Can I get summary and analysis for Snow on the Desert by Agha Shahid Ali. It should be a 200-word answer.
Answers
Answer:
Born
4 February 1949
Srinagar, Kashmir
Died
8 December 2001 (aged 52)
Resting place
Amherst, Massachusetts
Alma mater
University of Kashmir Hindu College, University of Delhi Pennsylvania State University (PhD) and University of Arizona (MFA)
Occupation
Poet, Professor
Known for
National Book Award 2001, Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada
Notable credit(s)
The Country Without a Post Office, Rooms Are Never Finished and The Rebel's Silhouette
Relatives
Agha Ashraf Ali (Father)
Prof. Agha Iqbal Ali (brother)
Prof. Hena Ahmad , Prof. Sameetah Agha (Sisters) Agha Shaukat Ali (Uncle) Begum Zaffar Ali (Grandmother)
The University of Utah Press awards the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize annually in memory of this "celebrated poet and beloved teacher."
Answer:
Summary of "Snow on the Desert".
Explanation:
The poet starts the poem with his friend serge telling about the sunlight which lasts for seven minutes . the time doesn't even stop for sun rays the serge try to tell poet that it is better not to waste time as once it goes it never comes back poet says that whenever he looks at the sky, he sees the history, he sees the past. He sees the clouds which keep on moving. It shows that time doesn't stop it keeps on moving. On January 19, 1987, in the morning when he was on his way to drop his sister at Tuscon airport.
It was all fog around since it was the month of December, also there was all snow around which had fallen all night. Then the Ray of light blinded us. The source of the light was the sun. The poet says when he looked around he saw the earth was covered with snow as if it covered with cocaine. the poet here uses the metaphor by comparing snow with cocaine. The colors of the desert plants were faded as they were covered with snow. Wine which is extracted from cactus is also frozen due to immense cold due to the snow which had fallen all night. It is like snow in the desert Even the desert which is pretty hot is now cold due to snow and winter This symbolizes that everything changes with time and everyone need to adapt to the changes with the change in time
The Desert Smells Like Rain is a book and the poet has taken these lines from the book. Basically, it describes the Papagos to make wine. What I feel about these lines is that the syrup is the experience in the life of the Papagos which later is used to make wine i.e. memories. The jars are the minds of the Papagos in which they preserve their memories, good and bad. The lives of a tribal group is usually a difficult one and they are a vulnerable group. After due course of time, this memory becomes cloudy but the Papagos are still able to remember the good times.
The poet then talks about how nature has changed over time. What was once a sea, is now a desert. The theme time is a destroyer is reflected here. Amidst these rapid changes taking place, some things are still constant such as the color of the sky which is relentlessly blue, and the rays of sunshine which are a million years old. Ever since the desert has been there, the saguaros have been there too. Saguaros typically live for 150 years and through generations, they have received the memories from these rays of sunshine with their arms wide open. Each ray has stored memories so old that it contains the secrets of the planet's origin. The saguaros are referred to as humans because as the tribes are prone to massacre, the saguaros are cut down on large scale to make wine. The end here is related to the end of an era where the world was once magnificent because of its natural beauty. That beauty has been destroyed by what we call civilization. The beginning is compared to a new world with rapid technological advancements and also, climate change.
Sameetah is the poet's sister who is being dropped at the airport by the poet....in this stanza the poet throws light on changing environmental conditions. When they are on their way they observe trees covered by snow...they also see an ocean that is being evaporated at an unimaginable rate because of the deteriorating conditions of the environment. Again here the theme of time being a destroyer comes into the picture as with the passage of time only degradation is caused to mother earth. Earth is starting to forget its own habitats....i.e. we humans.
However, when he drops his sis at the airport he again feels the pain of separation. Here the theme of migration and associated pain comes into the picture...on his way back he remembers the sees that were once present in a glorified manner...in short the poet becomes nostalgic about the past...
The narrator talks about an incident that happened during the Bangladesh war. During his time in the early 1970s in Delhi, the poet along with his friend Saleem would go to music concerts of Begum Akhtar. 1 day, During the concert, there were air raid warnings and sirens. The lights went off and The mike she was using stopped working and so thus her voice was not so loud. In spite of all this, the crowd did not lose interest. Thus it shows that if people do the thing with all their heart they will achieve it in spite of any problem in the way
While remembering this old incident the poet says the low voiced singing feels like she was dead back then only. Then later on the narrator compares the moment of the lights coming back to a situation of hearing a lost sea. By all these examples he conveys his thoughts very deeply. He starts thinking about life. He talks about the fact that nothing is permanent and immortal. He says we will lose everything one day. He takes time to think about everything the world and him have lost and everything they are losing and everything they will lose in 1 day.