Fragments of Home: The Crisis of Identity in Agha Shahid Ali’s “Land”

Abstract

This paper offers a close analysis of a single ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali, examining its structure and themes through Stuart Hall’s theory of identity and diaspora. While many studies consider multiple poems by Ali, this research focuses on one ghazal to highlight how its formal elements—repetition, refrain, and rhyme—shape the expression of exile and loss. Hall’s idea of identity as fluid and shaped by history and displacement provides a framework for understanding how Ali negotiates his sense of self through poetry. The analysis explores how memory, longing, and cultural hybridity emerge within the constraints of the ghazal form, reinforcing the poet’s diasporic consciousness. It offers new insights into how Ali’s poetry engages with themes of identity, belonging, and historical rupture.