Reading Notes W9: Ghalib, Part B

Ghalib (587-601)

  • "Ghalib is probably the most frequently quoted poet of the 19th and 20th centuries in India and Pakistan" (587)
  • His popularity only grown since his death nearly one and a half centuries ago
  • He wrote haunting love poems in a style that still seems contemporary 
  • His words and emotions attract young and old lovers everywhere
  • He's a descendant of Turkish military settlers in north India 
  • In 1822, Ghalib stopped writing verse in Urdu and switched to Persian as his only poetic medium (587)
  • Much of his adult life was bitter disappointments 
1827 through 1830- he tried in vain to to secure a British pension in Calcutta
1842- he failed to get a position as Persian instructor at Delhi College
1847- he was arrested for gambling in his home and imprisoned for 3 months

  • Ghalib's value as a poet also rests on his larger cultural position (590)
  • He was one of the last figures on a seven-century tradition of Persian writing in India
[Now go and live in a place] (591)

  • This poem by Ghalib is my favorite one, not because it's really short, but because its a poem about hatred almost... but he never describes what or whom that hatred is for
  • It stands out to me because we don't know for sure who he is talking to/about... himself? his wife? Son? Nephew? a Friend?
  • It's basically about telling a person to go live in a place by them-self, "Now go and live in a place where no one lives" (line 1) and that has no neighbors and isolate yourself from the world and human contact "no neighbor to keep you company, no watchmen to keep you safe" (line 4)
  • He wants this person to suffer alone
  • In my opinion, I think the poem was meant to be about himself to escape his problems


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