Language Games- A Brief Summary

I went mad in your house of words,
purposely mad, so you would
give me asylum.

I went mad to undergo
a therapy of syllables.

But you prescribed crosswords,
anagrams for sleeping pills.
That didn’t work.

You bought a Scrabble game.
I juggled the white pieces,
maybe a hundred times.
But my seven letters
were all vowels.

When you spoke again,
my sorrow turned deaf:
I couldn’t hear you smile.

…

Words never evade you,
you can build anything.
You can build a whole hour
with only seven seconds.

Framed with consonants,
we resumed play, no vowels
in my seven letters.
I saw you do wonders without vowels.

Let’s give up, I said,
but you cried: Truth AND Consequences!
I rocked shut to sounds.

You challenged me to Charades.
I agreed. This
would be my syllable-cure.

Tableau One: I licked a saucer of milk.
You cried: CAT!
Tableau Two: I was stubborn as a mule.
You cried: ASS!
Tableau Three: I gave you my smile, like a prize.
You cried: TROPHY!

You cried: CAT-ASS-TROPHY?
You cried: CATASTROPHE!

– Agha Shahid Ali, from A Walk Through the Yellow Pages

“Language Games” has been taken from Agha Shahid Ali’s poetry collection “A Walk Through The Yellow Pages”. The poem is about the inner conflicts of the poet with language, which are presented in a lyrically profound, witty, and humorous way.

In this particular poem, the tone of Shahid is serious yet filled with witticism. His poetry about his insecurities has turned into a narrative, that itself has become the subject of allegories. These allegories elaborate on the story through various metaphors, disguises, and figures. The specificity of his experience and emotions, its acceptance of difference, it’s feeling of being comfortable yet exiled, of missing something wherever he lives or goes, contributes fully to the lyrical power of his poetry.

Language has been personified in the poem. Throughout the poem, the poet is addressing language. How language at times plays emotional games with him, and at times gives him a safe place where he can find refuge. This poem is quite different from most of the other poems of Shahid (which are mostly about exile). “Language Games” is about Shahid as a writer and his experiences with language. Towards the end of the poem, the reader is amazed by the wit and humor of Shahid’s poems.

I went mad in your house of words,
purposely mad, so you would
give me asylum.
The poet has become emotionally turbulent. He seeks solace, and he has nowhere to turn to. All he has got is language and the words of that language. Shahid is in conversation with language and affirms it that he’s turned mad with the inner conflicts of his life. He starts to write poetry, to give a vent to his emotions, which have made him crazy.
It refers to a typical perspective — writers trying to find refuge in literature/writing. Khaled Hosseini, Nadia Hashimi, Salman Rushdie are all immigrants just like Shahid was, and it is their writing which helped them write about their experiences.

I went mad to undergo
a therapy of syllables.
It expresses his writer’s block, and how that writer’s block is just further aggravating his condition. He is trying to write poems through which he can express his emotions but the language fails him, he cannot gather words. His poems lack rhythm.
Syllable structure is not prominent in prose writing. But it plays a central role in poetry. He finds it tough to write in rhythm because he is in conflict with himself, and in such a condition, one is unable to write with creativity.

But you prescribed crosswords,
anagrams for sleeping pills.
That didn’t work.
Shahid, however, does not find solace in the ways of language. He solves crosswords to master his linguistic skills, but it does nothing to help. He turns to anagrams, but in vain. He tries to sleep to these games, but with time he is losing his sleep too. The ways of language are strange. Unlike humans, language does not have a robust caretaking system. It will puzzle you, confuse you, and ironically help you vent out your emotions. Language is strange, and its games are even stranger.

You bought a Scrabble game.
I juggled the white pieces,
maybe a hundred times.
But my seven letters
were all vowels.
In a game of Scrabble, players are given 7 letters each. Players have to use these pieces to construct a word letter by letter while taking turns. Shahid is fortunate that his pieces were all vowels because almost all words in English have at least one vowel in them.
Though having vowels signifies the potential to create more words, however, Shahid cannot use them to create a word. A paradox has been created between fortune and misfortune. Sometimes, despite having the right resources at your disposal you cannot put them to use if your mind is not at ease.

