Khalvati uses a charming and seductive persona to readily demonstrate the feelings the speaker has for his beloved who is unattainable and out of his reach and to also explore the different aspects of love such as love can be calm and contemplative as suggested by the grass and breeze. The relationship is initially conveyed through the statement "if I am the grass and you are the breeze, blow through me", this is very sentimental and places a great emphasis on the power and beauty of nature as opposed to easily human emotions changing and equally powerful but also establishes a very slow pace at which the relationship is building. The symbolism underlying the images conveyed also gives the reader an uneasy feeling about the nature of power in this relationship. For example, if you are a "breeze", how truly powerful are you to the speaker's influence, I think this gives the impression that the love may not be genuine and the relationship perhaps only built on the speaker's attractiveness. The “grass” is also very weak and I think this further emphasizes how weak, manipulable and easily controlled the beloved is and that the beloved is presented as powerless to resist their feelings in the relationship, whether they are true or not. Even 'if' makes the speaker sound wistful and longing for an unfulfilling relationship, but starting the couplet with 'if' creates a condition that is usually satisfied in the second half. Furthermore the report is presented through the Form. Ghazal contains at least ten shers, each of which is a single stanza, but each develops a central argument for the speaker's love and the shers also contain their own metaphor in which to express the speaker's desire. The shers are also connected through a refrain that runs throughout the poem, for example "woo me", "cue me", and "tattoo me" which are all euphemisms for a romantic relationship and are seductive phrases addressed to the beloved by the speaker. . This creates a powerful repetitive rhythm that lends itself to persuasion and suggests Khalvati's given name, Mimi (me me). It's almost as if each chorus is a knock on the door of the beloved's heart, and if you knock enough, the door must surely open. In the last sher Khalvati signs her name 'twice me' which is a ghazal convention but she doesn't exactly.
tags