SHUKRI 97(p. 284). Furthermore in the poetry written after 1919 Shukri became exces-
sively moralistic, and often his poems were no more than a string of moral
observations and meditations, and his satires grew more savage and direct,
as in Dead People' (p. 643) published in 1938, although as late as 1935 he
was capable of writing such a remarkably lyrical and evocative poem as
'A Lovely Night' (p. 612). No doubt his attitude as a moral teacher was later
enforced by his career as schoolmaster and educationist.
But from the second to the seventh volumes of his Diwan there is undeniably
a growing concentration on the poet's inner world, his subjective and spiritual
experiences. His complaints against his times increasingly sounded less like
those of a social reformer and more like those of an 'outsider', who is at odds
with a society that was incapable of either understanding him or appreciating
his efforts. In 'The Poet and the Ruined Times' (p. 157) lack of appreciation
and the difficulties put in the poet's path end by destroying his hopes and
render his heart 'like a ruined mansion'. The same feeling is expressed in
countless poems such as 'A Poet's Complaint', 'A Poet's Prophecy', 'Agitation
of the Soul', 'Fear and Terror', 'Poetry and Nature' and 'A Poet Dying' (where
the chief source of the young poet's sorrow is his failure to attain fame before
death) (pp. 164, 167, 169, 221, 226 and 235). Shukri's agonizing awareness
that he was living in a period of great cultural upheaval, where the clash
between traditional and modem values had a devastating effect upon society
and especially the sensitive individual (particularly fully expressed in the
Confessions), often made him, like Hamlet, feel that 'the time's out of joint',
and touched the metaphysical roots of his existence.
Shukri's early feeling of alienation, which as we have seen, is discernible
in 'A Stranger's Nostalgia at Sunset', was enforced by his experience in Shef-
field where he spent three years. His poems 'A Poet in a Strange Land' and
'Nostalgia of a Stranger' show that he felt very much like an exile there, cut
off from his home, friends and familiar surroundings, missing the sunshine
and clear sky in a gloomy city where 'Above us the sky is in mourning like
the vault of a tomb' (pp. 154,155). In 'The Humiliation ofOldAge' the poet's
feeling of being a stranger among his kith and kin drives him to desire death
before he becomes a despised old man (p. 418).
The main themes of Shukri's poetry are philosophical and moral medita-
tions, interesting or unusual states of mind, beauty in general and nature in
particular, love, death, and the creative imagination. He wrote about man's
belief in the golden age (p. 574); in 'Man and Time' (p. 136) he wonders if
man's desire for a better world is the result of his soul remembering a less
imperfect pre-natal existence; in 'Mixed Needs' (p. 139) the body is described
as 'the gateway to the soul' while 'The Eternal Seeker' (p. 292) represents