Hindi and Urdu Poetry interpretation thread

These 1950s and 60s films are good for brushing up your Hindi/Urdu as in those days the only way a writer could earn a living was by writing film scripts.

I'm looking for a good book about the basics of Urdu poetry. Meaning, an introduction to the theory of elements such as Meter, Imagery, etc.
I'd really appreciate it if someone could recommend me such a book.

I presume you are looking for a book written in English. The one I immediately think of is The Pursuit of Urdu Literature by Ralph Russell. It was published in 1992 so even if it is out of print it should be available in libraries or from dealers in second-hand books.
BTW, this work has been translated into Urdu with the title Urdu adab ki justuju.

Thanks.
I did manage to find it in a University library here, so I should be able to get it in about a week or two.

I just finished reading an interesting book recently published called Poetry of Kings by Allison Busch. It is an attempt to restore the poetry of the so-called रीती काल (riti kaal = era of form)) to its rightful place in literary history. The earliest poet of this era is considered to be केशवदास (Keshavdas, 1555?-1617 - contemporary of Shakespeare), court poet at Orchha. At school we didn't take much notice of these poets, as if there had been nothing between Bhakti and Bharatendu.

This book sounds very interesting, and there's actually a copy at the same university where there's also the book you recommended in your last post.
Do the poems which appear in the book, come also in their original Hindi form, or only translated into English?


I'm reading the story "jhooti kahaani" by Manto right now, and one of the characters quote this couplet by Ghalib:

حریف مطلب مشکل نہیں فسوں نیاز
دعا قبول ہو یا رب کہ عمر خضر دراز

hareef-e-matlab-e-mushkil nahin fasoon niyaaz
duaa qabool ho yaa rab ki umr khazr daraaz

can anyone please interpret this couplet for me?

I am not even sure how to translate this couplet literally. I find the double izafet at the beginning quite confusing. Does matlab mean "meaning" or "purpose", does hareef mean "enemy" or "rival", so could hareef-e-matlab mean "competitor in achieving something"? Does mushkil refer to matlab or to harif. And so on..

The book by Ms.Busch does quote a lot of poetry in the original language but in Roman transcription.

Thanks for trying Golghar.

See if you can get hold of the following books:

1. An Introduction to the Poetry of Ghalib, by Sarvat Rehman

2. Diwân-e-Ghalib, complete translation into English, including all the Ghazals, ..., translated by Sarvat Rehman

As far as I remember the latter has the original poems in Roman transcription. The Introduction volume should also give you a good idea of Urdu poetics. This same person has also done translations of Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

I found this book about Urdu poetry which looks very interesting:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/p...bus/pybus.html

A really rare book! The www.worldcat.org turned up very few hits. The sole copy in Germany is in the Prussian State Library in Berlin and may only be consulted in the reading room.

Hi ! Sorryi know this is rather late in the dayfor a reply but as I have joined this forum just five mins back,having read your query about ghalibs couplet Hareef e matlab e mushkil nahi---It's ghalib satire. He does not want to disappoint people who believe that prayers are answered so he says God please make khizrs life eternal.knowing that khizr is already eternal.therefore there is no risk of this prayer remaining unanswered.so he says I won't ask for a difficult wish all I ask of you is to make khizr eternal.

Welcome to Indiamike Asim. Great first post!

Hey, I hope someone could help me with this.
In the Ghazal "Sochte aur Jaagte" performed by Ghulam Ali, there's one verse I can't understand. It's from 4:54-5:08 in this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzJhFmEwPlg

I'd really appreciate it if someone could transliterate this verse for me.