Urdu poetry and Eco Criticism

Abstract

 Eco-criticism is relatively considered a new term in Urdu literature although a brief review of Urdu literature particularly poetry indicates that environmental problems have always been critically observed by the literary minds. Ecocriticism is a kind of literary criticism that discuss the relationship of the physical environment as a living entity with literature and not just as a background of social dialogue. It is a theoretical technique that was introduced in the 90s in the west, however, Imdad Imam Asar has been considered the earliest critic who used this technique in Urdu literature through his book “KashifulHaqaiq”. Afterwards, Maulvi Muhammad Ismail Merathi used ecological perspectives in their poetry at a time when ecological studies and organizations had yet not been established. Dr. Wazir Agha, Nasir Kazmi, Majeed Amjad, Parveen Shakir and Tariq Naeem pronounced the disturbing effects of deforestation on nature, particularly on birds. Urdu poets mourned the high industrial ambitions of humans which destroyed the environmental beauty and awarded air pollution, global warming, climate change and drought to nature and humans. Poets like Mustafa Zaidi, Zia Jalandhari and others believed that environmental destruction is not limited to the physical aspects only it also disturbed the social behavior of the humans. Some modern poets like KishwarNaheed, Yousaf Zafar and Saeed Aasi associated the decay of humanity with environmental change in their poems and warns humans against it.