A Counter-Orientalistic Approach: Comparative Exploration Of Thematic Universality In English Poet John Keats And Pashto Poet Ghani Khan

Abstract

Western literary schools mostly relegate oriental literature, especially that which is in local oriental languages, as regional, communal and/or lacking universality in its appeal – and thus not to be regarded as mainstream. The Indian sub-continent, though having a profoundly rich literary legacy in its local languages, is no exception from such marginalizing treatment. Adopting a counter-orientalistic approach, this study, however, argues similarities between the profundity and complexities of sensibilities and perceptions of the famous English poet John Keats and Pashto poet Ghani Khan. The poets represent diverse cultures with diverse ideologies, but it is hypothesized that they have straits of resemblance in their poetry; affection, loveliness, nature and eternity represent to the both of them strikingly similar meanings of life. This assumption contradicts the traditional colonialist and the neoimperialist discourse that considers eastern literary works as secondary to the mainstream between the two transcend the stereotypically drawn boundary of binary polarity that privileges ‘us’ over ‘them’