Do Not Ask Of Me, My Love
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
‘Do not ask of me, my love’ poem does two things: it puts our own losses and sorrows in outlook when held against the great evils that exist in the world, and it asks that we do not reside on what has been tried failed, but rather look to the future and to fixing those existing ills—those things over which we may as yet have some control. The poem is spoken to an old lover, and the first seven lines concern the relationship between this person and the speaker; the lovers lived, at that time, in a world populated only by each other. “Beyond your eyes,” the speaker wondered, “what could the world hold?” At that time, “the world’s grief was far.” But with the dissolving of their relationship the reality and vastness of the world crept back into the speaker’s life, and his or her own trials suddenly seem unimportant in comparison to all else that the world contains. “The world knows sorrows other than those of love, / Pleasures beyond those of romance.” Life is not one person’s relationship, but a vast global empire of emotion, of beauty and terror and everything in between. And after counting a handful of the terrible things that are going on in the world today—slavery, war, defeat —the speaker asks two questions. “My gaze returns to these: what can I do? / Your beauty still haunts me: what can I do?” With this association, the speaker affirms that there are ways he or she can be useful in the fight against evil in the world; there are no ways he or she can be useful in pining for a lost lover. The latter of these things is hopeless; the former is not—it is instead a good fight, and an honorable one. And so, at the end of the poem, the speaker repeats that the world is greater than the sum of one couple’s lost love; that there is real, damaging suffering occurring all around us, and so the speaker asks of his own pa st lover, “Do not demand that love which can be no more.” There are greater ills which demand our attention—things that can still be changed.
Comprehension: I
1. Who is 'I' in the poem?
Ans: - The poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz is 'I' in the poem.
2. Who is 'you' in the poem?
Ans: - 'His Love'
3. What does the speaker ask his love?
Ans: - Not to ask the love that once he had for her.
4. What did the speaker once have for her?
Ans: - The Love.
5. How was life for the poet?
Ans: - Life was bright, young, and blooming.
6. What was much more than any other pain to the poet?
Ans: - Her sorrow
7. What did her beauty give the spring?
Ans: - An everlasting youth.
8. What we’re everything for him?
Ans: - Her eyes.
9. When does the speaker realise what he thought about love was not true?
Ans: - When he moved around in the world & saw many sorrows, he realized what he thought about love was not true.
10. What does the poet think when his beloved was with him?
Ans: - The world was his.
11. What was an illusion for him?
Ans: - The thought that the world was his when his beloved was with him was an illusion.
12. Where have the bodies risen from?
Ans: - Cauldron of diseases.
13. What are the things that poet finds other than love?
Ans: - Sorrow, Pleasures.
Comprehension: II & III
1. What harsh realities of life have drawn on the speaker's attention much more than the beauty of his beloved?
Ans: - The poet loves his beloved very much. Her sorrow was more than anything else to him when he was young. Her beauty gave an 'everlasting youth' for spring. Her eyes were everything to him. He thought that he owned the world when she was with him. But the images what 'he had for his love was an illusion' or the image suddenly changes when the poet comes out of the world of fantasy, to the world of reality where sorrows preceded love and other pleasures. The brutal curses of countless centuries, woven, silk, satin, & brocade are highlighted. The sufferings caused in the world by war, the blood, and the dust covered bodies of soldiers, the miseries of those suffering from chronic, deadly diseases, their sores that ooze out pus, the woes of slaves who are ill-treated and sold in the market like animals. These are the harsh realities that have drawn the writer's attention away from the beauty of his reality.
2. What transformation in the perception of love do you see in the poem?
Ans: - When the poet was young, he was immersed in the love of a beautiful girl. As long as the girl was with him, he felt the whole world was his. The sorrow of separation from her was the only sorrow for him at that time. He loved her eyes and felt that her beauty made spring time young. However, he moved around in the world and saw many things which were totally different from what he was used to till now. He saw sufferings caused by war and conflicts, the bodies of soldiers covered with blood and dust, the miseries of those afflicted with chronic, deadly diseases, their wounds that ooze out pus, the woes of slaves who are tortured and sold in the market like animals, and many more things. These made him realize that the pain of separation from his beloved was not the only sorrow, but there are many more in the world. He assures his beloved that she is still beautiful, but tells her that he is helpless because he has to take the responsibility of other sufferings in this world. He realizes the responsibility of serving the society is greater than pleasing his beloved. Hence, he requests her not to ask him to love her in the same manner.
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