When you spoke again,
my sorrow turned deaf:
I couldn’t hear you smile.
The eerie indifference of language, towards Shahid, has irritated him beyond his tolerance threshold. The games it has played with Shahid have made him numb. Shahid has devoted his life to letters and words. He has refined language with rhythm and lyrics, but in turn, language is being pitiless towards him. Shahid has now made peace with grief and sorrow. And when language laughs at his misery, all he can do is be indifferent to it as it does not affect him anymore.

Words never evade you,
you can build anything.
You can build a whole hour
with only seven seconds.
Shahid has dealt with language and words throughout his life. Language is his domain, the domain he has mastered. So, “Words never evade you, you can build anything”, signifies that fact. What he’s trying to say is that with language, one can narrate an hour’s story in a sentence. Words alone can transport you to a different world, whether existent or non-existent. One does not need to travel physically to get to know about stories of faraway lands.
But currently, he is in a crisis. He is dealing with a catastrophe. He is chained and his creativity has taken to the air. He is losing the game of words and wit. He is not able to build or create anything.

Framed with consonants,
we resumed play, no vowels
in my seven letters.
I saw you do wonders without vowels.
“Framed with consonants” could mean that, to create a word all he needs to do is, add a vowel. But life is so harsh on him that when he needs vowels, he has got none. One moment the world is with him, and the next moment the whole world is against him. Meanwhile, his opponent continues to enjoy his suffering.
They resume playing. On the board are consonants, and Shahid is so unlucky to find that there is not a single vowel in his seven letters. A few moments ago, all he had was vowels and now, he does not even have one. Language, on the other hand, created words even without vowels.

Let’s give up, I said,
but you cried: Truth AND Consequences!
I rocked shut to sounds.
This verse suggests that Shahid’s willpower is weak. But something is pushing him to continue playing. Maybe his inner self. He seems to be perseverant about himself.
But Truth and Consequences doesn’t seem to be the game Shahid wants to play. This game requires honesty, which at the moment is sour to him. He does not want to believe that he has lost his essence. He wants to turn a blind eye to reality. He wants to play a game that will “cure” him, a game that would cure his blocked creativity.
Truth and Consequences was a radio show which initially ran on NBC radio and later on NBS TV as well. In the show, contestants were supposed to answer unconventional questions within a short time limit of a few seconds before the buzzer sounded. Failing to answer, the contestant had to choose between Truth or Consequence (an embarrassing stunt usually to be performed). It is somewhat similar to Truth or Dare.
Shahid has pointed this out because the other language games, such as charades and scrabble, were harmless or rather beneficial to him (as they could cure him of his creativity block). This particular game could expose his insecurities and conflicts. He would be asked questions about his past or made to answer hard questions. So, he breaks the radio and saves himself.

You challenged me to Charades.
I agreed.
This would be my syllable-cure.
Charades is a game in which a single person acts out each syllable of a word or phrase in order, while the rest of the team guesses what the word or phrase could be. Puns are common in this game.
Shahid agrees to play a game of Charades with his opponent. A game of Charades would help Shahid to regain his virtuosity.

Tableau One: I licked a saucer of milk.
You cried: CAT!
Tableau Two: I was stubborn as a mule.
You cried: ASS!
Tableau Three: I gave you my smile, like a prize.
You cried: TROPHY!
The game of charades begins. Shahid imitates a cat who is licking a saucer of milk — Cat. He points to his stubbornness — Ass. He smiles as if to show he has won the language games — Trophy.
But all the way, it is not a trophy but a CATASTROPHE.

You cried: CAT-ASS-TROPHY?
You cried: CATASTROPHE!

Written by: Aisha Parvez and Anzar Wani

References :

1. King, Bruce. “AGHA SHAHID ALI’S TRICULTURAL NOSTALGIA.” Journal of South Asian Literature, vol. 29, no. 2, 1994, pp. 1–20. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25797511. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020.

2. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/ali-agha-shahid