Taufiq Rafat is a towering personality among Pakistani English literature artists. He was among the writers in the second phase of Pakistani English literature. Taufiq inserted the element of realistic touch in Pakistani literature. He is highly acclaimed for effectively utilizing the techniques of imagism and living characters.
“Wedding in the Flood” is his magnum opus, which uncovers the harsh realities present in Punjabi culture. He has observed economic and social perspectives through his multi-dimensional lens.
A Cursory Glance At the Biography of Taufiq Rafat
He was born in Sialkot on October 25, 1927. After graduating from Government College Lahore, Riffat turned to English literature. He made his mark successfully there. Pakistani English literature reached new heights due to his innovations and boldness in literary style.
The elements of culture and tradition of Punjabi rural life have been incorporated into his poems. His success can be gauged from the fact that the Oxford University Press published three collections of Pakistani poems between 1960 and 1970, all of which contained his poems. He has also translated the poems of Baba Bulley Shah.
Taufiq Raffat is a rare Pakistani English writer who has shown interest in Punjabi life and its local language. He has also used Punjabi idioms and expressions in his work.
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Wedding in The Flood- Main Themes and Critical Analysis
Introduction
In this poem “Wedding in The Flood”, the writer creates a horrible and sad picture of torrential rains and the rising flood amidst the marriage ceremony. The prevailing socio-economic conditions have been shown. The imagery and characterization are exceptional. We know each character and his personality through his soliloquies.
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Structure of The Poem
This free-verse poem, “Wedding in the Flood,” may be divided into three sections as per its narrative:
Dominant Themes
Text of the “Wedding in The Flood” With Stanza-wise Summary And Critical Analysis
Stanza1
They are taking my girl away forever,
sobs the bride’s mother as the procession
forms slowly to the whine of the clarinet.
She was the shy one. How will she fare
in that cold house among these strangers?
This has been a long and difficult day.
The rain nearly ruined everything,
but at the crucial time, when lunch was ready,
it mercifully stopped. It is drizzling again
as they help the bride into the palankeen (palanquin)
This girl has been licking too many pots.
Two sturdy lads carrying the dowry
(a cot, a looking glass, a tin trunk,
beautifully painted in grey and blue)
lead the way, followed by a foursome
bearing the palankeen on their shoulders
Now even the stragglers are out of view
Summary
In the first stanza of the poem “Wedding in The Flood”, the poet has used his technique of imagery and characterization. We are placed in a village where a wedding ceremony occurs amidst the torrential rains and the impending river flood. All the ceremonies and processions have been spoiled. Fortuitously, the rain stops at the time when the meal is going to be served.
The bride’s mother feels grieved and gives vent to her sadness about how her shy daughter will adjust to the new house. Finally, the sturdy villagers lift the palanquin and carry it towards the river, which they intend to cross to reach the other side, where the bide’s house is located.
Critical Analysis
Taufiq Rafat has written his five-stanza poem “Wedding in The Flood” in free verse. The writer has introduced how women feel embarrassed and shy in their new homes. They feel uncomfortable and have difficulty adjusting to the whims of their in-laws. Then, Riffat also talks about the superstitious rural people who think that the rain and Flood come on the marriage day if the bride licks the pot in the kitchen.
Stanza 2
I like the look of her hennaed hands
gloats the bridegroom as he glimpses
her slim fingers gripping the palankeen’s side
If only her face matches her hands,
and she gives me no mother-in-law problems,
I’ll forgive her the cot and the trunk
and looking glass. Will the rain never stop?
It was my luck to get a pot-licking wench.
Summary
The bridegroom expresses his feelings before the readers openly. He feels overjoyed when he looks at the bride’s glowing, white hands covered with henna. He is happy because he thinks her face will resemble her hands. He expects his wife to be accommodating and not the one who always complains about her mother-in-law.
He thinks that the issue of insufficient dowry will be bypassed in their upcoming lives if she is so pretty. He is also harboring the superstition that the rain is not coming slowly because the bride might have been licking too many pots in her previous life.
