Call Me Ishmael Tonight

May 29, 2013 by Narith Ta 1 Comment

Call Me Ishmael Tonight by Agha Shahid Ali introduces readers to not only the structure of the ghazal but also the opportunity to interpret and formulate an understanding for his ghazals. As with many of the other students in class, I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of meaning and interpretation that each and every poem has within the collection. As brought up in class, one of the poems that explored the issues related to love was “As Ever” (after Ahmad Faraz) Ali (48 Ali). Reading it on my own, I saw the rhyming that was taking place during the second line of each stanza following the “-ain” ending sound. What was most unique about our discussion in class was the fact that in each couplet, there is always a task whose purpose is not accomplished. An example from the poem is in the fifth stanza when it states “I laughed when they said our time was running out -/I stirred the leaves in the tea I’d brewed to drain” (48 Ali). The tea that has been brewed had remained incomplete because it never went to the recipient that was supposed to receive the tea. Another example is the last line on the last couple. It says “To put out this last candle, come, it burns in vain” (49 Ali). This last line evokes the sheer heartbroken nature of the poet. What put it into context was what Professor Kunte explained; in which Ali was actually going to die and so there are pieces of his ghazals that are attached to that struggle. In all honesty, I found myself realizing that I had to critically analyze more of his other ghazals to develop a theory or interpretation of them. But with this one poem, I found an emotional struggle that lay within Ali and personified into an individual that he misses dearly.