Influence of English Poets On Iqbal's Poetry

[Afzal A. Khan]

We had been talking about translations and 'renditions into English'.

There is another category of poetry that ought to engage our attention
here. And that is poetry where the (Urdu) poet has freely borrowed
ideas and sentiments from English Poetry. Here, Iqbal's name springs
to mind immediately. A glance through his "Kulliyaat" would reveal
many instances where he has mentioned the names of English poets like
Milton, Wordsworth and Tennyson etc. However, I doubt if he himself
ever tried to explain in detail the linkage between English poetry
and his own "kalaam". Also, at times, such linkage seems a tad
tenuous. Nevertheless, researchers have been doing their bit to
make comparisons and furnish details in this respect.

Some years back, I had come across an Urdu article that had contained
some such details. At that time, I had thought about sharing with
ALUPers the contents of that article. But delays occurred and I
forgot all about it. This week I thought the time has come to redeem
the promise that I had made to myself.

My main purpose in rendering the abovereferred Urdu article into
English is to have these details archived in ALUP, so that
(apart from today's ALUPers), future visitors to this Newsgroup can
have access to the same --- particularly those (like Yours Truly) who
have some interest in English Literature and its Poetry.

However, there has been one difficulty : the article in question
contained numerous misprints, errors of fact and inaccurate
quotations in practically every citation. Probably, the worst
example was how the a line from Matthew Arnold's long dramatic poem
"Merope: A Tragedy" was distorted from :

"No lamentations can loose"
to :

"No lamination can lose"


At another place, "clod" (meaning a clump of earth) was quietly
changed to "cloud". Accordingly, I have had to spend a good deal
of time trying to cross-check all references and make amendments or
corrections wherever necessary. Time well spent, I should say.
Despite that, if any errors remain, I would request ALUPers to
come forward and do the needful.

Iqbal's exposure to English Literature and its poetry can be traced
to his studies in the Punjab (Sialkot and Lahore) where he had this
as a subject in his B.A. Then he went to Cambridge where this
interest deepened.



Given below are the original English verses (with the names of poets)
followed by the corresponding lines from Iqbal's 'kalaam'.

***********************



Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere,
All around, within, beneath,
Above is death—and we are death.

Shelley ("Death")



Kalba-e-aflaas men, daulat ke kaashaane men maut
Dasht-o-dar men, shehr men, gulshan men, veeraane men maut
Maut hai haNgaama~aara qulzum-e-KHaamosh men
Doob jaate haiN safeene maut ki aaGHosh men
Kitni mushkil zindagi hai, kis qadar aasaaN hai maut
Gulshan-e-hasti men maanind-e-habaab arzaaN hai maut


*********



“There is no such thing as death.
In nature nothing dies.
From each sad remnant of decay, some forms of life arise,
so shall his life be taken away before he knoweth that he hath it.”

Charles Mackay

Note : Charles Mackay (1814-1889) was a British poet. Probably he
is best remembered today for a hugely popular poem "The Miller Of
Dee", that used to be included regularly in school text books in
the past (and may still be included these days). Dee is the name of
a river flowing through Wales and England. Though there is another
river of the same name in Scotland, this poem is linked with the
former.

The poem is so lovable that I have reproduced it at the end of this
post.


Aah GHaafil maut ka raaz-e-nihaaN kuchh aur hai
Naqsh ki naa-paayedaari se 'ayaaN kuchh aur hai
Maut tajdeed-e-mazaaq-e-zindagi ka naam hai
KH(w)aab ke parde men bedaari ka ik paiGHaam hai

******************


"(Blest be the art that can immortalize,
The art that baffles time’s tyrannic claim
To quench it) here shines on me still the same
Faithful remembrance of one so dear"

William Cowper “On The Receipt Of My Mother’s Picture”




Hairati hooN maiN tiri tasweer ke aejaaz ka
RuKH badal Daala hai jis ne waqt ki raftaar ka
Rafta-o-haazir ko goya paa~ba~paa is ne kiya
'Ahd-e-tifli se mujhe phir aashna is ne kiya


******************


"But who shall mend the clay of man,
the stolen breath to man restore ?"


Sir Richard Burton "The Kasidah"

Ab koi aawaaz sotoN ko jaga sakti naheeN
Seena-e-veeraaN men jaan-e-rafta aa sakti naheeN


********************

"Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death ?"

