Why did Shahid tell amitav emphatically that he was a national poet but not a nationalist one.
Let's address the broader question here first of all: when exactly do you call someone a national poet? Tagore is often called India's national poet, or at least one of India's national poets. Ever wonder why? Of course, because India's national anthem was composed by him.
But there are also other reasons why poets like him are called national poets. I think it's because these poets evoke some sort of national imagery, they speak to a certain geography, about the people of a place as a collective and touch upon culture and history of that place in their work.
By these standards, you can arguable say that Agha Shahid Ali was indeed a national poet, at least in the modern sense. He can be called a national poet because he wrote about Kashmir extensively, about life and love in Kashmir, about the conflict in its present relevance. The ghost of 1980s and 1990s walks throught the pages of The Veiled Suite. In these poems, Kashmir is implicitly spoken of as a nation inhabiting a distinct historical struggle. These are some of the reasons he may be called a national poet. Kashmir is almost suddenly a nation in his poem A Pastoral, especially the bold political statement in the first few lines:
But there are also other reasons why poets like him are called national poets. I think it's because these poets evoke some sort of national imagery, they speak to a certain geography, about the people of a place as a collective and touch upon culture and history of that place in their work.
By these standards, you can arguable say that Agha Shahid Ali was indeed a national poet, at least in the modern sense. He can be called a national poet because he wrote about Kashmir extensively, about life and love in Kashmir, about the conflict in its present relevance. The ghost of 1980s and 1990s walks throught the pages of The Veiled Suite. In these poems, Kashmir is implicitly spoken of as a nation inhabiting a distinct historical struggle. These are some of the reasons he may be called a national poet. Kashmir is almost suddenly a nation in his poem A Pastoral, especially the bold political statement in the first few lines: