Three Modern Urdu Poets:
Faiz, Rashid, Miraji in context

(Study materials prepared for classroom use by FWP, 2002-)

 *Faiz* -- *Rashid* -- *Miraji* -- *facing-text anthologies* -- *Askari's anthology, 1942*

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FAIZ AHMAD 'FAIZ' (1911-1984)

=Victor G. Kiernan, Poems by Faiz (New Delhi: OUP, 1971): *on this site*

=Daud Kamal, trans., Khalid Hasan, ed., "Faiz on Faiz," in The Unicorn and the Dancing Girl: Poems of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (Ahmedabad: Allied Publishers, 1988), pp. l-lxvi: *on this site*

=Ralph Russell, "Faiz Ahmad Faiz--Poetry, Politics and Pakistan," in The Pursuit of Urdu Literature: A Select History (London: Zed Books, 1992), pp. 229-247: *on this site*

=FWP, "The Sky, the Road, the Glass of Wine: On Translating Faiz,” Annual of Urdu Studies 15 (2000): I,57-76. Here's my own version: *on this site*.

=Ali and Raza Mir, Anthems of Resistance: A Celebration of Progressive Urdu Poetry (New Delhi: Roli Books, 2006): *on this site*

=Faiz's birth centenary, 2011: *an online compilation of essays*

="Subsumed by history and nation," by Afsan Chowdhury, *Himal Magazine, Jan. 2011*

="Rethinking Modernism and Progressive Poetry: Faiz Ahmed Faiz and N. M. Rashed," by A. Sean Pue, Pakistaniaat 2013: *text*

"Singing the Revolution: India's Anti-CAA Protests and Faiz's 'Hum dekhenge'," by Jennifer Dubrow, *Positions, Apr. 2020*; also Dawn, July 2020

POEMS:

*tanha'i* from 'Naqsh-e faryadi', 1943
*mujh se pahli-si muhabbat* from 'Naqsh-e faryadi', 1943
*yad* from 'Dast-e saba', 1952; *a literal translation*
*sub'h-e azadi* from 'Dast-e saba', 1952
*mulaqat* from 'Zindan-namah', 1956
*ham jo tarik rahon men* from 'Zindan-namah', 1956
*rang hai dil ka mire* from 'Dast-e tah-e sang', 1965; my article on this nazm is listed above
*tire gham ko jan ki talash hai* (a ghazal) from 'Dast-e tah-e sang', 1965
*kab thahrega dard* (a ghazal) from 'Dast-e tah-e sang', 1965

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NUN MIM RASHID (1910-1975)

="Mahfil Interviews N. M. Rashed," Mahfil [now Journal of South Asian Literature] 7,1-2 (Spring-Summer 1971), pp. 1-20: *text*; also nine poems in translation: *on DSAL*

=Saqi Farooqi, "Hasan Kooza-gar," in Annual of Urdu Studies 5 (1985), pp. 3-17: *text*

="Safar-namah" in three translations, Annual of Urdu Studies 5 (1985), pp. 19-22: *text*

="Hasan the Potter," trans. by S. R. Faruqi and FWP, 1984: *text*

="Rethinking Modernism and Progressive Poetry: Faiz Ahmed Faiz and N. M. Rashed," by A. Sean Pue, Pakistaniaat 2013: *text*

=Sean Pue's overview: *text of the introduction*, also a *resource page with Urdu/Hindi texts* that accompanies his book (2014)

POEMS:

*bekaran rat ke sannate men* from 'Mavara', 1941
*intiqam* from 'Mavara', 1941
*saba viran* from 'Iran men 'ajnabi', 1955
*ai ghazal-e shab* from 'La = insan', 1969
*tasalsul ke sahra men* from 'La = insan', 1969
*vuhi kashf-e zat ki arzu* from 'La = insan', 1969
*dil mire sahra-navard-e pir dil* from 'La = insan', 1969
*main kya kah raha tha* from 'Guman ka mumkin', 1976
*pani ki avaz* from 'Guman ka mumkin', 1976

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SANA'ULLAH DAR 'MIRAJI' (1912-1949)

=Geeta Patel, Lyrical Movements, Historical Hauntings: On Gender, Colonialism, and Desire in Miraji's Urdu Poetry (Stanford University Press, 2001); pp. 43-80, from "Stories from a Childhood" (*text*), and pp. 131-167, "Miraji's Response to the Progressives" (*text*).

=Mehr Afshan Farooqi, "Modernity in Urdu Poetry and the Enigma of Miraji," Annual of Urdu Studies 18 (2003): [site]

=*Kulliyat-e Miraji*, on the rekhta.org site

POEMS:

*samundar ka bulava* from 'Tin rang', 1968; including Miraji's handwritten text
*yaganagat* from 'Tin rang', 1968
*abgine ke us par ki ek sham*, from 'Tin rang', 1968
*chher* from 'Tin rang', 1968
*ras ki anokhi lahren*, collected only in 'Kulliyat', 1996; includes a translation
*lab-e ju'ibare*, collected only in 'Kulliyat', 1996

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Some FACING-TEXT translation anthologies:

These anthologies give the Urdu text of each poem next to the translation, so they are useful for students.

==Akhtar ul-Iman, trans. Baidar Bakht et al., Query of the Road: Selected Poems of Akhtar-ul-Iman with Extensive Commentary (Delhi: Rupa and Co., 1996)

==Ali Sardar Jafri, trans. Baidar Bakht and K. G. Jaeger, My Journey: Selected Urdu Poems of Ali Sardar Jafri (New Delhi: Sterling Paperbacks, 1999)

==Rukhsana Ahmad, ed., We Sinful Women: Contemporary Urdu Feminist Poetry (New Delhi: Rupa and Co., 1991): *on this site*

==Baidar Bakht, with Kathleen Grant Jaeger, An Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry (Delhi: Educational Publishing House, 1985): *on this site*

==Asif Farrukhi and F. W. Pritchett, An Evening of Caged Beasts: Seven Postmodernist Urdu Poets (OUP Karachi, 1999): *excerpts on this site*

==S. R. Faruqi, an anthology of his poetry, with texts and translations: *on this site*

==M. A. R. Habib, An Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry (New York: MLA, 2003): [Amazon]

==Yasmeen Hameed, Pakistani Urdu Verse: An Anthology (OUP Karachi, 2010)

==K. C. Kanda, Masterpieces of Modern Urdu Poetry (New Delhi: New Dawn Press, 1998)

==Anisur Rahman, Fire and the Rose: An Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry (New Delhi: Rupa & Co., 1995)

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Muhammad Hasan ASKARI's Urdu anthology, 1942

*Introduction*
*Favorite nazms selected by the poets themselves*
*Brief accounts of the poets*

This anthology, compiled by an influential and historically interesting Urdu literary critic, contains a broad overview of Urdu poetry as it looked shortly before Partition. Each poet was invited to choose the nazm that would represent him (or her, in the case of Bilqis Jamal and Rabi'ah Pinhan). The poets appear in Urdu alphabetical order. Faiz: pp. 106-07; Rashid: pp. 139-42; Miraji (two nazms): pp. 131-38. With thanks to Sean Pue for suggesting this anthology and providing the text.

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*"Twentieth-century Urdu Literature"*, an overview by Omar Qureshi, 1996

*"Urdu ki na'i ghazal, 1950 se 1970 tak"*, shi'rs selected for a talk given in 2005 by C. M. Naim; with thanks to Namrata Kanchan for making them available

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GOING THE OTHER WAY: *"Ghas ki pattiyan," trans. by Qayyum Nazar, 1963* (Walt Whitman in Urdu)

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