ECO-CRITICAL DISCOURSE IN GHANI KHAN’S POETRY:A LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The paper titled ‘Eco-critical Discourse in Ghani Khans Poetry: A Linguistic Perspective’ highlights the strengths of language in creating ecological consciousness in the poetry of Ghani Khan, one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century in the Pashto language. The study applies the paradigm of Eco-critical Discourse Analysis (EDA) to the linguistic expressions and expressions of ecological awareness like metaphor, personification, lexical contrast, and imagery used in texts to criticize anthropocentric ideologies and encourage human-nature coexistence with nature. According to the qualitative textual analysis of the several poems such as A Poppy Flower, Hell, Prayer, Heaven and Earth, and Music, the study depicts that poetic discourse of Ghani Khan makes nature alive, moral, as well as, spiritual. His diction praises quality of simplicity, intertwining, and admiration of the nature and nature is reformulated as a teacher and a friend instead of a subject of human exploitation. The results show that the eco-spiritual vision of Ghani Khan is based on Pashtun Sufi-humanist thinking, which puts more emphasis on humility, gratitude, and coexistence- ideas that are very necessary in ecological balance and sustainability. This work is part of the Pashto literary criticism, as it presents the idea of an eco-linguistic approach in which indigenous poetic traditions are linked with the worldwide environmental discourse and provides insights on how language and literature may be used to promote environmental ethics, cultural preservation, and environmental consciousness.