Postcard from Kashmir

The unrhymed 14-line lyric poem is divided into four stanzas: The first two are couplets, the third is six lines, and the fourth is four. The 14-line structure and the poem’s melancholy romanticism have led to it being called a sonnet by some; however, the categorization is debatable. Many contemporary poets and critics think the iambic pentameter (each line containing five pairs of the da-dum syllabic sounds) is what makes a sonnet a sonnet, while others consider any contemporary 14-line poem a sonnet. “Postcard from Kashmir” is best considered a bow to the sonnet form, both because of its number of lines and, more importantly, its tone and subject. A sonnet was traditionally a love poem, and “Postcard from Kashmir” is a bittersweet love letter from an exile to the homeland they left behind. In the poem’s context, this separation from the beloved homeland is even more poignant because it is a land riddled with conflict and violence. It is an idyll that has been corrupted for the speaker; they can never return to the pristine beauty they left behind, even when they travel there physically.