Stylistic Analysis of Shadab Zeest Hashmi’s Poem “You are chained”

This paper aims at analyzing Shadad Zeest Hashmi’s poem ‘You are chained’ with a special focus on the foreground. The tools of foregrounding i.e. parallelism and deviation are surfaced that attract the attention of the reader for hidden messages related to the socio-political scenario of Pakistan, Kashmir, and India. Thus the miserable plight of the Kashmiris is encompassed through stylistic devices which are peculiar to Hashmi’s poetry. Foregrounding is the tool through which one can analyze a piece of literature having so many deviations and code-switching. The main aim of the study is to bring to the fore the local poets writing in English. The research is based on this intention to strike the attention of new researchers to criticize as well as to appreciate our local poets for their encouragement. On the other hand, research on Pakistani literature in English is an emerging area of investigation that is why, it is hoped, that this paper will prove to be an encouraging step ahead for future scholars.