HUMAN FEELINGS, SURROUNDINGS AND RULES IN MD. NAEEM AZIZ'S POETRY, Author - Dr. Manoranjan Das

HUMAN FEELINGS, SURROUNDINGS AND RULES IN MD. NAEEM AZIZ'S POETRY
Dr. Manoranjan Das
E: manoranjandas20018@gmail.com

Drawing upon reality and imagination, Bangladeshi poet Md. Naeem Aziz explores how human feelings, rules such as social norms and laws, and our surroundings shape the ways in which people survive, think, and live together. His poetry gives voice to people whose freedom has been suppressed and whose voices have been silenced. At the same time, he emphasizes the enduring human desire for liberty. Thus, he writes in his poem,  'Liberty or Death'

They took our country from us,
They took our lands from us.
Yet could not chain our voice,
Nor silence freedom's poise.
They burnt our homes to dust,
They crushed our dreams unjust.
But still we rise with flame,
With liberty in name.¹

The poem expresses the idea that freedom remains an essential part of human dignity even when people are subjected to oppression. The poet presents liberty not merely as a political condition but also as an inner human aspiration that cannot easily be destroyed.
The poet further suggests that feelings guide our inner choices, while rules and laws create order and security in society. Our physical and social surroundings also provide the context in which human life develops. In the following lines, liberty is presented as an essential element of human existence:

They're harming our people,
They're killing our lives.
They are the most punishable,
In depth of our eyes.
Are you people ready for
Liberty or death?
Our goal stands for
Liberty or death.
Our freedom is our breath,
Our oath is liberty or death.
We'll break their chain,
Or perish in the rain.²

Here, freedom is associated with breath and life itself. The repeated expression “Liberty or death” intensifies the speaker's determination to resist oppression and preserve human dignity.
Md. Naeem Aziz also presents human feelings as important inner signals that guide people toward what is safe, harmful, or rewarding. His poetry often connects individual suffering with wider questions of humanity and social injustice. He depicts poverty, helplessness, and exploitation through the suffering of a young girl in 'The Harlot of the East'

In the hour when daylight bled into rust,
I saw a young girl dragged through the dust.
Her eyes were rain, her face full of pain,
As humanity drowned in greed and shame.
Her father was helpless with fever and debt,
Coins were borrowed as time was the fate.
Then poverty sharpened its merciless blade,
A daughter's deal that made her a slave.³


The imagery of “daylight,” “rain,” “pain,” and the “merciless blade” conveys the emotional and social consequences of poverty. The poem demonstrates how economic hardship can threaten human dignity and transform vulnerable individuals into victims of exploitation.

Through the continuation of the poem, Aziz develops the idea that emotions can encourage people to make humane choices even when circumstances appear overwhelming. He presents compassion as an active force capable of restoring freedom and dignity:

I purchased not a body that night,
But only time to stand beside her fight.
A crushing debt that broke a human life,
Turned streets and walls into chains of night.
Before the sun rose and shone,
My messenger returned with coins I owned.
The debt was paid and humanity won,
Freedom was the gift that left her reborn.⁴

The passage transforms an individual act into a broader expression of humanity. The speaker does not merely describe the payment of a debt; he presents the act as a means of restoring freedom. Thus, compassion and human feeling become forces of social and moral transformation.
Rules and laws, on the other hand, set boundaries within which people can live together without chaos. They protect individual rights and create common expectations within society. Human feelings, however, give moral and emotional significance to those social structures. In this context, the following lines emphasize the value of feeling:

Dearly bought the hidden treasure, finger feelings can bestow;
chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure, thrill the deepest notes of woo.⁵

The quotation emphasizes the emotional dimension of human experience. Feelings can be understood as a form of inner wealth through which people experience affection, pleasure, and emotional connection.

Md. Naeem Aziz further develops the relationship between rules, justice, and social surroundings in Rule Over Ashes. He depicts a society in which oppression produces suffering, while the desire for justice inspires people to resist injustice in  'Rule Over Ashes'

In my country where shadows loom,
Ruler cast a pall of gloom.
When Justice Call,
Students stand tall.
They sacrificed their lives,
Answering the call.
They accepted martyrdom,
To bring justice.⁶

The poem associates the struggle for justice with sacrifice. The image of students standing against oppression indicates the importance of collective action in confronting injustice. Here, rules and political authority are examined from the perspective of their effects on human lives.
Aziz further questions a form of political rule that is based on violence and the destruction of human life. He contrasts cruelty with compassion and presents justice as a fundamental principle of humanity:

