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Tag Archives: Hindi poetry

The Poetry of Nagarjun Posted by on Aug 9, 2019

This week, I’ll be discussing a Hindi and Maithili writer (लेखक/lekhak) who is not well-known (नामी/naami) outside of India but certainly should be. The author known as “Baba Nagarjun” (बाबा नागार्जुन) and “Yatri,” (यात्री) whose real name was Vaidyanath Mishra (वैद्यनाथ मिश्र) (~1911-1998), was born in the village (गाँव/gaanv) of Satlakha in Bihar (बिहार). It…

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Learning Hindi through Poetry Posted by on Mar 7, 2019

Literature can be a powerful way to learn a new language. Although, at the most basic levels of language learning, the student may at first focus on simple vocabulary and grammatical structures, these are not what gives a language its depth and vibrancy. Particularly in South Asian culture, which has a rich oral and literary…

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The Poetry of Parveen Shakir Posted by on Feb 27, 2019

For this week’s blog, I thought it would be interesting to delve into the world of Hindi-Urdu poetry, in the form of a ghazal by Parveen Shakir (1952-1994). As you may remember, I wrote a blog post about this poet previously, where you can learn more about her life and contributions to Urdu poetry. Below…

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Parveen Shakir: A Poetess for the Modern Age Posted by on Dec 31, 2017

Born in 1952 in Karachi, Pakistan, Parveen Shakir (परवीन शाकिर) was a renowned poet in her lifetime and beyond. In addition to her career as a poet, she also served as a teacher and a civil servant of the Pakistani government. Remarkably, she began to display a talent for writing early in life, so it…

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Wisdom through Saint Kabir’s Couplets Posted by on Nov 21, 2017

Kabir Das was a poet-saint संत-कवी (sant-kavi) who lived in approximately 15th century १५वीं सदी  (pandhravi sadi) India. You can read more about him here. His poetry/couplets are famously known as दोहे (dohe; singular: दोहा doha) , and were written to dispense simple wisdom in vernacular Hindi, which widely appealed to the local folk. In addition to using uncomplicated language सरल…

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Faiz Ahmed Faiz: The Dawn of Freedom Posted by on Nov 11, 2017

This week, I’ll discuss another major writer in the Hindi-Urdu literary world: Faiz Ahmed Faiz (फ़ैज़ अहमद फ़ैज़). Faiz (1911-1984) was an intellectual who is known mostly for his poetry, which is often revolutionary in tenor. Today, he is considered one of the finest writers in the Hindi-Urdu literary sphere. He wrote mainly in Urdu…

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Sahir Ludhianvi: A Poet of the Silver Screen (Part 1) Posted by on Oct 9, 2017

In the world of Hindi-Urdu literature and popular film, Sahir Ludhianvi’s (साहिर लुधियानवी) name stands out as one of the most gifted and insightful poets of the 20th century. Born Abdul Hayee (अब्दुल हयी) in 1921 in Karimpura/करीमपुरा, Ludhiana (लुधियाना, a district in the state of Punjab), Punjab/पंजाब (in what was then British India), Sahir…

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