations, and from depictions against imperialism to class inequality, gender oppression and social injustice. Elements of social realism are not surprising to encounter in the Pakistani art world, considering the ideals of the style and the turbulent history of the country since its independence in 1947. Pakistani artists have always been sensitive to the social and political issues of the country, which have somewhat become fragments of its identity, especially as ascertained by the Western gaze. Women's persecution and social exclusion is one such subject that has become an identifier for Pakistan, although a human development report of the United Nations recognizes the country having better gender equality than neighboring India. Nevertheless, women oppression is also a theme that has often been explored by the profound Pakistani artists, using diverse approaches and media. The aim of this paper is to show how artistic works produced by different Pakistani artists are sometimes metaphorically, formalistically and symbolically connected in their concepts, drawing on the social realistic subject of gender oppression. The paper begins with briefly introducing the contemporary art of Pakistan and its diverse focuses. Subsequently, it juxtaposes two artistic works, produced decades apart and apparently using disparate forms: poetry and visual art. The poem titled "Merey Dard kō Jō Zubān Miley" (1972) by Modern revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz (d. 1984), and the digital art series titled "The Veil" (2004) by contemporary artist Rashid Rana (b. 1968), are compared for this purpose. The objective is to demonstrate that although both these works appear distinct, in time and nature, yet they are covertly united in their Social Realistic theme of personifying subjugated women, as well as in their conceptual frameworks. The paper follows the methodology of formally analyzing both works; deconstructing their structures, meanings and connotations, and ultimately establishing an ekphrastic relationship between the two.

Forough Farrokhzad and Kishwar Naheed astonishingly share themes and issues in their poetry. They are considered as the major and the successful feminist voices in their countries. They belong to the same period, age and gender who attempted to gain a voice for their country women.A comparative study is required to measure their contribution to the feminism. This paper attempts to provide a different angle of feminism as it is intended to analyze and interpret patriarchy and objectification of women displayed in their selected poems which might help to understand their poetry better. Moreover, the paper is aimedto analyze and interpret their selected poetry as responses to the nuances and effects of patriarchy and objectification of women and to find out different shades of patriarchyandobjectification of women displayed in the selected poetry.The researchershave placed the voices and words under a microscope and found how the works release and reveal these major issues in their various forms.
Keywords:Comparative Study, Forough Farrokhzad, Kishwar Naheed, patriarchy, Objectification