The works of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Faiz Ahmad Faiz : a reexamination of its role in the Pakistani literature curriculum

The Pakistani English literature curriculum for the university teaching since independence has traditionally associated itself with a strong syllabus devoted to Eurocentric content. This eurocentricity is perpetuating the colonial legacy of a single culture which is loaded with western history and philosophy. The
eurocentricity in the Pakistani English literature curriculum has deprived the
Pakistani students from studying and understanding their indigenous writers. This
study aims to compare various themes in the literary works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (a British literary) and Faiz Ahmed Faiz (a Pakistani literary). The objective of this
study is to investigate the influence of social, political and cultural conditions, the
comparison of various themes and the use of public and hidden transcripts in the literary works of Shelley and Faiz. The study uses qualitative method focusing on content analysis technique both intrinsically and extrinsically using Marxist’s literary criticism. The primary data sources include the literary works of Shelley and Faiz and the secondary sources include articles, books and scholarly criticism. The study finds similarities in the themes, content and form of the two poets. Besides, the study also finds that, although Shelley and Faiz belong to different social, cultural and
political backgrounds, however, both the poets make use of public and hidden transcripts in their literary works. This study contributes to the ministry of education, policy makers, second language learners, teachers and students by signifying that cross-cultural comparative studies can strengthen the understanding of different literatures. This study also contributes to the comparative field of literature by comparing two poets belonging to different national boundaries which shows that art is universal and can be studied across national boundaries.