22/05/2026
Memory, Loneliness, and Consciousness . . . A Perceptionist Critical Study of Azhar Abbas
By: Dr. Farhat Abbss Shah
A Perceptionist Critical Study of the Poetry of Azhar Abbas is, in essence, an exploration of those subtle layers of human consciousness where poetry ceases to remain a mere verbal expression and transforms into a living mode of perception. It is an inquiry into the inner territories of awareness, existential anguish, memory, deprivation, identity, and feeling. Perceptionism . . . the perceptual critical theory approaches literature not as an external arrangement of events but as the inward formation of human perception itself. Seen through this lens, the poetry of Azhar Abbas emerges as the poetry of a deeply sensitive mind that experiences life not through incidents alone but through their internal reverberations upon consciousness. In his poetic universe, sorrow is not an outward accident; it is a continuous perceptual condition. This is why silence speaks in his ghazals, walls acquire psychological existence, the wind becomes a carrier of memory, and the bed turns into a symbol of migration and loneliness.
One of the central qualities of Azhar Abbas’s poetry is its intense inward dialogue. He appears to remain in perpetual conversation with his own interior self. In the verse:
> “No direction was truly familiar;
> it was a crowd, but never a caravan.”
there exists a profound distrust of collective external existence. The poet establishes a distinction between a crowd and a caravan. Perceptually, this distinction is not merely semantic but deeply conscious. The crowd symbolizes directionless human existence, while the caravan becomes a metaphor for conscious connectedness and purpose. It is precisely this perceptual divergence that grants intellectual depth to his poetry.
Memory, in Azhar Abbas’s work, functions as a dynamic psychological force. He does not merely remember the past; he relives it within the present moment. In the short poem “The Wind Blew Again Last Night,” the metaphors of wind, memory, and the dried lake combine to construct a complete interior landscape. Here, the image of “the dried lake filling again” signifies not merely tears in the eyes but the return of feeling itself. According to Perceptionist criticism, this is the moment where the external image merges with inward consciousness to generate meaning.
Similarly, the sense of deprivation and defeat in his poetry never descends into a conventional lamentation. Instead, it transforms into existential awareness. In the couplet:
> “All my life I played the game of love,
> and when love truly happened once, I lost.”
love is not presented as an emotional episode but as a wager of existence itself. The poet experiences defeat not romantically but as a collapse within perception. This is why, in his poetry, love alters the human being completely. In the line, “The heart was lost, then I was lost, then the home was lost,” the “home” is not merely a physical dwelling; it becomes a symbol of identity, stability, and the inner centre of being.
Silence is another major perceptual element in Azhar Abbas’s poetry. He creates meaning more through what remains unspoken than through direct utterance. The verse:
> “Everyone possesses a noise of their own,
> yet no one here truly speaks to anyone,”
becomes a profound metaphor for the existential crisis of modern humanity. Noise here is not communication but a symbol of isolation. Every individual remains imprisoned within the confines of the self. On the perceptual level, this reflects the fragmented consciousness of modern existence, where genuine dialogue has become impossible.
Objects, too, possess psychological presence in his poetic world. Walls, beds, wind, lakes, wells, chains, and lamps are not merely symbols; they function as active participants in conscious experience. In the line, “It feels strange . . . this bed lying spread out alone,” the bed is not a static image of solitude but a living memory of absence. Likewise, in the verse:
> “The obstacle that stood upon our path
> became the very road through that same wall,”
the wall transforms from an obstruction into a metaphor for altered consciousness. According to Perceptionism, meaning does not inherently reside within objects; human perception creates it. The poetry of Azhar Abbas stands as a compelling embodiment of this principle.
Another remarkable quality of his poetry is its deceptively simple yet layered language. He expresses deeply philosophical experiences through ordinary words. It is precisely this simplicity that lends depth to his verse. There is no artificiality, rhetorical display, or fabricated intellectualism in his work; instead, there exists an inward truthfulness. Consequently, his poetry leaves an immediate impact upon the reader’s mind while continuing to unfold new meanings gradually over time.
His poetry also contains social, economic, and class consciousness, though never in the form of direct slogans. In the verse:
> “Whatever small coins I earned, along with my tears,
> I handed my entire income to my father,”
economic deprivation becomes an emotional and civilizational experience. Poverty here is not merely a material condition but an inward perception shaped by love, responsibility, and sacrifice.
Viewed through the framework of Perceptionist criticism, Azhar Abbas is fundamentally a poet of feeling and consciousness. Rather than merely describing the external world, he is concerned with the effects that world produces upon human awareness. Memory, loneliness, love, defeat, silence, and waiting all appear in his poetry as different manifestations of inward perception. This is why his verses pe*****te deeply into the reader’s inner self and introduce one to the hidden chambers of one’s own being. His poetic expression exemplifies the truth that great poetry is ultimately that which grants language to the invisible world residing within the human soul.
