BOOK: ANIS AND SHAKESPEARE - A COMPARISON by Syed Ghulam Iman (publication 1950)

 MIR ANIS ( 1802- 1874 AD)was a contemporary of Ghalib and Mirza Dabir. His father Mir Khaliq was also a poet of renown. Anis loved solitude and was mystic by nature. His sonorous voice, his winning postures and the grave

and vivacious style of his rich composition, with the singularly tragic turn kept the listeners spell bound. He

was a master of narrative poetry. 

Panegyrics are written for living one, and elegies are meant to extol the virtues of the dead. Har katraho nachiz, gauher ho nahi jataJiske pas asa ho, use Musa nahi kheteHar hat ko aakil yadbeza nahi kheteHalat pahan ke bhi na razalat ki boo gayi.

'MAN'

Shakespeare:What a piece of work is man!How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties!In form and moving, how express and admirable!In action how like an angel! In apprehension, How like a god! The beauty of the world!Paragon of animals! and yet to me, What is this quintessence of dust.

MIR ANIS Harja teri kudrat ke hein lakho jalveinHeran hu ke do ankhein se kya kya dekhuGulshan mein saba ko justazu teri heinBulbul ki juban pe guftagu teri heinHar rang mein hein zalva teri kudrat kaJis fuul ko sunghta hun bu teri hein.

Virtue itself turns vice, when misapplied.

Nure khuda ki madhe bashar ki hein kya mazalPhoncha kahi n khel malak ka jahan khayal

Brevity is the soul of witBas ei anis taweel se behtar hein ikhteyar

LIFE

Why what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust,And, live we how we can, die we must.

Gafil tuje kyu khawais duniya e dani heinPaiband zameen har koi darvesh o gani heinKis bag pein asab khiza a nahi zataGul konsa khilta hein jo murza nahin jata.

Resignation and patienceHota agar n katl to aati n kya azalGar aaj bach gaye to yehi marhala hei kalRehne ki yeh jaa na taharne ka hei mahalDuniya mein sabr se nahi bahter koi amal.

We cannot but obeyThe powers above us - could I rage and roarAs doth the sea she lies in, yet the endMust be as it is. Perciles - Prince of Tyre

Hum log to majboor hei, mukhtar vahi heiMushkil mein garibo ka madadgar vahi hein

GraveIf I die,

I will encounter darkness as a bride, and Hug it in my arms.

Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells Here grows no damned grudges,

Here no storms, No noise but silence and eternal sleep.

mar mar ke musafir ne basaya hein tuje Rukh sab se fira ke muh dikhaya hein tuje

Kyun na lipat kar ke tuj se sou eh kabr Mein ne bhi jan kho kar paya hein tuje.

Moral order:There is divinity that shapes our ends. Shakespeare

hum log to majboor hein, mukhtar vahi hein.

Life Tifli dekhi, shabab dekha hamneHasti ko habaab ab dekha hamne

Jab band hui ankhen to aqida yeh khulaJo kuch dekha so khavab dekha hamne.

The celestial gift with which Anis was endowed were employed by him to narrate the actions and virtues of the heroes of Karbala.

I would like to narrate a single incident from his life, which will give an insight into his personality. Anis had become very famous in his lifetime. When called to recite before Wajid Ali Shah – the emperor of Oudh, after hearing the compatriot and rival Mirza Dabir, reciting verse in praise of the emperor, Mir Anis recited a quatrain in praise of Imam Ali (S.A.) thus:

Gaiyr ki madhe karun she ka sanakha ho karMujrahi apni hava khou Sulaiman ho kar

Faithful Companion

Rushtam utha na sakta tha sar is ke samnesero ke kapte the jigar unke samnefiki thi roshnie kamar in ke samneurta tha rang rue sahar unke samnebaksha tha noor haq ne harek khus sifaat kohota tha din jo ghar se nikal te the rat ko

Written in old age.

Piri ke valvalemein, khiza ki bahar hein(this is the exuberance of old age, this is the spring of autumn)

Some of his beautiful couplets :Har katraho nachiz, gauher ho nahi jataJiske pas asa ho, us-e Musa nahi kheteHar hat ko aakil yadbeza nahi kheteHarja teri kudrat ke hein lakho jalveinHeran hu ke do ankhein se kya kya dekhuGulshan mein saba ko justazu teri heinBulbul ki juban pe guftagu teri heinHar rang mein hein zalva teri kudrat kaJis fuul ko sunghta hun bu teri hein.

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