Agha Shahid Ali's Poetry on Exile and Diaspora

Exile for most early writers and critics was synonymous with loss and mourning. From Satan's exile from Heaven and that of Adam and Eve from Eden, to the exile of Jews from their homeland, or the exodus of Armenians, the migration of Blacks and the transportation of indentured laborers from India to the West Indies, the story of exile is always written with the tropes of bereavement, tragedy and mourning. The British colonization, in the modern history is also responsible for the large scale "dispersal" of people from their original lands to new areas as colonizers and as slaves and laborers. The modernization of economies with the end of British colony produced a new class of migrants-educational, professional, who left their heaths and hearths willingly in search of greener pastures. This new position however, emerged after a long journey of political trouble and maneuvers with various cross-sections and deviations. Each exile has their unique journey whether forced into it or taken willingly. Students, artists, labors, technicians, academicians, and businessmen are also categorized as diaspora and exile for they also undergo a traumatic experience while leaving their home and language even when they do it out of their own choice. For such migrants, exile is a much more complex phenomenon. The identity of the man leaving his land becomes an important issue as he is out of touch with his people, language, food, culture and even the news about them sometimes. He has a new world to think of, to respond to: a new race of people, a new language, new food and new surroundings.