Akhtar-ul-Iman’s Poem A Boy: A Study of Identity, Exile, and Existential Anguish

This research study offers a critical and analytical reading of A Boy, a significant poem by Akhtar-ul-Iman, focusing on the themes of identity, exile, and existential anguish within the framework of modern Urdu poetry. The poem presents a symbolic narrative of a nameless boy whose displacement from rural innocence to urban modernity results in a profound crisis of selfhood. This “boy” functions as a metaphor for the modern individual—alienated, uprooted, and fragmented under the pressures of rapidly changing social and cultural realities. Akhtar-ul-Iman employs a conversational yet symbolic style to articulate inner conflict, psychological dislocation, and the erosion of stable identities in modern life. The study examines how the poem reflects existential consciousness through memory, self-interrogation, and the tension between past and present. By situating the poem within modernist and existential thought, this research argues that A Boy transcends personal experience to become a universal representation of modern human anxiety. The study concludes that the poem is a powerful articulation of existential awareness in Urdu nazm and a key text for understanding Akhtar-ul-Iman’s contribution to modernist poetry. KEYWORDS Identity, Exile, Existential Anguish, Urdu Poetry, Alienation, Symbolism