URDU LYRICAL POETRY

INTRODUCTION

What is Urdu ?

The national language and lingua franca of Pakistan

An official language of six states of India

What is Lyric Poetry ?

A form of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person.

Derived from a form of Ancient Greek literature, the lyric, which was defined by its musical accompaniment, usually on a stringed instrument known as a lyre.

What is Urdu Poetry ?

A rich tradition of poetry and has many different forms and structures, many of which are of Arabic origin.It is basically poetry that is performed and its recital, sometimes impromptu, is held in   poetic expositions called Mushairas. Ghazal singing

and Qawwali are also important expository forms of Urdu poetry. 

URDU LYRIC POETRY

poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. 

a poetic form consisting of a minimum of five two-liner couplets  (shers or ashaar)

Couplets should strictly end with the same rhyme and rhythm pattern and should be within one of the predefined meters of Ghazals.

GHAZAL

URDU LYRIC POETRY - GHAZAL

Couplets may or may not have same thought.

It is common in ghazals for the poet's name known as takhallus to be featured in the last verse (a convention known as the Maqta.

One of the most difficult forms of poetry as there are many strict parameters that one needs to abide by while writing Ghazal.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - GHAZAL

Executioners near the woman at the window.Damn you, Elijah, I’ll bless Jezebel tonight.

The hunt is over, and I hear the Call to Prayerfade into that of the wounded gazelle tonight.

My rivals for your love– you’ve invited them all?This is mere insult, this is no farewell tonight.

And I, Shahid, only am escaped to tell thee–God sobs in my arms. Call me Ishmael tonight.

EXAMPLE : Excerpts from a Ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali

URDU LYRIC POETRY - HAMD

HAMD

Hamd is a poem in praise of Allah.

The word "hamd" is derived from the Qur'an, its English translation is "Praise".

URDU LYRIC POETRY - HAMDEXAMPLE :

URDU LYRIC POETRY - MADAH

MADAH

A poem written in praise of royalty, patrons, etc.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - HIJV

HIJV

A satirical poem written to condemn or abuse a person.

This type of poetry is considered inferior and generally avoided by reputed poets.

The opposite of a hijv is a madah which is written in praise of patrons.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - MANQABAT

MANQABAT

A poem written in praise of members of the family of the holy Prophet

URDU LYRIC POETRY - MARSIYA

MARSIYA

An elegy written to mourn the death of a great man or a dearly loved person.

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.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - MARSIYA

EXAMPLE :

URDU LYRIC POETRY - MUNAAJAAT

MUNAAJAATA lyrical poem written as a prayer to God.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - MUSADDAS

MUSADDAS

A poem in which each unit consists of 6 lines.

The most well known poet of this style of writing was Maulana Altaf Husain Hali.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - NAAT

NAAT

Poetry that specifically praises the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - NAZM

NAZM

A term used to define all kinds of Urdu poetry which do not fall into any other category. A well organized, logically evolving poem where each individual verse serves the need of the central concept or theme of the poem. Though a nazm is traditionally written in rhymed verse, there are many examples of nazms written in unrhymed verse, or even in free verse.

A kind of ode

A panygeric, or poem written in praise of a king or a nobleman, or 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.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - QASIDA

QASIDA

As in a ghazal, the opening couplet of a qasida, is a rhyming couplet, and its rhyme is repeated in the second line of each succeeding verse.

The opening part of the qasida, where the poet may talk in general about love and beauty, man or nature, life or death, is called the 'tashbib' or 'tamheed‘.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - QASIDA

The ghazal has evolved from the qasida. Over time, the tashbib got detached and developed into what we today know as Gazal.

Usually quite long, sometimes running into more than a 100 couplets. A Gazal is seldom more than 12 couplets long, averaging about 7 couplets.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - QASIDA

A poem consisting of four lines, in the form of two shers (couplets).

However, unlike shers in a ghazal, the subject of the two shers is the same.

It is believed that the qataa was invented for occasions when poets felt that they were unable to express their thoughts completely and satisfactorily in a single sher.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - QATAA

QATAA

A self-sufficient quatrain and generally dealing with a single idea, which is customarily introduced and developed with the aid of similes in the first three lines, and concluded, with concentrated effort and impact, in the fourth line.Name derived from the Arabic plural of the word for "quatrain“ that comes from the Arabic Rubá, meaning "four.“

URDU LYRIC POETRY - RUBAIYAT

RUBAIYAT (RUBAYI)

A series of rhymed quatrains. In each quatrain, all lines rhyme except the third, leading to this pattern:

aa - 2nd line rhymes with the first.ba - 4th line rhymes with the first and second

In Urdu, some of the most well known practitioners of this form are Firaq, Josh and Yagna Yaas Changezi.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - RUBAIYAT

Wake! For the Sun who scattered into flight

The Stars before him from the Field of Night,

Drives Night along with them from Heaven and Strikes

The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.

[Stanza 1]

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring

The Winter garment of Repentance fling;

The Bird of Time has but a little wayTo fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.[Stanza 7, 1st edition]

URDU LYRIC POETRY - RUBAIYAT

EXAMPLE : Some quatrains from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam translated by Edward Fitzgerald: 

A salutory poem written in praise of the holy Prophet.

It can also be a poem describing the incidents of Karbala.

It is recited standing up.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - SALAAM

SALAAM

A song sung at the time of tying the sehra during awedding ceremony.

It is usually in praise of the bride/groom and their relatives.

URDU LYRIC POETRY - SEHARAA

SEHARAA

A poem describing the displeasure and carelessness of a lover.

OTHER TYPES

VAASOKHT

Humourous poetry, also known as 'mazaahiyaa' or 'mazaakiyaa' shaayari.

HAZAL

OTHER TYPES

QAWAALLITraditionally, a devotional song expressing love and oneness with God sung by a group of people to the accompaniment of musical instruments. Nowadays, qawaallis cover popular topics like love and wine.

FARDA composition consisting of only one sher (couplet)