Born : 27 december , 1797
Died : 15 february, 1869
He was an Indian poet who wrote in Urdu and Persian . His name is traditionally listed among the top three masters of the ghazal form .
In addition to being a dominate poet of his time , Ghalib was an indefatigable letter - writer . The couplets slipped almost inadvertently into his comment on his era , and the whole composite of letter - and - song make an extraordinarily fine example of what historians call "the raw material of history" .
Perhaps Ghalib was not the great hero that some of his biographers , notably Maulana Hali , have tried to make him . he was not above making compromises in order to survive. But what we ask of a poet is the texture of his / her writing, its thought and sensibility , and Ghalib di not let us down .
The name Ghalib , literally meaning "dominant" , was the poet's takhallus , or nom de plume . In his early works he used the pen name Asad . Like many Urdu writers , this takhallus has become his identity as a literary figure , and he is also often referred to as Mirza Ghalib .
We roll back the years till we see Ghalib as the child of a feudal aristocracy , embodiment of a class , rather than of a nation , for nationhood had not yet been born in India . We see him happy while his father and uncle were alive . After their deaths , Ghalib became the part of the extended family of cousins .
At the age of 10 , Ghalib was already writing verse , not indeed his best , for it was rather florid , although promising . His ghazals were shown to Mir Taqi Mir , the cham of his age , whose contempt for his contemporaries was a byword. Mir read the poems and remarked laconically that iff a competent mentor could be found to guide the boy , he would become a great poet .
In the end , Ghalib found his "mentors" not in any particular person , but in the atmosphere in which he lived . The correct writing of Urdu poetry was a matter for intensive study .
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