Thomas Gray "Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard"


"No lamentation can loose
Prisoners of death from the grave;"

Matthew Arnold "Merope : A Tragedy"


Shorish-e-bazm-e-tarab kya, ood ki taqreer kya
Dard~mandaan-e-jahaaN ka naala-e-shab'geer kya
'arsa-e-paikaar men hangaama-e-shamsheer kya
KHoon ko garmaane waala na'ra-e-takbeer kya
Ab koi aawaaz sotoN ko jaga sakti naheeN
Seena-e-veeraaN men jaan-e-rafta aa sakti naheeN


{Matthew Arnold's lines are reflected in the last sher above}


******************


"Life is not measured by the time we live:"

George Crabbe "The Village"



Tu ise paimaana-e-imroz-o-farda se na naap
JaavidaaN, paiham dawaaN, har-dam jawaaN hai zindagi


Zindagaani jis ko kehte haiN faraamoshi hai yeh
KH(w)aab hai, GHaflat hai, masti hai, be-hoshi hai yeh


*********************

"Goethe in Weimer sleeps, and Greece,
Long since, saw Byron's struggle cease.
But one such death remain'd to come;
The last poetic voice is dumb
We stand to-day by Wordsworth's tomb."

Matthew Arnold "Memorial Verses"



'azmat-e-Ghalib hai ik muddat se paiwand-e-zameeN
Mahdi-e-Majrooh hai shehr-e-KHamoshaaN ka makeeN
ToR Daali maut ne GHurbat men meena-e-Ameer
Chashm-e-mehfil men hai ab tak kaif-e-sahbaa-e-Ameer
Aaj lekin ham-nawa saara jahaaN maatam men hai
Sham'-e-raushan bujh gayee, bazm-e-suKHan maatam men hai
Bulbul-e-Dilli ne baaNdha us chaman men aashiaaN
Hum-nawa haiN sab 'anadil baaGH-e-hasti ke jahaaN
Chal basa DaaGH aah maiyyat us ki zeb-e-dosh hai
AaKHri shaa'ir JahaaN~aabaad ka KHaamosh hai

"DaaGH"

************************


"Time may restore us in his course
Goethe's sage mind and Byron's force;
But where will Europe's latter hour
Again find Wordsworth's healing power ?
Others will teach us how to dare,
And against fear our breast to steal;
Others will strengthen us to bear --
But who, ah! who, will make us feel ?
The cloud of mortal destiny,
Others will front it fearlessly --
But who, like him, will put it by ?"


Matthew Arnold "Memorial Verses"



Aur dikhlaaeNge mazmooN kee hameN baareekiyaaN
Apni fikr-e-nukta~aara ki falak~paimaaiyyaaN
TalKHi-e-dauraaN ke naqshe kheNch kar rulwaayeNge
Ya taKHaiyyul ki nayee dun'ya hameN dikhlaayeNge
Is chaman men hoNge paida bulbul-e-Shiiraaz bhi
SaiNkRoN saahir bhi hoNge, saaheb-e-aejaaz bhi
UTTheNge Aazar hazaaroN sher ke but~KHaane se
Mai pilaayeNge naye saaqi, naye paimaane se
Likkhi jaayeNgi kitaab-e-dil ki tafseereN bahut
HoNgi ai KH(w)aab-e-jawaani! teri ta'beereN bahut
Hu~bahu kheNchega lekin 'ishq ki tasweer kaun ?
UTh gaya naawak-figan, maarega dil par teer kaun ?

"DaaGH"


********************


"There is a kindly mood of melancholy,
That wings the soul, and points her to the skies;"

John Dyer "The Ruins of Rome"


Haadisaat-e-GHam se hai insaaN ki fitrat ko kamaal
GHaaza hai aaina-e-dil ke liye gard-e-malaal




**************************



"I but open my eyes, --- and perfection, no more and no less,
In the kind I imagined, full-fronts me, and God is seen God
In the star, in the stone, in the flesh, in the soul and the clod."


Robert Browning "Saul"



Chamak teri 'ayaaN bijlee men, aatish men, sharaare men
Jhalak teri huwaida chaand men, sooraj men taare maiN

************************


"Or if, once in a thousand years,
A perfect character appears,"

Charles Churchill “The Ghost”


HazaaroN saal nargis apni be~noori pe roti hai
BaRi mushkil se hota hai chaman men deeda'war paida


************************



"Who is this before whose presence idols tumble to the sod?
While he cries out--"Allah Akbar! and there is no god but God!"

William Ross Wallace "El Amin--The Faithful"



Kis ki haibat se sanam sehme huwe rehte the
MooNh ke bal gir ke "hu~Allah-o-Ahad" kehte the


*****************************


"And heart profoundly stirred;
And weep, and feel the fulness of the past,
The years that are no more!"


Matthew Arnold "Growing Old"



SamaaN aaNkhoN men phir jaata hai jab fasl-e-bahaari ka
GuloN ko yaad kar ke KHoob rota hooN gulistaaN men


***********************

"As a dare-gale skylark scanted in a dull cage,
Man's mounting spirit in his bone-house, mean house, dwells —"

Gerald M.Hopkins "The Caged Skylark"


Ai k(e) tera murGH-e-jaaN taar-e-nafas men hai aseer
Ai k(e) teri rooh ka taair qafas men hai aseer



*************************



In due course, I may submit another post along the same lines,
involving Iqbal and English Poetry.


