Why Ghalib is the most quotable poet of Urdu, explains scholar Dr Khursheed Rizvi

Ghalib is the most quotable poet of Urdu because his verses are not only rich in the meaning that is embedded deep inside them but they also look extremely beautiful when analysed on a superficial level.

Linguist, poet, critic and scholar of Arabic literature Dr Khursheed Rizvi made this remark on Wednesday as he delivered a lecture on Ghalib at the Ghalib Library, Nazimabad. The talk was titled ‘Ghalib Aur Mein’.

The scholar initially talked about how he developed fascination for Ghalib. Explaining how Ghalib’s was a classic poetry, he said one definition of ‘classic’ was a piece of art that remained significant and meaningful for people in their entire life from childhood to old age.

He said Ghalib’s works were indeed a classic for him as over the years, he continued discovering their new beautiful and meaningful aspects. He remarked that those qualities of Ghalib that fascinated him the most in his teen years now appeared to him the most superficial elements of his genius.

He said it was the external crux of Ghalib’s verses that first enamoured him. He added that in that part of his life, he was unable to appreciate the deeper meanings of Ghalib’s poetry, but the external structure of his verses still appeared so beautiful and complex that he became fond of Ghalib.

Dr Rizvi made an interesting remark in the comparison of Mir Taqi Mir and Ghalib. Although Ghalib is by and large revered as the greatest poet of Urdu, there has been a minority that believes Mir as a greater poet.

The speaker said Ghalib’s great verses were tangible in terms of the fact that they could be explained, whereas Mir’s were not. He said Mir’s great poetry was like a beautiful drop of dew on a leaf that you could notice and appreciate; however, the moment you tried to touch or capture that dew, it would cease to exist. In contrast, Ghalib’s art was like a pearl that could be touched, grabbed and showed to others.

This was a very interesting remark as it subverted the common perceptions about Mir and Ghalib. It is generally believed that Ghalib’s Urdu poetry is often very Persian-laden and difficult to understand and explain; whereas Mir’s verses are easier. Dr Rizvi said if somebody was unable to find beauty in Mir, they could not be convinced about the presence of such beauty in the verse because it was not possible to explain or show it.

Elaborating on the point, Dr Rizvi quoted Ghalib’s Misra, “Latafat Bay-Kasafat Jalwa Paida Kar Nahin Sakti [without some sort of corruption, sublimity cannot manifest itself in a physical form] and said Mir’s great poetry was an example of sublimity that had not been corrupted due to which its essence could not be encapsulated, but Ghalib had understood the fact that in order to write quotable poetry, the idea must be somewhat tainted in order to give it a tangible form that was accessible to the people.

Explaining further, he recalled Nasir Kazmi, saying that Nasir was enamoured of Mir, but when he wrote a piece for his collection Barg-e-Nae, he only quoted Ghalib in that because of how quotable Ghalib is.

Coming to the later Urdu poetry of Ghalib, Dr Rizvi said that in his later years, Ghalib’s proclivity in writing Urdu verses laden with Persian phrases had changed and he favoured writing Urdu verses in the everyday language. He also mentioned this in a letter that he had come to the conclusion that Urdu poetry should be composed in the everyday language spoken in Delhi.

From here, the speaker diverted to the Persian poetry by Ghalib, saying that Ghalib was more interested in his Persian verses than his Urdu verses. He said Ghalib compiled his Persian Diwan (collection) with utmost care and even wrote some verses in Haj’v (a genre of poetry written to defame someone) so that all genres were there in the compilation of his Persian poetry. He never wrote any Haj’v in Urdu, Dr Rizvi remarked.

He thoroughly praised Ghalib’s Masnavi Bad-e-Mukhalif in Persian and went on to say that one may not find a better example of a poet’s superb control of language (Qudrat-e-Kalam). Dr Rizvi also touched on Ghalib’s prose. He was of the opinion that Ghalib’s Persian prose may not be included among the greatest prose works of Persian. The scholar said Ghalib’s Persian letters miss that spontaneity and natural flow of language that is the hallmark of his Urdu letters.

He said there was still no parallel to Ghalib’s Urdu prose. He specifically praised the brevity and novel similes used by Ghalib in his Urdu letters that made his prose extremely beautiful.

The scholar ended the speech with Ghalib’s influence on Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, stating how Ghalib’s advice changed Sir Syed from a past-oriented person to a future-oriented person. He said that if Sir Syed’s actions played any role in the foundation of Pakistan, we should also acknowledge Ghalib’s role in the country’s foundation because of Ghalib’s direct influence on Sir Syed. The event was chaired by Prof Sahar Ansari and moderated by Dr Tanzeem-ul-Firdous.