The common man of Pakistan thinks sub-standardly. To explain a society like this that is combating social issues is a major task. Daud Kamal became a mouthpiece of the society. None knew this craft better than Daud Kamal. He is one of the finest poets of Pakistan who wrote in English; little do we know the reason of why Kamal’s name remains alien to many.
Daud Kamal’s Short Biography
Daud Kamal was born in Abbottabad on January 4th, 1935. His initial inspiration came from his school named Burn Hall, Cambridge School. This school was located in Srinagar, Kashmir where Kamal studied for seven years. Kamal was traumatized by the chaos after the war of independence. According to his wife for Kamal his school was his safe haven which was taken away from him and many other boys.
“It was that picturesque landscape which haunted him for the rest of his life”
That is the source of his visual and graphic images in his poetry. Kamal went back to Abbottabad in 1947 after the war of independence and continued his education at Burn Hall Abbottabad. After completing his primary education Kamal enrolled at Islamia College Peshawar.
Daud Kamal completed his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the English Department of University of Peshawar with a distinction. For higher studies Kamal went to the University of Cambridge to complete the Tripos. After completing that he returned to his homeland and resided in Peshawar. He took up the profession of teaching English in the University of Peshawar, a profession with which he was associated for 29 years of his life.
Kamal began writing poetry in his early twenties but all for his own desk and never published. This shows Kamal’s personality being a perfectionist. His wife Parveen stated in an interview that “Every time I told him to write, he would say ‘it impedes the tempo of my thought.’”
The first poem produced by Daud Kamal dates back to August 1, 1965; an anagram where the first word of each line spells out ‘Ayesha’, the name of his first daughter.
Daud Kamal is the epitome of brilliance and excellence. He brought pride to our country b winning awards and medals. Kamal won three gold medals and two certificates of recognition in the international poetry competition in the United States of America. The Faiz award in the year 1987 and a posthumous Pride of Performance award in 1990.
Daud Kamal passed away on 5th of December, 1987. He is buried in the graveyard of the same university where he was once a student and later taught as well.
Daud Kamal’s Writing Style
His works convey a sense of loss and spiritual displacement in the face of violence and cultural erasure. Kamal writes beautifully, little fragments of beauty like a pearl necklace. He plays with the idea of brutal injustice of kings or common men. The main themes discussed by Daud Kamal are rural and rustic. His deep observation of small things reflects through his poems in a vast manner. Strands of Sufism are also visible in Daud Kamal’s poetry.
Kamal showcases graceful images of nature. He talks innocently of the great Himalayas, starry sky, sparkling waters and trees. He allows his readers to look deeply the sort of connection his soul has with the universe. He showcases his struggle towards self-discovery. Kamal took up on the notion of mystic philosophy i.e. “Know thy self” that evokes his readers to first understand themselves in order to understand the nature around them. Kamal is deeply affected by the changing world around him. He showcases this sensitivity in his poetry. The cultural transition and alteration of the changing worlds is prominent in his poetry.
Daud Kamal’s writing style is deeply influenced by the European imagists. His inspirations include great names like William Butler Yeats and Ezra Pound. His poetry has a unique sense of history. Kamal was a man of compassion, and wanted to serve the humanity. He was not ignorant of what was happening around him. He could sense and feel the unjust society we lived in.
His poetry has a distinctive sense of the forgotten times of the past and the need of an artist. Kamal knew that an artist should produce art to help the humanity and not for art’s sake only. The need to connect to the culture and traditions of the past is evident in his poetry. He puts forth a graphic imagery of the changing history referring to a new kind of destructive strategy that was set in. Kamal underwent the changes and deeply felt those which occurred due to the independence.
The common man faced the consequences of this new set in destruction and became a mouth piece of those thousands of commoners. Kamal wanted his readers to understand that independence played a vital role in uplifting of the society as well as crippling it.
The need to connect to the ethos of the forefathers can also be felt in his poetry. He allows his reader to understand the importance of knowing your roots. He believes that in order to thrive as a Nation we shouldn’t detach ourselves from our origins. Holding onto the legacy is what makes a Nation great. The imagery of monasteries, miniature paintings, bullock wagons and vintage are recurrent themes in Daud Kamal’s poetry.
Despite being inspired by the European poets Kamal does not let go of his ‘Pakistani’ identity. He felt pride in being a Pakistani and owned his nationality with dignity. Kamal was equally inspired by Faiz’s poetry. He translated Faiz’s poetry in English which is recognized all over the World. Kamal set a benchmark b translating Urdu Literature in English.
Another inspiration for Daud Kamal was Mirza Ghalib’s poetry. The sensitive nerve in Kamal was touched by such poets and their works. He translated Ghalib’s poetry in English named Ghalib: Reverberations in the year 1970. These translations by Kamal are till date considered being one of the best translations of Faiz and Ghalib in English language. Dr. Nasir Jamal, Vice Chancellor of Kohat University, praises the writing style of Daud Kamal stating “The translation of poetry is like a half open window, borrowed smiles can never enchant…but Kamal is an exception to this rule”
Fill the cups and drink to the lees
The bitter wine of loneliness
Lock up your slumber less doors, dear heart!
For, now no one will ever come again
(Loneliness, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated by Daud Kamal)
Kamal talks of poor men and their hardships in a simple manner. In his poem “An Ancient Indian Coin” he talks about the tyranny of kings upon poor men. He says “The king’s hunting-dogs are better fed than most of his subjects”
Kamal’s poems talk about a betrayed society not only by their kings, but by the hypocrite priests, nature as well as b themselves. Kamal through his poetry emphasizes on the notion of being true to oneself and accepting whatever comes in their way. This betrayal is not only a physical one. It is a moral betrayal which wounds the soul.
Daud Kamal stayed under covers as a poet and a literary figure. He has always been on the margins. For Kamal more than fame the voice of the commoners mattered. He helped them reach to the surface to make the people aware of the atrocities of post-independence. Kamal acquired fame after his death but not the sort he deserved. Being a lover of literature Kamal had a library of his own from which he donated eight thousand books to the Central Library of Peshawar University.