INDIA New England News
New Delhi– Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was born in Agra in the closing years of the 18th century. A precocious child, he began composing verses at an early age and gained recognition while he was still very young.
He wrote in both Urdu and Persian and was also a great prose stylist. He was a careful, even strict, editor of his work who took to publishing long before his peers. His predilection for writing difficult, obscure poetry peppered with complex metaphors produced a unique commentary tradition that did not extend beyond his work.
Commentaries on his current Urdu ‘divan’ collection of poetry) have produced a field of critical writing that eventually lead to the crafting of a critical lens with which to view the classical ghazal.