Faiz Ahmed Faiz is looked on as the most important Urdu poet in both India and Pakistan. This collection of his poems is representative of the best in contemporary Urdu writing. The Urdu text is presented with English translations.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz [فيض ١حمد فيض] was born on February 13, 1911, in Sialkot, British India, which is now part of Pakistan. He had a privileged childhood as the son of wealthy landowners Sultan Fatima and Sultan Muhammad Khan, who passed away in 1913, shortly after his birth. His father was a prominent lawyer and a member of an elite literary circle which included Allama Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan.
In 1916, Faiz entered Moulvi Ibrahim Sialkoti, a famous regional school, and was later admitted to the Skotch Mission High School where he studied Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. He received a Bachelor's degree in Arabic, followed by a master's degree in English, from the Government College in Lahore in 1932, and later received a second master's degree in Arabic from the Oriental College in Lahore.After graduating in 1935, Faiz began a teaching career at M.A.O. College in Amritsar and then at Hailey College of Commerce in Lahore.
Faiz's early poems had been conventional, light-hearted treatises on love and beauty, but while in Lahore he began to expand into politics, community, and the thematic interconnectedness he felt was fundamental in both life and poetry. It was also during this period that he married Alys George, a British expatriate, with whom he had two daughters. In 1942, he left teaching to join the British Indian Army, for which he received a British Empire Medal for his service during World War II. After the partition of India in 1947, Faiz resigned from the army and became the editor of The Pakistan Times, a socialist English-language newspaper.
On March 9, 1951, Faiz was arrested with a group of army officers under the Safety Act, and charged with the failed coup attempt that became known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. He was sentenced to death and spent four years in prison before being released. Two of his poetry collections, Dast-e Saba and Zindan Namah, focus on life in prison, which he considered an opportunity to see the world in a new way. While living in Pakistan after his release, Faiz was appointed to the National Council of the Arts by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government, and his poems, which had previously been translated into Russian, earned him the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963.
In 1964, Faiz settled in Karachi and was appointed principal of Abdullah Haroon College, while also working as an editor and writer for several distinguished magazines and newspapers. He worked in an honorary capacity for the Department of Information during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, and wrote stark poems of outrage over the bloodshed between Pakistan, India, and what later became Bangladesh. However, when Bhutto was overthrown by Zia Ul-Haq, Faiz was forced into exile in Beirut, Lebanon. There he edited the magazine Lotus, and continued to write poems in Urdu. He remained in exile until 1982. He died in Lahore in 1984, shortly after receiving a nomination for the Nobel Prize.
Throughout his tumultuous life, Faiz continually wrote and published, becoming the best-selling modern Urdu poet in both India and Pakistan. While his work is written in fairly strict diction, his poems maintain a casual, conversational tone, creating tension between the elite and the common, somewhat in the tradition of Ghalib, the reknowned 19th century Urdu poet. Faiz is especially celebrated for his poems in traditional Urdu forms, such as the ghazal, and his remarkable ability to expand the conventional thematic expectations to include political and social issues.
If I were to win you, Then Fate would be the loser. * That hour when the night comes, That hour when black night, drear, forlorn, comes, Be near me, My torment, my darling, be near me! * Today loneliness like a well-tried friend Has come to be my evening wine-pourer. We sit together waiting for the moon to rise And set your image gleaming in every shadow.
Faiz, a poet mixture of the two holiest entities, Love and Revolution. This mixture brought up a new sense of poetry which so smoothly touched such diverse subjects. Ranging from romance to social awakening, to despair, to hope, to shunning capitalism to being one of the few people who saw 1971 from an unbiased perspective. Faiz was truly an "outlaw poet".
"Dard tham jae-gah, gham na kar, Gham na kar, Yar laut-a-enge, dil thahar jae-gah, Gham Na Kar, Gham Na Kar, Zakhm bhar jayegy, Gham Na Kar, Gham Na Kar, Din nikal ae-gah, Gham na kar, Gham na kar, Abr khul-jae-gah, raat dhal-jaegi, gham na kar, gham na kar, Raat badal jaegi, Gham na kar, Gham na kar."
