595-Article Text-1184-1-10-20201130

Journal of Applied Linguistics and TESOL Vol.3 No.
2 2020
“WEDDING IN THE FLOOD”

Rahila Mushtaq, Hafsa Khalid, Irum shehzadi
Abstract:
The poem “wedding in the flood” is written by Toufiq Rafat. This poem not only speaks
ideology but also create a picture in the readers mind. In this poem wedding in the flood we
discuss Pakistani culture. Especially Punjabi culture and superstations relating to the wedding
ceremony in Pakistani Punjabi culture. In this poem we have different narrations. Sometime
it’s girl’s father, mother to be husbands and sometimes, it is the father of the husband and
number of things we see relating to Pakistani Punjabi culture. Rain on marriage and licking of
ports relate with the girl. One important thing we see in Punjabi culture is dowry and nonstop
rain connects with the girl.
Keywords: Wedding Pakistani culture Dowry Flood Non-stop rain
Introduction:
The poem “wedding in the flood” starting with the girl’s departure and her parents worry.
There is originality of Pakistani Punjabi culture and marriage ceremony of Pakistani culture.
The second point is rain of marriage and licking of ports. It is very superstition In Punjabi
culture that if there is rain on girl’s marriage it means she was licking the milk and other
dishes she cooked. The more the ports girl licks then the rain on her marriage. It is associated
with the girl who married. English poetry in Pakistan is marked with the prolific poet but
Toufiq Rafat holds an important place among all others due to his unique style and his skill in
depicting the culture of Pakistan.
Theme:
Fear and unknown risks are in this poem. The mother of the bride expresses her fears about
the nature and the attitude of the bride groom.
Literature Review :
From the beginning, Pakistani English poetry has a major place in South Asian writing,
notably with the work of Shahid Suhrawardy , Ahmed Ali, Alamgir Hashmi , Davd Kamal ,
Taufiq Rafat and Maki Kureshi and later of M. Athar Tahir, Hina Baber Ali and others,
whereas fiction from Pakistan began to receive recognition in the later half of 20th century,
with the frame of the Parsi another Bapsi Sidhwa who wrote the crow Eaters, Crooking India
(1988) etc. In the later fiction Hanif Kureshi started his prolific career with the novel, The
Buddha of Suburbia (1990), and Aamer Hussein wrote a series of popular short stories
collection, Sara Suleri published her literally memoir, Meatless Days (1989).
Mubina Talat (2002) studied the linguistic ingenuity in Meatless Days by Sara Suleri (1989).
Gulam Murtaza (2010) studied the metaphors in Meatless Days by Sara Suleri (1989). The
presented research work analyzes stylistically the poem “wedding in the Flood “ by Rafat and
highlights the linguistically unique features of this poem that speaks itself for it’s linguistic
ingenuity.
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Journal of Applied Linguistics and TESOL Vol.3 No.2 2020
Critical analysis :
WEDDING IN THE Food by Taufiq Rafat was born in Sialkot Pakistan.
He is the firstPakistani poet to adopt and naturalize English to express Pakistani experience.
He was perhaps the greatest and most ignored English language poet of Pakistan. Raft’s
poems are freighted with cultural insight.Wedding in the flood is one of his finest poems.
Wedding in the Flood is a free verse poem. "when we look at the title it seems that a marriage
is happening in the flood season, present tense is used to show the sense of closeness.
Nature's excessive role in which monsoon rain has ruined the whole wedding because nature
is unconcerned with everything. Different characters are present with different judgments on
bride wedding and dowry. Everyone looks confused; bride, groom, bride’s mother, groom’s
father and ferryman. We will see satire on traditional marriages in Pakistan for which people
have shaped certain concepts, ideas and they totally emerged with them. Actually it mimics
traditionalPakistani weddings.
They are taking my girl forever
Poem starts with a tender and weak voice of bride’s mother, who is confused and worried
about her daughter to whom she is sending in a different house with different residents, to her
which is a cold house among strangers and she don’t know how they will treat her, will she
lie happy or torture but she cannot do anything as it is a natural phenomenon.
This girl has been licking too many pots.
His poem strikingly depicts our classic conservatize thinking who blame brides if it is raining
on their wedding day for this natural uninvited guest. No one can think that how woman
could be responsible for such
Activities.
WEDDING IN THE Food discusses

things in Pakistan dowry is the principal issue for women, this poem clearly portrays people's
desire for heavy dowry, the groom who is already going to be blessed with a wife, a partner
or we can say a woman thinks that she is beautiful then might forgie her a dowry. These
disputes the issue of heavy rain is also there to create more sprints for bride to face on that
day of leaving home.
They might have given a bullock at least. In this ruthless situation the groom's father still
cares about dowry And thinks that they had specified everything just for her use only a cot, a
tiny trunk and a looking-glass. It is true that our people desire to get something purposeful
which may give them more wealth. Besides he is blaming bride for all hurdles happening
there. ,our society doesn’t bother that a full-fledged lady is going to be their family member,
she will serve them, she will give them generation, and she will obey them and will manage
their house a beautiful home to lie in. Just the needs objective things to all their houses which
is a sorrowful situation and strictly against our religion Come back before three, the ferryman
said 'another major problem of our people is their fixed ideas about incidents# the! Near
bother time in our marriages; they think that no one should care about time during these
occasions, whatever the situation is. but nature never thinks about it one it is uncertain. In
this poem they know how to cross the river and weather is warning them when they are
coming to get groom and ferryman was alarming them to come back soon but the! Didn’t
bother and while crossing river water seeps into the boat and the bride has to face this without
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Journal of Applied Linguistics and TESOL Vol.3 No.2 2020
an! Complain with your mouth closed. Because in our culture it is disgraceful if a bride
claims or even laughs.
WEDDING IN THE Food the last Bride has to stay quiet even if she is hungry, she is
jumbled, she is crying aNG, she is upset and is leaving her every close relationship one step
behind.
Methodology :
Theory of Feminism can apply on this poem because whole poem revolve around the girl
who is bride and elements like dowry superstition are also relating to the girl.
Conclusion:
The poem written by Toufiq Rafat has unique style and complex narration form, the cultural
aspect of the Pakistani wedding custom becomes quite apparent. The unique features on the
lexical level and syntactic level enhances the implicit meanings of Pakistani culture customs.
References:
Zhu, Guan gqian, (2005), poetics, Shanghai century publishing Group.
Leech, Geoffrey N, and Michael H, short. 1981, style in fiction.
Short, mick. 1906. Exploring the language of the poems, plays and prose. London: Longman.

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Journal of Applied Linguistics and TESOL Vol.3 No.

“WEDDING IN THE FLOOD”

WEDDING IN THE Food discusses

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