THE FOUR GREAT URDU POETS Mir, Nazir, Ghalib & Iqbal Selected Poems Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Mir (1723 - 1810) was the leading Urdu poet of the eighteenth century and one of the pioneers of Urdu. He was one of the principal poets of the Delhi school of the Urdu ghazal. Like many Urdu poets Mir's literary reputation is from his ghazals. After moving to Lucknow his daughter died, then his son and wife. Mir practiced the Malamati or 'Blameworthy' aspect of Sufism. He was a prolific poet, his complete works consisting of 6 Divans comprising all kinds of poetic forms: ghazals, masnavis, qit'as, ruba'is, etc. Nazir (1735-1830) is an Indian poet known as the 'Father of Nazm', who wrote mainly Urdu ghazals and nazms. The canvas of Nazir's nazms is so vast that it encompasses all aspects of human behavior. Many of his poems are spiritual and he is seen as a true Sufi. Ghalib (1797-1869}, was born in the city of Agra of parents with Turkish aristocratic ancestry. His great fame came to him posthumously. Although he wrote ghazals, qit'as and ruba'is in Persian he is more famous for those written in Urdu. Iqbal (1873-1938) was born in Sialkot, Punjab. He graduated with a master's degree in philosophy. Nietzsche and Bergson influenced him and he became critical of Western civilization that he regarded as decadent. He turned to Islam and Sufism for inspiration. In his final years he returned to Urdu as his medium with ghazals inspired by his on-and-off Sufism. Here is a large collection of his ruba'is, ghazals, nazms, qit'as, masnavis & qasida. All poems in this collection are in the correct rhyme-structure and meaning. Introduction on all the lives of the Poets, Selected Bibliographies. Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" 599 pages. COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'."It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat... I am astonished. " Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran."Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator from English into Persian, knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Omar Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Mahsati, Lalla Ded, Bulleh Shah, Shah Latif, Makhfi and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and a dozen screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa
Amit Basole teaches Economics at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. Urdu poetry as well as history and architecture of the Indian subcontinent are his passions. Anjum Altaf is a South Asian living in Lahore. He is the author of Transgressions: Poems Inspired by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Aakar Books Delhi 2019, Liberty Books Karachi 2020.
The book is an anthology of seven critical essays on the work of Mirza Ghalib, and considers a number of issues such as comparisons between him and Muhammad Iqbal, William Shakespeare and John Donne. It also foregrounds the most distinguishing features in his poetry, including his art of dialectical poetics, the obsession with the theme of death throughout his poetry, and the representation of Karbala and Ahle-Bayt in his work. The book thus highlights the different shades of meaning in both his poetry and letters. These myriad shades are embedded in Ghalib’s vision of life. Like Shakespeare and Sophocles, Ghalib details the colourfulness of life in all its horror and glory. Just as life itself is colourful in its myriad shades, Ghalib’s poetry offers us a vision of life which is pluralistic, multifarious and universal at the same time.
THE NAZM IN URDU POETRY An Anthology Translation & Introduction Paul Smith The nazm is a major part of Urdu rhyming poetry. From Qutub Shah to Sauda, Mir, Nazir Akbarabadi (the so-called 'father' of this form), Zafar, Ghalib, Zauq, Inayat Khan and then to the great Iqbal... they cover ordinary life, spiritual and philosophical thinking, national issues and the precarious predicament of individual human beings. The nazm can be any of various forms of Urdu poetry including the musaddes, qasida, masnavi, mukhammas, tarji-band, tarikh-band. CONTENTS: The Urdu Language, Urdu Poetry, The Nazm. THE POETS: Qutub Shah page 21, Sauda 33, Mir, 75, Nazir 99, Zafar 229, Ghalib 253, Zauq 269, Inayat Khan 281, Iqbal 295. The correct rhyme-structures have been kept and beauty and meaning of these sometimes satirical, honest, eye-opening, powerful, loving and occasionally controversial and at times deeply mystical poems. Introduction Life, Times & Works of each poet with Selected Bibliographies. Large print (16pt) & Large Format (7" x 10") Edition. 349 pages. Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, Iqbal, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Lalla Ded, Hali and many others, and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books, screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa
SAQI-NAMA (Book of the Winebringer) Allama Iqbal Translation & Introduction Paul Smith (Sir) Muhammad (often called Allama) Iqbal was born in 1877 Sialkot within the Punjab Province of British India (now in Pakistan). During his study in Europe, Iqbal began to write poetry. He prioritized it because he believed he had found an easy way to express his thoughts. The poetry and philosophy of Rumi bore the deepest influence on his mind. Iqbal's poetry has been translated into many languages, at the time when his work was famous during the early part of the 20th century. He died in 1937. Many of Iqbal's ghazals resemble those of Hafiz and it is through the rhymes and metres he inherited from Hafiz, Ghalib and others, that he expounded his philosophy of Action and the realization of the 'Self'. Iqbal wrote one of the more recent Saqi-namas (a form perfected by Hafiz) in masnavi form in Urdu. 'The central theme of the poem is Muslim Renaissance. Iqbal sketches changing order of the world's political system and laments that Islamic Nations are still devoid of that awakening. He prays to Almighty Allah to bestow Muslims with wisdom and awareness'. Wikipedia. This beautiful translation is in the correct form. Introduction: The Life & Work of Allama Iqbal, Timeline, Genre of the 'Book of the Winebringer' (Saqi-Nama), Bibliography. APPENDIX: Masnavi: From 'The Secrets of Self'... (From the Persian) The Prologue...Large Format 7" x 10" Pages 139.COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'."It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran."Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator from English to Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart.Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages, including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Shah Latif, and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and screenplays. Published by New Humanity Books amazon.com/author/smithpa
This selection of poetry and prose by Ghalib provides an accessible and wide-ranging introduction to the preeminent Urdu poet of the nineteenth century. Ghalib's poems, especially his ghazals, remain beloved throughout South Asia for their arresting intelligence and lively wit. His letters—informal, humorous, and deeply personal—reveal the vigor of his prose style and the warmth of his friendships. These careful translations allow readers with little or no knowledge of Urdu to appreciate the wide range of Ghalib's poetry, from his gift for extreme simplicity to his taste for unresolvable complexities of structure. Beginning with a critical introduction for nonspecialists and specialists alike, Frances Pritchett and Owen Cornwall present a selection of Ghalib's works, carefully annotating details of poetic form. Their translation maintains line-for-line accuracy and thereby preserves complex poetic devices that play upon the tension between the two lines of each verse. The book includes whole ghazals, selected individual verses from other ghazals, poems in other genres, and letters. The book also includes a glossary, the Urdu text of the original poetry, and an appendix containing Ghalib's comments on his own verses.
Mirza Ghalib is to the Urdu language what William Shakespeare is to the English language. And the most widely read Urdu book in the world is a collection of the Love Sonnets of Ghalib. These sonnets resonate with the voices of maestros through the corridors of history. Ghalib is not just an Asian phenomenon and his sonnets are loved and studied worldwide.