I am a fan of Faiz's poetry and would happily give him 5 stars. My only concern is with the translation and transliteration of the Urdu. Since I do not speak Urdu, I leave the critiques to those who do.
probably my first ever experience reading poetry and genuinely understanding/enjoying it without feeling like there’s something I missed- so interesting to see socialist themes set in an occupied south asia and so masterfully written. I tried to read both the romanised urdu (with my clunky hindi knowledge) and the english translations to really understand the message and i really feel like this might’ve actually changed my enjoyment of the language altogether
I am fan of poetry but never really was into urdu nazms. But then anti CAA protests began and his name was being politicized at another level of hatred which wasn't really needed. He is one such poet, whom i think you cannot really put under a particular religion. His religion seems to to be "humanity", which by far is better than any other religion. His poems are so well thought and written in such a way that it can be metaphoric to anything be it it love, religion, politics etc. I truly enjoyed him and I am glad he was a part of the debate because it introduced me to him. I found him. So please do give a try to his work and I can promise you that he wouldn't be a reason of dismay.
This book serves as my introduction to the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
The 54 poems in this book are presented across 232 pages, Urdu script arranged beautifully on left facing pages, English translations and romanized Urdu on the opposing pages. This means there are 116 pages of English translations, and these occupy about two thirds of the content of each page. The poems are translated into both figurative verse and literal prose poems, always presented in this order. I read every poem at least twice, the first eight or so in the order presented. After this, I decided to read the more literal prose before the more figurative verse translations. The reason is that I found I could better appreciate the verse after first reading the prose. I also found that in most cases, the prose poems had more impact for me and allowed me a deeper insight into the intent of the words and imagery.
I found the 23 page introduction invaluable to appreciating the poetry overall, as it provided some biographical background about Faiz the poet as well as the man. It also established a progenitorial lineage for Faiz back through the great poets of Urdu and beyond, connecting some modern traditions in Urdu poetry to roots in Farsi, Arabic, and Hindi—the three main headwaters from which the language flows. This, along with discussions about the political and cultural histories from which Faiz emerged and of which he was a part, helped to create context—a framework—from which to understand his poetry, even if (for me) only the translations. For me, the most invaluable information imparted from the introduction was some insight into the way Faiz used some of Urdu’s more archetypal images. For instance, when Faiz refers to “the beloved,” in any of its forms, be it the pourer of wine at the tavern or idealized intimate partner, this is usually a reference to his people, the downtrodden, the oppressed. This sometimes took on special meaning, such as in “Two Loves,” (pgs 162-171):
“… From this roof the sun of your beauty will emerge, From that corner will break the henna-coloured ray, From this door will flow the quicksilver of your walk, On that path will flower the twilight of your dress. … In solitude what remembrances of you did I not have, What refuges did the sad heart not search for; Sometimes I laid on my eyes the hand of the morning-breeze, Sometimes I put my arms round the neck of the moon. ____________ In the same fashion I have loved my darling country. In the same manner my heart has throbbed with devotion to her, … What befalls everyone on that road befell me, Solitary within the prison, sometimes dishonoured in the market-place; The divines thundered a great deal from the pulpit corner, The men of authority roared a great deal in the audience-chamber, Strangers spared no arrows of calumny, No manner of reproach was left out by my own folk. But my heart feels shame neither for this love nor for that love; There is every scar on this heart except the scar of shame.” —from the prose translation
There is not one line out of place in this poem and which does not add to it, completing its meaning, impact and beauty. But I’ve tried to quote a few that stand out to me.
As I read I found the translation notes at the back of the book of great value for offering even deeper insight. My only complaint would be that such insights were only offered for about two thirds of the poems. I would have enjoyed learning a little more about the inspiration, underlying meaning, and/or circumstances behind those poems that made up the difference.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed much of the poetry, in the end bookmarking 10 poems. For me to bookmark even a couple means I enjoyed the book enough to possibly give it three stars (“liked it”), but to end up with bookmarks for 10 out of 54 poems from a single author I think puts me well within reach of 4 stars (“really liked it”). Many of these are poems I will come back to again:
“God Never Send” on pages 50-53.
