Urdu shairi (Poetry)

Urdu poetry (Urdu: ???? ?????, Urdu Shayari) is one of the most dominant and prominent poetries of times and has many different colours & types. It has generated its root from Arabic and mainly from Persian and is an important part of Indian culture and Pakistani culture.

Like other languages, the history of Urdu Poetry does not have a firm starting point and shares origins and influences with other linguistic traditions within the Urdu-Hindi-Hindustani mix. Literary figures as far back as Kabir (1440 - 1518) and even Amir Khusro (1253-1325 AD) deserve mention as influences later Urdu poets draw on for inspiration as well as intellectual and linguistic sources. Meer, Dard, Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz are among the greatest poets of Urdu. The tradition is centered in the subcontinent. Following the Partition of India in 1947, it found major poets and scholars residing primarily in modern Pakistan and India. Mushairas (or poetic expositions) are today held in almost every major metropolitan area in the world. Over this period, Urdu poets have produced a large number of primarily poetic works.

Contents [hide]
1 Formation
2 Genres
3 Pen names (Takhallus)
4 Poets
5 Scripts used in Poetry
5.1 Example
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Formation
Urdu poetry forms itself with following basic ingredients:

Bait
Bait-ul-Ghazal
Beher
Diwan (?????)
Husn-E-Matla
Kalam (????)
Kulyat (?????)
Maqta
Matla
Mavra
Misra
Mushaira
Qaafiyaa
Radif
Sher
Shayar
Shayari
Tah-Tul-Lafz
Takhallus
Tarannum
Triveni

[edit] Genres
The major genres of poetry found in Urdu are:

Doha (????)
Fard
Geet (???)
Ghazal (???), as practiced by many poets in the Arab tradition. Mir, Ghalib, Dagh and Faiz are well-known composers of ghazal.
Hamd (???)
Hazal
Hijv
Kafi
Madah
Manqabat
Marsia (?????)
Masnavi (?????)
Munajat
Musaddas (????)
Mukhammas
Naat (???)
Nazm (???)
Noha (????)
Qasida (?????)
Qat'ã (????)
Qawwali
Rubai (a.k.a. Rubayyat or Rubaiyat) (???????)
Salam
Sehra (????)
Shehr a'ashob
Soz (???)
Wasokht
Foreign forms such as the sonnet, azad nazm or(Free verse) and haiku have also been used by some modern Urdu poets.

[edit] Pen names (Takhallus)
In the Urdu poetic tradition, most poets use a pen name called the takhallus. This can be either a part of a poet's given name or something else adopted as an identity. The traditional convention in identifying Urdu poets is to mention the takhallus at the end of the name. Thus, Ghalib, whose given name was Mirza Asadullah Beg (the prefix Mirza and suffix Beg identifying him as a Chughtai) and official name and title was Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan is referred to formally as Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, or, in common parlance, as just Mirza Ghalib. An interesting sidebar to this is that some poets end up having a part of their name repeated; thus, Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

The word takhallus is derived from Arabic, meaning "ending". This is because in the ghazal form, the poet would usually incorporate his or her pen name into the final couplet (maqta) of each poem as a type of 'signature'.

[edit] Poets
The most acclaimed pre-partition Urdu poets include Khwaja Mir Dard, Mir, Mir Babar Ali Anis, Ghalib, Zauq, Daag, Momin, Wali, Jigar Moradabadi, and Iqbal. Post-partition poets include Ali Sardar Jafri, Josh, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Akbar Allahabadi, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Akhtar ul Iman, Kaifi Azmi, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Waheed Akhtar, Shakeb Jalali, Qateel Shifai, Sahir, Ibn-e-Insha, Fahmida Riaz, Tabish Dehlvi, Safi Lakhnavi, Jon Elia, Parveen Shakir, Ahmed Faraz, Syed Al-e-Ahmad, Sahir, Nida Fazli, Munir Niazi and Iftikhar Arif.

See List of Urdu poets for a more comprehensive list.

[edit] Scripts used in Poetry
In both India and Pakistan, Urdu poetry is written in the beautiful Nasta'liq calligraphy style of the Perso-Arabic script. However, in India, where Urdu poetry is very popular, the Perso-Arabic is often found transliterated into the Devan?gar? script, as an aid for those Hind?-speakers, who can comprehend Urdu, but cannot read the Perso-Arabic script. With the dawn of the internet and globablisation, this poetry is often found written in Roman Urdu today. One of the more modern poets of Urdu poetry is Farhat Shahzad.

[edit] Example
The following is a verse from an Urdu ghazal by Sher Khwaja Mir Dard:

Roman Urdu:

dosto dekh? tam??h? ya?N k? bas.
tum raho ab hum to apne ghar chale
English translation:

Friends, I've seen the spectacle of this place- enough!

You stay here; I'm heading home.

[edit] See also
List of Urdu poets from India
Bait Bazi, a game using Urdu poetry
Hindustani
List of Urdu poets
Maulvi Abdul Haq - father of Modern Urdu
Mughal
Persian and Urdu
Persian
Progressive Writers' Movement
Rekhta
Urdu literature
Urdu Informatics

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