Parveen Shakir

Parveen Shakir ( 24 November 1952 – 26 December 1994) was a Pakistani poet, teacher and a civil servant of the government of Pakistan.

She is best known for her poems, which brought a distinctive feminine voice to Urdu literature, and for her consistent use of the rare grammatical feminine gender for the word "lover".

Since her death, the "Parveen Shakir Urdu Literature Festival" has been held every year in Islamabad in her memoriam.

Parveen Shakir started writing at a very young age.

She wrote both prose and poetry, contributed columns in Urdu newspapers, and a few articles in English dailies.

Initially, she wrote under the pen-name "Beena".

After teaching for nine years, she joined the Civil Service of Pakistan and worked in the customs department.

In 1976, Parveen Shakir published her first volume of poetry Khushbu (Fragrance) to great acclaim.

She was awarded one of the highest honours of Pakistan, the Pride of Performance, for her outstanding contributions to literature.

She subsequently published other volumes of poetry including Sad-barg (Marsh Marigold) in 1980, and Khud Kalāmi (Soliloquy) and Inkār (Denial) in 1990.

These poetry books are collected in Māh-e-Tamām (Full Moon).

She also published a collection of her newspaper columns, titled Gosha-e-Chashm (Corner of the Eye).

Kaf-e-Āina (The Mirror's Edge) was released posthumously with works from her diaries and journals.

The two main styles she wrote in were ghazal and āzād nazm (free verse) where she utilized several literary techniques and examined delicate topics to create a full image of the female experience.

Shakir's ghazliāt are considered "a combination of classical tradition with modern sensitivity", and mainly deal with the feminine perspective on love and romance, and associated themes such as beauty, intimacy, separation, break-ups, distances, distrust, infidelity and disloyalty.

Most of Shakir's ghazliāt contain five to ten couplets, often interrelated.

Sometimes, two consecutive couplets may differ greatly in meaning and context, an example of this can be noted in the following couplets:

The ghazliāt rely heavily on metaphors and similes, which are repeatedly and thought-provokingly used to bring force and lyricism in her works.

A fine example of this is seen in one of her most famous couplets:

Here, Shakir relates fragrance to an unfaithful lover, air to the unfaithful person's secret loves, and flower to the person being cheated.

Other metaphors Shakir commonly uses are titlī (butterfly) for a Romeo, bādal (cloud) for one's love, bārish (rain) for affection, āṅdhī (storm) for difficulties and chāṅd (moon) for loneliness.

An example with the central theme of loneliness using the moon as a metaphor is:

Some of her ghazliāt have gained iconic status in Urdu literature.

Another notable couplet that is often quoted to comment on the often surprising knowledge and awareness of the younger generation is:

Compared to her ghazliāt, Shakir's free verse is much bolder and explores social issues and taboos, including gender inequality, discrimination, patriotism, deceit, prostitution, the human psyche, and current affairs.

It is written in a way which was and is still considered modern in Pakistan.

Other than topics of femininity and female sexuality, Shakir also used free verse to write about topics related to economic disparities and the tendency of society to exploit on the weak and poor.

Several of her poems lament the harsh reality that many low-income laborers around the world face.

For example, her poem "Steel Mills Worker" speaks about the deplorable conditions and long hours workers find themselves doing every day.

The poem also describes how these workers are taken for granted and used as a means to an end by those who employ them.

The last lines of the poem paint this stark picture vividly.

Another one of her poems, "We Are All Dr Faustus", delves deeper into this subject and directly addresses the prevalence of corruption in wealthy and powerful circles of people.

She claimed that the rich achieve their goals but at a grave price, and used these arguments to critique economic systems such as capitalism.

The length of Shakir's free verse poems can range from a few to many lines.

Most are written with a central theme while some are written in the mode of stream of consciousness.

Parveen Shakir is known for her use of pop culture references and English words and phrases – a practice that is generally considered inappropriate and is criticised in Urdu poetry.

An example is the poem Departmental Store Mein (In a Departmental Store), which is named thus despite the fact that the title could have been substituted with its Urdu equivalent.

She also used words like "natural pink", "hand lotion", "shade", "scent" and "pack", and made references to cosmetics brands like Pearl, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden and Tulip in the poem.

Other examples are her poems Ecstasy, Nun, Duty, Flower show, and Picnic.

In 1986, she was appointed second secretary of the Central Board of Revenue (now Federal Board of Revenue) in Islamabad, Pakistan.