Forms of Urdu Poetry

Forms of Urdu Poetry

Forms of Urdu poetry are varied and adds dimension to the vastness of Urdu literature.

Forms of Urdu poetry have their own significance and importance among the people who speak the language and are enthusiastic about the same. Each form of Urdu poetry has their typical style and approach and carries an individualistic significance. Some of the major forms of Urdu poetry are discussed below:

Ghazal:
It is a set of two liner couplets which should firmly end with the same rhyme and should also be within one of the predefined meters of Ghazals. There has to be a minimum of five couplets to take the form of a Ghazal. Couplets may or may have same reflection. It is one of the hardest forms of poetry as there are many strict parameters that one needs to abide by while writing Ghazal.

Hamd:
This is a poem in admiration of Allah. The word "hamd" is derived from the Holy Quran, its English translation is "Praise".

Marsiya
Marsiya (or elegy), is nearly forever on the death of Hasan and Husain and their families, but occasionally on the death of friends and relatives. It is 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 events in the life of Muslim. A fully developed Marsiya is always an epic. The popular Marsia writers who inherited the tradition of Mir Anis among his successive generations are Mir Nawab Ali "Munis", Dulaha Sahab "Uruj", Mustafa Meerza urf Piyare Sahab 'Rasheed', Syed Muhammad Mirza Uns, Ali Nawab 'Qadeem', Syed Sajjad Hussain "Shadeed" Lucknavi, Allama, Dr.Syed Ali Imam Zaidi, "Gauher" Luckhnavi the (great grandson of Mir Babber Ali Anis).

Masnavi:
This, in majority of cases, a poetic romance! It may expand to quite a few thousand lines, but generally is much shorter. A few masnavis deal with normal domestic and other incidences. Mir and Sauda wrote some of this kind. They are always in heroic couplets, and the common metre is bacchic tetrameter with an iambus for last foot. The Religious masnavi Histori of Islam (Tarikh-e-Islam Az Quran) written by Dr. Syed Ali Imam Zaidi Gauher Lucknavi.

Naat:
This is actually a poetry that particularly praises the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.

Nazm:
Urdu nazm is a major part of Urdu poetry. From Nazeer Akarabadi, Iqbal, Josh, Firaq, Akhtarul Iman to down the line Noon Meem Rashid, Faiz, Ali Sardar Jafri and Kaifi Azmi. They have covered common life, philosophical thinking, national issues and the precarious predicament of individual human being. As a distinct form of Nazm many Urdu poets influenced by English and other European poets took to writing sonnets in Urdu language. Azmatullah Khan (1887-1923) is believed to have introduced this format to Urdu Literature. The other renowned Urdu poets who wrote sonnets were Akhtar Junagarhi, Akhtar Sheerani, Noon Meem Rashid, Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, Salaam Machhalishahari and Wazir Agha.

Qasida:
It is actually a kind of ode, often panegyric on a benefactor, sometimes a satire, sometimes a poem dealing with a significant event. As a rule it is longer than Ghazal, but it follows the same system of rhyme.

Qawwali:
This is a typical form of Urdu poetry that is read along with devotional music. A Qawwali is almost always dedicated to particular Sufi.

Ruba'i:
This particular style of poetry, the Arabic term for "quatrain" is quite popular. The plural form of the word, rubiyat, is used to describe a collection of such quatrains.

Tazkira:
A biographical anthology, Tazkira is almost always of poetry alone. This is often a mere collection of names with a line or two of information about each poet, followed by specimen of his composition. On the other hand it may be the history of Urdu poetry with copious illustrative extracts. The best Tazkiras give biographical details, but fail in literary criticism, and we get little idea of style or poetical power, still less of contents of poems. Even the large anthologies do not systematically review an author's work. Most of them have the names in alphabetical order, but one or two prefer historical order. The majority quote only lyrics, and the quotations, usually chosen at random, do not illustrate poetry.

More ArticlesForms of Urdu Poetry (8)

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Rubai

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Hamd

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Marsia

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Masnavi

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Naat

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Nazm

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Qasida

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Tazkira

More Articles in Urdu Poetry (46)

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Forms of Urdu Poetry (8)

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Schools of Urdu Poetry (2)

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