Critical Analysis
In this Poem “Wedding in the Flood”, We encountered a traditional bridegroom who holds superstitious and traditional views regarding her bride, as she will be pretty enough to eclipse the issue of insufficient dowry. He expects her to be submissive and accommodating to her in-laws. He also says that the bride might have been licking the pot, so the rain is not subsiding.
Stanza 3
Everything depends on the ferryman now.
It is dark in the palankeen; I think the bride
and the roof are leaking. Even my feet are wet.
Not a familiar face around me
as I peep through the curtains. I’m cold and scared.
The rain will ruin the cot, trunk, and looking glass.
What sort of man is my husband?
They would hurry, but their feet are slipping,
and there is a swollen river to cross.
Summary
In this stanza, the bride feels anxious and worried due to her surroundings. It is dark inside the palanquin. The roof of it is leaking, due to which her feet are wet. She is anxious about when their destination will arrive but thinks it depends on the ferrymen. Her anxiety takes a new turn when she worries that the torrential rain may not spoil her cot, mirror, and tin trunk.
Critical Analysis
The writer has used the symbol of darkness to denote the fear that persists in the life of a rural bride when she gets married. She also holds dear the dowry that her parents have given her.
Stanza 4
They might have given a bullock at least, grumbles the bridegroom’s father, a couple of oxen
would have come in handy at the next plowing.
Instead, we landed with
a cot, a tin trunk, and a looking glass,
all the things that she will use!
Dear God, how the rain is coming down.
The silly girl’s been licking too many pots.
I did not like the look of the river
when we crossed it this morning.
Come back before three, the ferryman said,
or you’ll not find me here. I hope
he waits. We are late by an hour,
or perhaps two. But whoever heard
of a marriage party arriving on time?
The light is poor, and the paths treacherous,
but it is the river I most of all fear.
Summary
Here, the bridegroom’s father expresses his anguish and frustration over the insufficient dowry. He was a farmer, so he thinks the bride’s parents should have given her a bullock, but they have given her such menial things that she can only use them.
Then, he is worried about their return home, as the ferrymen have forewarned them to reach the bank by sharp three, but they are late by an hour or two. He is worried that the ferrymen might have left them. He also blames the bride for licking too many pots. That’s why rain is coming in showers.
Critical Analysis
Here we meet with a traditional father who panicked over the insufficient dowry of his daughter-in-law. He has a more materialistic approach than a more humanistic one, besides being a superstitious person.
Stanza 5
Bridegroom and bride and parents and all,
the ferryman waits; he knows you will come
for there is no other way to cross,
and a wedding party always pays extra.
the river is rising, so quickly jump aboard
with your cot, tin trunk, and looking glass,
that the long homeward journey can begin.
Who has seen such a brown and angry river
or can find words for the way the ferry
saws this way and that, and then disgorge
its screaming load? The clarinet fills with water.
Oh, what a consummation is here:
The father tossed on the horns of the waves,
and full thirty garlands are bobbing past
the bridegroom heaved on the heaving tide,
and in an eddy, among the willows downstream,
the coy bride is truly married at last.
Summary
Here, the writer places us on the bank of the river, where the palanquin has reached. The ferrymen are waiting there because they know that the procession has no other choice but to cross the river, partially motivated by getting some money.
The procession is on the board. Then, the ferry tumbles when the wrathful river rises in its tide. In the end, all of them drowned. Riffat calls it a strange consummation. We observe how this happy journey turns into a tragedy.
Critical Analysis
In the Stanze, again, the recurring materialism of the traditional society is shown by the attitude of the ferrymen. Here the symbol of Flood symbolizes the sweeping of arranged marriages and traditional customs by the tide of modernism.
Wrapping Up
We may sum up by deducing that Taufiq Rafat has used his excellent narration, imagism, and symbolism skills in “Wedding in The Flood”. It symbolizes the theme that man proposes and that God disposes of. It depicts the cultural life and traditional mentality of the rural Punjab.
The symbol of the Flood has been used to convey the concept of modernity, which ultimately eliminates everything.
Modernity is an unending project.