Afzal


-------------------------------------------------------------------

As promised, here is Charles Mackay's poem "The Miller of Dee".
I am sure many ALUPers would remember reading it in their student
days.


The Miller Of Dee


There dwelt a miller, hale and bold,
Beside the river Dee;
He worked and sang from morn till night -
No lark more blithe than he;
And this the burden of his song
Forever used to be:
"I envy nobody - no, not I -
And nobody envies me!"

"Thou'rt wrong, my friend," said good King Hal,
"As wrong as wrong can be;
For could my heart be light as thine,
I'd gladly change with thee.
And tell me now, what makes thee sing,
With voice so loud and free,
While I am sad, though I am king,
Beside the river Dee?"

The miller smiled and doffed his cap,
" earn my bread," quoth he;
"I love my wife, I love my friend,
I love my children three;
I owe no penny I can not pay,
I thank the river Dee,
That turns the mill that grinds the corn
That feeds my babes and me."

"Good friend," said Hal, and sighed the while,
"Farewell, and happy be;
But say no more, if thou'dst be true,
That no one envies thee;
Thy mealy cap is worth my crown,
Thy mill my kingdom's fee;
Such men as thou are England's boast,
O miller of the Dee!




*******************

[premc...@gmail.com]

Afzal Bhai, Wah wah. Aap ka jawaab nahi. The last time I
read "Miller of the Dee" was in 1953 in my High school class.

Now I have a two questions:

1. Did Iqbal clearly state anywhere, that he was inspired by the
Western Poets?
2. Can we consider the inspired poetry as translations?

I think you are being kind to poets who have borrowed freely, ideas
and
sentiments from English Poetry. As for me, I feel disgusted when I
hear
Indian film songs based on Western music composed by directors who
have freely borrowed without giving any credit to the original
composer.

Thanks once again for thoughtful post.

PJ

[Vijay]

Thanks Afzal sahib for this very interesting post and your painstaking
effort at editing out the printing errors from the original. Could you
let us know the name of the author of the original article and if it
someone lesser known, perhaps tell us a word or two about him? He
appears to be quite a scholar of both English and Urdu verse.

Best regards,

Vijay

PS: And yes, thanks for The Miller of Dee!

[Afzal A. Khan]

Joshi-ji,

I am glad I was able to remind you of your school days.

As to your first question, I would say "Yes". If you read his
"BaaNg-e-D'ra", you will find umpteen instances where he has
mentioned names of English poets as a sort of brief preface to
the relevant poem. In fact, one can find names of various poets,
statesmen and national patriots of other countries too, like
Goethe, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Lenin, Napoleon etc.

I recall posting a poem of his in ALUP (of course with a detailed
commentary) where he invokes Mussolini, the Italian dictator.
You can search for the link in the ALUP archives.

As to your second question, I don't think the examples cited in
my original post can be deemed to be outright translations. That
is why I had used the word "inspiration", rather than translation.
Since you can read Iqbal's Urdu text and the English citations
too, this should be clear to you.

At Lahore and, later, at Cambridge, Iqbal's association with
teachers and mentors like Thomas Arnold, McTaggart, Whitehead,
Browne and Nicholson etc. helped deepen this influence.
Another and perhaps the bigger influence on him was Faarsi poetry
of the Persian Masters. It is not generally realized that Iqbal's
poetic output in Faarsi is much more than his Urdu poetry. Later
in life, he preferred to write mostly in Faarsi. His command over
the language was such that he felt it much easier to express his
ideas and philosophy in Faarsi rather than Urdu.

Although Iqbal has written quite a few ghazals, he is principally
a naz'm~go poet. And, with his wide erudition and deep knowledge
of western literature and philosophy, it was but natural that
such influences found their way in his poetry. And why not ?
There is nothing wrong about it. I believe there is a saying
from the Yajurveda to the effect that "Let noble ideas come to us
from all sides". One of our ALUPer friends had in fact provided
the original text and its translation too, viz.

"A no bhadrah kratavo yantu visvatoadabdhaso aparitasaa’
udbhidah Deva no yatha sadmid vrdhe asannaprayuvo raksitaro
dive-dive.

Yajurveda 25/14

"Let benevolent, harmless, free and fruitful ideas come to us
from all sides, so that the vigilant and protector Gods
continually make us prosper."

Also, the 'Allama had tried his hand at translating the Sanskrit
text of the Gayatri Mantar into Urdu.



Afzal

[premc...@gmail.com]

On Jul 26, 10:13 pm, "Afzal A. Khan" <me_af...@privacy.net> wrote:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Afzal Bhai,

A million thanks for enlightening me with your most informative
comments.
The sad part is that, every day the burden of what I don't know
increases.
However every post of yours is a welcome relief and always a
pleasure.

PJ