To rule a nation,
To rule a country,
Killing is the only key
Ruler thinks as glory.
Thousands were killed,
Thousands were harmed
Rule over Ashes,
Is the way she learns.
If cruelty brings you joy
Then you're no human.
If you enjoy ruling over dead bodies
Then you're no human.
A heart of flesh, full of compassion
In merciless acts, finds no fashion.
In false joy finds only hollow
A human's path they cannot follow.
Every single life matters,
Is the song we play,
In the blink of time
Justice leads the way,
When darkness falls
We'll light the night,
With patience and hope
We'll set things right.⁷

The poem establishes a clear contrast between oppressive power and human compassion. The repeated emphasis on the value of every human life suggests that legitimate social order should be connected with justice, patience, hope, and compassion rather than cruelty and violence.
Md. Naeem Aziz is a Bangladeshi poet, author, engineer, and researcher, born on 10 December 1998. His literary works have received national and international recognition. One of his poems has reportedly been included in an English literature textbook for upper-secondary schools in Italy. He has also received several literary awards and recognitions. Writing primarily in English, his poetry explores themes such as humanity, justice, society, history, freedom, and emotion. Through literature, he seeks to connect cultures, encourage empathy, and promote friendship among people across different societies.

Aziz develops these concerns through his poetic diction. His poetry suggests that human beings shape their surroundings and, in turn, their surroundings influence their daily habits, emotions, and culture. Safe, clean, and positive surroundings can contribute to physical survival and mental well-being, while harmful environments can produce fear, suffering, and psychological distress.
The poet also emphasizes the importance of emotions in human life. Emotions can motivate people to act, respond to danger, develop relationships, and express sympathy. In this sense, emotions play an important role in human survival and in the psychological functioning of individuals and societies.


The interpersonal dimensions of emotion are often expressed through facial expressions, voices, gestures, and body language. Aziz extends this emotional dimension to the suffering caused by war and communal conflict. Thus, Md Ejaj Ahamed's 'Tears of Humanity' may be added,

The wars are gradually embracing the lands,
The communalism is spreading malodors,
The humanity is looking at the world with tears
And composing elegy with glares.⁸


The imagery of tears and elegy presents war as a source of collective human suffering. The poem moves beyond individual pain and portrays humanity itself as a witness to violence. In this way, Aziz connects human emotions with the wider social and political environment.
Moreover, Aziz explores affection, beauty, dreams, and freedom through representations of personal relationships and idealized femininity. In 'The Loving Girl', he presents a young woman whose dreams are closely associated with nature, travel, the sea, and the moon:


A girl I saw in my dream,
Black long hair she has, like a queen.
The eyes of the girl is black,
Mountain is the place she love.
The girl wants to live, beside the sea
But never went, to the heart of the sea.
The girl love to see the Moon,
Moon lover is her tune.
The girl wants to travel the world,
For this, she wants to be the bird.
The girl I saw in my dream,
Black long hair she has, like a queen.⁹

The poem presents a dreamlike image of a girl whose desires are connected with the natural world and with the freedom to travel. The sea, mountain, moon, and bird function as images of beauty, aspiration, movement, and freedom. Thus, the poet's treatment of human feelings extends from social suffering and political oppression to affection, imagination, and personal dreams.

On the whole, Md. Naeem Aziz's poetry brings together human feelings, surroundings, and systems of rule. His poems portray freedom as a fundamental human aspiration, compassion as a moral force, justice as an essential social principle, and the surrounding environment as an important influence on human experience. Through images of suffering, freedom, war, justice, beauty, and love, his poetry explores the relationship between individual emotions and wider social realities. His poetic world therefore presents humanity as a continuing search for freedom, justice, compassion, dignity, and peaceful coexistence.

References
1. Aziz, Md. Naeem. Liberty or Death, https://swapnervelasahityapatrika.blogspot.com/2026/08/poems-by-md-naeem-aziz.html
2. Ibid.
3. Aziz, Md. Naeem. The Harlot of the East.
4. Ibid.
5. Burns. The New Dictionary of Thoughts. Ed. T. Edwards, D.D., et al. Standard Literature, India, 2002, p. 607.
6. Md. Naeem Aziz, 'Rule Over Ashes,' https://swapnervelasahityapatrika.blogspot.com/2026/08/poems-by-md-naeem-aziz.html
7. Ibid.
8. Md Ejaj Ahamed's Tears of Humanity. The Unspoken Words of the Blue Planet, Dream Raft Publication, Aurangabad, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India, 2025,  p. 41.
9. Md. Naeem Aziz's 'The Loving Girl', https://swapnervelasahityapatrika.blogspot.com/2026/08/poems-by-md-naeem-aziz.html

*Major help: Md Ejaj Ahamed*