Voices of dissent in the poetry of Imtiaz Dharker

Feminism as a movement acquired momentum in the last century. Feminist theorists from all corners of the world have put forward their views and ideologies to analyse and interpret the rights and duties, the laws and regulations which are exclusive to women. They have discussed, debated and deliberated on sundry affairs concerned with a woman, right from domestic drudgery to her involvement in official engagements, from cultural taboos inflicted on her as a girl in childhood to her perils even in old age, from puberty to post-menopause stage in her life. The heat of feminist discourse has hit contemporary Indian women poets writing in English, and therefore they have documented their perspectives through poetry leaving poignant impressions in the readers’ minds. This article is an evaluative approach to explore the impact of culture and religion, mostly Islam and partly Hinduism in different aspects of women’s lives. Her poems exhibit how the dictates of religious authority and tradition wipe away equality, compassion, and humanity and stifle a woman’s life to denigrate her personality to such an extent that she is rendered into self-depreciative non-entity in her own vision