Allama Iqbals idea of the modern man presented in his poem Modern Man also comparing it to the poem God and Man.

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Submitted by: Anam Raheel

                         Semester V

Submitted to: Ms. Qudsia Sajjad

Course title: Allama Iqbal (poetry)

Iqbal’s idea of the modern man presented in his poem “Modern Man” also comparing it to the poem “God and Man”.

                                                               Modern Man

                        LOVE fled, Mind stung him like a snake; he could not

                                               Force it to vision’s will.

                       He tracked the orbits of the stars, yet could not

                                           Travel his own thoughts’ world;

                      Entangled in the labyrinth of his science

                                          Lost count of good and ill;

                     Took captive the sun’s rays, and yet no sunrise

                                        On life’s thick night unfurled.

Allama Iqbal can be regarded as one of the poets who simply did not fix his ideas and works on certain themes but had always kept the variety of goals and discussions in front of him. He talked of almost everything ranging from God, man, nature, religion etc and in his poem “Modern Man” we see him defining the man in the new world he has created around himself. This has been compared with the poem “God and Man”, where Iqbal shows both the God and the man conversing and answering each other.

It is clear how evolution takes place in every age and every stage of human life. Every civilization improves and progresses and thinks itself better than the past one. Hence through all these times progress is achieved, new ideas adopted, unknown things discovered therefore modernity is seen through all the existing times. Here we see Iqbal particularly talks of the “man” and related everything to him. Just like the modern and the post-modern writers like Qasmi, Manto, Shamsie talk of humans, their suppressed desires, hidden conflicts and dilemmas, Iqbal here throws light not only on the negative side but also on the positive aspects of human life. This is clearly visible in both these poems. With this as base it is for the readers to observe how Iqbal desired for the progress of human race as he did acknowledge the work done. It also depicts that checks and balance are definitely necessary to keep one’s life stable and successful; everything has its flaws which should be looked upon.

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This short poem consists of eight lines. There is a lot of repetition of words like “could not” and “no” which depict the negativity and the incapability, in “God and Man” he uses another kind of  pessimistic imagery of “gun”, “arrowhead”, “cage” and “sword” etc, thus presenting the darker side. He has made this poem so complete in itself by using immense imagery and descriptive words. He compares a human “mind” to a “snake” which is definitely a stark contrast on one side whereas on the other hand this becomes a possible occurrence. Snakes are often silent and strike ...

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