History of Urdu Poetry
WikiPedia Definition
Urdu poetry is a rich tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Many of the poetic forms and structures are of Arabic origin. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. Meer, Dard, Ghalib, Anees, Dabeer, Iqbal, Zauq, Josh, Jigar, Faiz, Firaq, Shakeb Jalali, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Shair, Mohsin, Faraz and Faizi are among the greatest poets of Urdu. The language of Urdu got its pinnacle under the British Raj, and it received official status. All famous writers of Urdu language including Ghalib and Iqbal were given British scholarships.[1] Following the Partition of India in 1947, it found major poets and scholars were divided along the nationalistic lines. However, Urdu poetry is cherished in both the nations. Both the Muslims and Hindus from across the border continue the tradition.
The Principal Forms Of Urdu Poetry Are:
- Ghazal,
usually a short love lyric, sometimes a poem on a general subject.
Strictly speaking it should have the same rhyme throughout. Urdu ghazals
for the most part are artificial and conventional.
- Qasida,
a kind of ode, often panegyric on a benefactor, sometimes a satire,
sometimes a poem dealing with an important event. As a rule it is longer
than ghazal, but it follows the same system of rhyme.
- Marsiya (or elegy),
is nearly always on the death of Hasan and Husain and their families,
but occasionally on the death of relatives and friends. It is usually in
six-lined stanzas with the rhyme aaaabb. The
recitation of these elegies in the first ten days of Muharram is one of
the greatest event in Muslim life. A fully developed marsiya is always
an epic. The famous marsia writers who inherited the tradition of Mir
Anis among his successive generations are Mir Nawab Ali 'Munis', Dulaha
Sahab 'Uruj', Mustafa Meerza urf Piyare Sahab 'Rasheed', Syed Muhammad
Mirza Uns, Ali Nawab 'Qadeem', Syed Sajjad Hussain "Shadeed" Lucknavi,
Allama, Dr.Syed Ali Imam Zaidi, "Gauher" Luckhnavi the(great grandson of
Mir Babber Ali Anis).
- Masnavi,
in the majority of cases a poetic romance. It may extend to several
thousand lines, but generally is much shorter. A few masnavis deal with
ordinary domestic and other occurrences. Mir and Sauda wrote some of
this kind. They are always in heroic couplets, and the common metre
is bacchic tetrameter with an iambus for last foot. The Religious
masnavi Histori of Islam (Tarikh-e-Islam Az Quran) written by Dr. Syed
Ali Imam Zaidi Gauher Lucknavi.
- Tazkira, biographical anthology,
almost always of poetry alone. This is often a mere collection of names
with a line or two of information about each poet, followed by specimen
of his composition. On the other hand it may be the history of Urdu poetry
with copious illustrative extracts. The best tazkiras give biographical
details, but fail in literary criticism, and we get little idea of
style or poetical power, still less of contents of poems. Even the large
anthologies do not systematically review an author's work. Most of them
have the names in alphabetical order, but one or two prefer historical
order. The majority quote only lyrics, and the quotations, usually
chosen at random, do not illustrate poetry.
- Nazm Urdu
nazm is a major part of Urdu poetry. From Nazeer
Akarabadi, Iqbal, Josh, Firaq, Akhtarul Iman to down the line Noon Meem
Rashid, Faiz, Ali Sardar Jafri and Kaifi Azmi. They have covered common
life, philosophical thinking, national issues and the precarious
predecament of individual human being.
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