Abstract

In the world of contemporary English poetry, Shakil Ahmed has created a new poetic language cantered around personal loneliness, war-torn humanity, love, memory, existential crisis and spiritual quest. In the poem Breath of Solitude, on the one hand, the poet has highlighted the deep depression and emotional tension of the individual; on the other hand, he has embodied the crisis of world humanity, war, nuclear destruction and the eternal power of love. This study examines Shakil Ahmed’s poetry in the contemporary literary context and analyses the language, symbolism, dreamlike imagery, philosophical sense and romantic spirit of his poetry. His poetry has also been compared with that of T. S. Eliot, Pablo Neruda, William Wordsworth, Rabindranath Tagore, Chales Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Victor Hugo, André Breton, Aimé Césaire and Jibanananda Das. The study shows that Shakil’s poetry is an expression of post-modern existentialism on the one hand and a call for human renaissance on the other. At the center of his poetry is ‘solitude’, which is not only a personal but also a crisis of civilization.