Land in Al Mahmud’s Poetry: Central to His Anti-imperialistic Poetics

Abstract

Al Mahmud’s anti-imperial spirit is evident in his poems resisting the occupation of land by the imperialistic powers throughout the globe. He protests against the aggression of imperial powers at present as well as that happened in the past. Though formal colonies are no more today, colonialism still is there in different form --- in the form of imperialism. Colonies are established for securing wealth from the occupied land. Imperialism launches its power over the land of different country without establishing colonies but its purpose is all the same. Both colonialism and imperialism exploit others’ land to enrich themselves. Occupation of land paves the way for imperialism   as in the case of British colonialism in Bengal and subsequently in Indian subcontinent.   But the launching of imperial power does not go always without resistance on the part of the colonized people. Al Mahmud raises his voice against the evil practice of colonialism and imperialism wherever or whenever he finds them active. He shows this resistance both in national and international perspective. Through his poetics, he protests against the British imperialism in India, particularly in Bengal, and, though colonialism is over, he protests as he sees the imperialistic agents are active in his country to turn her again into a colony. He also protests against imperialistic aggression in different lands of the world like Afghanistan, Palestine etc. In his resistance to imperialism, ‘land’ becomes his main concern.  Here in this article, I have explored those poems that present his strong protest against the occupation of land by colonialism as well as imperialism.