Abstract

This paper endeavors to analyze Zulfikar Ghose’s selected poems All in a Lifetime and Silent Birds in light of Jean Francois Lyotard’s theory of Postmodernism that was proposed in 1979. Ghose is a globally recognized Pakistani English poet and his poetry is enriched with pathos, sorrows and resistance against destruction caused due to the domination of modern metanarratives, such as progress, nationalism or political objectives. The current study also applies Foucault’s theoretical concept of bio power through discourse who coined this term in his The Will to Knowledge in 1988. This study highlights the chaos, fear and anxiety of the current age that is manifested in the poems, moreover, it shows the uncertainty caused by modern scientific warfare it is no more certain when and where one is going to die. The selected poems expose the relation between discourse and power, authority, domination and hegemony. The present study also demonstrates the significant role of Pakistani literature in general that attempts to resist the violence regardless of any differences. The research ends with recommendations and suggestions for further study.

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