Urdu Poetry (An Anthology upto 19th Century)

This book has been produced in pursuance of the idiomatically exact vocabulary translation of selected Urdu verses. It consists of selection of verses of 20 well known Urdu poets (from 16th Century down to the middle of 19th Century) representing the Deccan, Delhi and Lucknow School of poetry. The selections have been made from Ghazals only excluding other forms of verses because Ghazal is the soul and essence of Urdu poetry. The ghazals included in this volume are carefully selected and different levels of composition of a poet are adequately represented.

Versified translation has been avoided, instead a verbal translation in prose form is given to ensure that the thoughts and visions of the poet are conveyed to the reader to the fullest possible extent. Brief footnotes on the socio-cultural background of the verses and the idiomatic uses of words and phrases are also provided wherever necessary. A brief bio graphical note is also given in the beginning of each section which will help the reader in relating the poet to his social and literary environment.

The book presents the couplets of Ghazals in Urdu script with its Romanized pronunciation along with its English rendering and translation.

SHAH ABDUS SALAM (b. 1947), holds a doctorate in Urdu from the University of Lucknow, and Master's. degrees (Urdu, Arabic, and Arab. Culture & Civilization) from the same university. He has also completed several courses of linguistics from the university of Minnesota. He has taught Urdu literature and Islamic studies at the University of Minnesota, U.S.A. Dr. Shah is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Arabic, University of Lucknow. While Urdu poetry has been his main field of specialisation. Persian and Hindi poetry have also been his favourite subjects since his college days. His publications include: A Reader of Classical Urdu Poetry (3 vols.. anthology, in collab. 1976, New York): Polson of Love, (D.K. Publications.. Delhi, 1983): Dabistan-e-Aatish" (Urdu, 1977); Kulliayaat Shawą (Urdu, 1978): Tarikh Shahiya Neshapuriyah (Translation from Persian, 1990): Islam Ka Itihaas (Hindi, 3 vols., 1992): Kulliat Sulaiman Shikoh (Urdu, 1982): Kalaam Nasiruddin Haider Badshah (Urdu, Ed. 1983), and Tazkira Shaukate Nadiri (Urdu, Transl. 1984).

Every branch of literature particularly poetry, reflects the intellectual attainments and cultural milieu of its people, so does Urdu poetry. But it does not merely reflect the cultural and intellectual achievements of the peoples of Indian sub-continent, but of several Asian countries, because of Urdu's deep cultural and literary links between them i.e. India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and West Asia. Such a language is bound to be rich in vocabulary and texture, profuse in metaphors and similes, wide in vision and lofty in imagery.

It is no wonder that, despite its comparatively short span of life, Urdu has risen in popularity, not only in India and Pakistan, but also in Iran, West Asian countries and amongst Asian communities in USA and several European countries.

The literary and poetic wealth of Urdu can compete with literary riches of many older languages. Even though Urdu poetry developed under strong influence of Persian due to historic reasons, it readily absorbed the influence of other languages. It received inspiration from classical poetry of Arabia and Persia and from rich poetic and fanciful mythological literature of India. It emanated from a North Indian language Brij-Bhasha and it could never shake of from its influence. The impact of Persian seems to be stronger mainly because of Persian meter, rhyme, texture and imagery adopted in Urdu.

The Urdu language is very hospitable in adopting and absorbing words and phrases, ideas, imagery and even myths from other languages, enhancing its power of expression of feelings and ideas. Indeed Urdu poetry has benefitted in many ways from this quality of absorbtion.

Urdu poetry owes much of its popularity to Urdu ghazal - the poetry of love and romance. It originated as a form and style of "talking to women", but it soon expanded to many other fields because of its imaginative qualities and poetic vision. The poetry which was originally meant to address the beloved soon reached the height of heavens in its love of the Divine. Then it blossomed into spiritualism.

**Contents and Sample Pages**