Bilal Ahmad

The Street of Nightingales

(Analysis)

Duad Kamal, in this poem, tries to portray a clear picture of an urban street at the

time of evening by using various symbols, imagery and connotations. The title of the

poem is quite symbolic as it portrays the image of a street that is as busy as nightingales

in singing the songs from morning until the night. The title of the poem has a

metaphorical significance because the symbol of ‘nightingale’ adds a romantic flavor to

the poem at first sight. The symbol of ‘nightingale’ has been used by many poets because

of its creative and apparently spontaneous song as Keats used in “An Ode to

Nightingale”. Therefore, the use of nightingales in this poem refers to the Wordsworthian

concept that “for all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”1. The

poet depicts the image of an urban street where everyone is working hard and seems busy

to accomplish their personal or individual goals.

He says, “The liveliest street in town, its web of dreams” and by this he represents

the image of urban life as the ‘web of dreams’ that reflects the urban life full of

ambitions, that compel everyone towards desire of achieving his/her set goals in life. To

attain their particular goals they do not bother to commit immoralities, as Kamal talks

about ‘our fat old whore-turned-midwife rushes by.’ The poem focuses upon the idea of
1
Course Pack ENGL 311. Wordsworth, William. Preface to Lyrical Ballad. p305.
people’s deviation from natural, social and traditional life. This poem could also be taken

as a lamentation upon the loss of traditional values as Kamal says, “Soon there will be

evening.” Here, he is not merely talking about the evening itself but symbolizing it with

the fall of values which are over whelmed by darkness. This is also an example of

portrayal of connotative meanings by the simple use of words.

The poem comprises of six stanzas with almost equal words in each line and

depicts the traditional way of poetry and also affirms Kaml’s idea of strengthening the

traditional values in an abstract form. The language of the poem is simple and colloquial

that depicts Wordsworthian concept that poet is a man talking to men in the language of

common men. Wordsworth says and I quote: “poet is a man speaking to man: a man, it is

true, endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a

greater knowledge of human nature, and more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to

be common among mankind.”2 This also refers to Samuel Johnson’s view that poetry is a

“mirror of life”3 as Kamal portrays the just picture of urban life where everyone is active

in rat race. The simple language of the poem unveils the theme of the poem in very

comprehensive manner as the words are taken from everyday speech.

Kamal targets the mechanical life of urban area through this poem as he talks

about ‘exhausted clerks’ that reflects the dilemma of life where human beings have

become the cogs and nuts of the social machine in order to earn for living. This thing also

reflects the idea of ‘capitalism’ as he talks about class differences, restlessness and busy

life of people. He portrays the distorted urban life in beautiful manner by symbolizing it

with sweet singing bird; nightingale. The poet has used different images, or imagery, to

2
Course Pack ENGL 311. Wordsworth, William. Preface to Lyrical Ballad. p309
3
Course Pack ENGL 311. Johnson, Samuel. Preface to Shakespeare. P251
reflect a clear picture of a street at the time of evening. He introduces different people

like clerks, school girls, a little boy, grocer, barber and mid-wife who represent life

through their activities in the street.

Summing up, through the specified images, symbols and embedding connotative

meanings to his words, Kamal has portrayed a scene of a metro street where people are

nothing more than machines that are far away from their traditional values and the

aestheticism of nature.