COLUMN: The poet and the critic

THE book I am going to talk about is meant to pay, as the compiler puts it, homage to two leading writers, Firaq Gorakhpuri and Muhammad Hasan Askari. Titled Firaq Sahib, the book is primarily an introduction to the poet Firaq who has been acknowledged as a new voice in Urdu poetry. But at the same time care has been taken to bring to light Askari's distinctive position as unrivalled in the world of Urdu criticism and whose critical writings about Firaq form part of the volume. This book may thus be considered as homage to both the poet and the critic. The compiler of the volume, Javaid Akhtar Bhatti, has singled out Askari as one of the few who recognised the real worth of Firaq's poetry and delved into the hidden meanings of his verses. Bhatti collected Askari's scattered critical writings and compiled them to serve as an introduction to Firaq's poetry. Bhatti also precedes this critical appraisal by an exhaustive biographical narrative for which he turned to Dr Nawazish Ali who carried out painstaking research on Firaq and unveiled previously unknown facts about his life. The detailed biographical sketch presented is a reliable one as Dr Nawazish is a genuine Firaq researcher. Askari's writings on Firaq are inspirational and spontaneous. He cares little to elaborate and is brief and to the point. Brevity and spontaneity are the hallmarks of his writings on the poet. His thesis is that Firaq is a new voice in Urdu poetry and his appearance on Urdu's literary horizon sees him carrying a new sensibility, a new energy, and even a new language. He comments on Firaq's verses from different angles and searches for what lies beneath the surface. "Great poetry," he says, "is never a sudden outburst of creativity." It takes time for it to take shape. "For long it goes on brewing within the inner being of the poet. It is after this process that there is an upsurge of what we call great poetry." We see signs of this greatness in Firaq from the very start. In 1953 Askari comments that though Firaq started writing great poetry in 1938, "but it is now for the past three or four years, [that we see] a revival of the ghazal owing to a great extent to Firaq's influence. His poetry has now come to stay as an institution. It seems to have been included not just in the consciousness of the poets alone, but also in the consciousness of the common readers." Askari believes that Firaq has contributed tremendously to Urdu poetry. By submitting to the influence of nature in a devotional way, Firaq has provided Urdu poetry with new dimensions. Urdu poetry, he says, appeared to be purely human dominated. Even when the modern poets turned to nature in a serious way, man always remained primary. But in Firaq's poetry, we find that nature is no more dominated by human emotions. Therein it enjoys a status of sovereignty. Hasan Askari points out another of Firaq's precious contribution: he has introduced to Urdu poetry a new lover who is a dignified soul and is sensible enough to realise that he has to also care for needs other than love. In other words, in Firaq's poetry love does not appear as an experience isolated from other experiences of life. It makes its appearance within the perspective of human life, which brings in its wake manifold experiences. Love is just one of them — though, of course, it has a bit more significance.