“… The mirror of your heart is melted with grief, … To put faith in the deceit of a promise of tomorrow; …”
“To The Rival” on pages 68-75.
“… With you have played those beloved breezes in which The faded scent of her dress remains. …”
“A Few Days More” on pages 78-81.
“… Is life some beggar’s gown, on which Every hour patches of pain are fixed? …”
“To A Political Leader” on pages 100-103.
“Year by year these unprotected, bound hands Have remained fixed in the hard, black bosom of night, As a straw may be ardent in strife with the sea, As a butterfly may make an attack on a mountain; …”
“The Hour Of Chain and Gibbet” on pages 150-153.
“… At your command the cage, but not the garden’s Red rose-fire, when its radiant hour begins; No noose can catch the dawn-wind’s whirling feet, The spring’s bright hour falls prisoner to no net.” …”
“Two Loves” on pages 162-171.
See above quotes.
“A Prison Nightfall” on pages 188-191.
“… Trees of the prison courtyard, exiles With drooping head, are lost in broidering Arabesques on the skirt of heaven. …”
“The Window” on pages 204-207.
“… Daily these kind and beautiful godlike things Come weltering in their blood to my bitter cell; And day by day before my watching eyes Their martyred bodies are raised up and made well.”
“Sinkiang” on pages 218-223.
“… No heart shall quiver all night, nor in any courtyard Shall causeless-anxiety come like an ill-omened bird, Shall fear come like a bloodthirsty beast of prey. …”
“Evening” on pages 226-229.
“… The evening’s skirt is so joined with the skirt of time, Now evening will never be extinguished and darkness never come, Now night will never decline nor morning come. …”
There were several more which I very nearly bookmarked, but one phrase, image, metaphor or another left me cold enough to change my mind. However, the criteria by which I decide to bookmark a poem is peculiar to each book. In another collection of lesser works these poems might have been bookmarked after all.
It's a great book..has poetries on various themes from love to politics and nationalist sentiments and many others. Enjoyed reading relied on translations too for some difficult urdu words. Some lines which i liked
'Kabhi kabhi yaad mein ubharte hai woh naksh-e- maazi mite mite se Woh aazmaish dil-o-nazar ki woh qurbatein si woh faasle se Kabhi kabhi aarzoo ke sehra mein aa ke rukte hai kaafle se Woh saari baatein lagav ki si woh saare unva visaal ke se'
'Tanhai me kya kya na tujhe yaad kiya hai Kya kya na dil-e-zar ne dhundi hai panahen Ankhon se lagaya hai kabhi dast-e-saba ko Daali hai kabhi gardan-e-mehtab me baahein'
"Dard tham jaaega gham na ker gham na ker Yaar laut aayega, dil thehr jaaega Gham na ker gham na ker Zakhm bhar jaaega, gham na ker gham na ker Din nikal aayega, gham na ker gham na ker Abr khul jaaega, raat dhal jaaegi, Gham na ker gham na ker Ruth badal jaaegi, gham na ker gham na ker"
"Today loneliness like some old friend Has come to do my wine-pouring as evening declines, We two are seated waiting for the moon to rise, And for your reflection to begin shining under every shadow."
"Futile burning pain of moonlit nights, The heart’s profitless throbbing, the body’s despairing cry …"
"From the heart’s unplucked strings Echoes of blissful raptures drift – Longings, dreams, and your charmed face."
It was recommended to me by a co worker and it was fantastic to read this poetry. It is enigmatic and thought provoking. The creativity of faiz can be easily felt even by reading just the translation.
Classic collection of Faiz work, for those who are in preptual love of their homelands. Where injustices are served to poor on golden platter by the ruling elite.
Read translations for a literature class, but had to go back to Urdu. Moved me to tears, especially to see the state of my home country, and the terrifying immigrant life for us self-exiled.
I loved this collection. My Urdu is rather weak so I took help from the English translations and transliterations provided. Not much to complain about: this is my introduction to Faiz and a great justification as to why he is considered the last great Urdu poet.