urdu literature Resources
Urdu Literature Resource
Ghazal: It's Definition and Elements
It’s an Arabic word that means “conversing with the beloved.” It developed in Persia in the 10th century AD from the Arabic verse form qasida. A Qasida (Ballad) is a long poem in Urdu, Persian or Arabic that usually describe...
The English Ghazal
Ghazal, as a literary form to which there is no other approximate form in any of the literatures, has long elicited the attention of poets writing in languages as diverse as German, French, Spanish, and English. That Friedri...
Ghalib, Urdu, Kalkatta
We have had enough narratives about Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1869) and Kalkatta. There are stories about how he loved this multifaceted city, how he dealt with his detractors, and finally how he came back to Delhi a...
Progressive Writers Movement (Taraqqi Pasand Tehreek)
A Prologue The Progressive Writers Movement has emerged as a constant refrain in almost all the studies of modernist Urdu literature ever since the 1930s. The entire corpus of literature produced under the influence of...
Urdu Poetry in English Translation: A Bibliography (Updated: June 2020)
A Ahmed, Tehmina. On the Outside: Poems of Zeeshan Sahil. Karachi: City Press, 2006. Ahmad, Aijaz (ed.) Ghazals of Ghalib. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971. Ahmad, Riaz. Ghalib: Interpretations. Rawalpind...
Urdu Ghazal:Institutionalised Concepts and Persons
Every literature is rooted in a given culture. In other words, it is the culture that determines the nature of its literary production, as well as its forms and genres. Ghazal, for example, that has travelled from location t...
Forms of Urdu Poetry
Urdu, the language we recognize today, originated from the local dialects known as Dehalvi that are spoken in and around Delhi. It emerged during the 13th and 14th centuries by incorporating vocabulary from Turkish, Arabic,...
Circle of Connoisseurs (Halqai-i Arbaab-e Zauq)
A Proplogue The name, Halqai- Arabaab-e Zauq (Circle of Connoisseurs), is amply suggestive of its essential nature and scope. The poets who came together to form this Halqa were clearly different in their orientation and...
Modernism in Urdu Nazm (Jadeediyat in Urdu Nazm)
A Prologue Modernism in Urdu poetry may be traced back to the call for “New Nazm” given by Mohammad Hussain Azad and Altaf Hussain Hali who appeared on the literary map after the mid nineteenth century. They took note of...
Four Schools of Urdu Poetry
Delhi School Delhi had long been a centre of poets who wrote in Persian. With the arrival of Wali Deccani in Delhi in 1700 and then of his divan in 1719, it was realised that serious poetry could well be written in the...
Modernism in Urdu Ghazal (Jadeediyat in Urdu Ghazal)
The Modern Ghazal The mid-twentieth century saw the emergence of what may be called the modern Urdu ghazal. While some of the poets drew upon the traditions of the past to develop their own models of the decisively modern...
Patrons and Urdu Poets
Reading through the history of Urdu poetry, one comes across a number of stories where poets needed patrons to sustain themselves as the patrons needed poets to eulogise them. Thinking of patrons and poets is also thinking o...
Literary Terms in Urdu
A literary text is created by drawing upon literary devices, rhetoric, typologies of writing, concepts of composition and a variety of styles. These are broadly categorised under the broad head of literary terms. Here is a c...
The Story of Rekhta
Rekhta, both as a term and a language has evolved with diverse interpretations over the last eight centuries. Etymologically, "Rekhta" signifies both scattered and mixed, embodying a language that creatively blends various d...
Rekhti Poetry in Urdu
Jaan Sahib jis se khul jaati hai sab neki badiRekhti such much meri hai paansa ye rammaal ka (Meer Yaar Ali Jaan Sahib) Rekhti was a unique genre of Urdu poetry where male poets assumed a voice to speak as women b...
