Best of Meer

Meer Taqi Meer, the 18th century Urdu poet, is called the imam (leader) of Urdu poetry. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries and even theater poets including Ghalib who acknowledged Meers poetic genius. Meer belonged to the Delhi School of Urdu ghazals. The greatest strength of his poetry is its simplicity. Theanguage he used is not intricate or grand but simple and easily understood. It is this simplicity which makes a deep impact on the readers. There is an elegance in his style. Meer also used Persian imagery and idiom in his poetry to enhance its beauty. Though Meer tried his hand at various poetic forms, but his fame is mainly due to his ghazals which deal withove, especially unrequitedove. He has written some of the best poems onove in Urdu. His masnaviMuamlat-e-Ishq is counted among the greatestove poems in Urduiterature. His personalife influenced the poetry he wrote. The pathos and melancholy in his poetry are due to the tragedies he suffered throughout hisife. Meer wrote poetry both in Urdu and Persian. His collection of Urdu poems, Kulliat-e-Meer, has six volumes which have 13,585 couplets. Kulliat-e-Farsi is the collection of his poems in Persiananguage. Meer also wrote his autobiography in Persian called Zikr-e-Meer: This book offers a selection of the best ghazalsofMeerTaqi Meer, translated into English by KuldipSalil. To help you enjoy the richness and flavour of Urduanguage, the original Urdu ghazals are transliterated and presented both in Roman and Devnagri scripts.