Urdu Renditions of English Poetry

Naseer

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May 20, 2011, 9:05:42 AM5/20/11

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Haaziriin-i-maHfil, aadaab 'arz hai.

This thread is in response to janaab-i-Afzal's Sahib's thread
entitled, "Sonnets - And An Urdu Sonnet" in which he talks about his
passion for English literature in the following words, "At certain
times, I feel an urge to indulge in another passion of mine ---
English Literature. Today is one such day, when I thought about such
a topic --- the Sonnet." Recently, in "Shelley's "Ode To The West
Wind" -- Urdu Renditions - Part I" he has said, "In my time, I have
been fond of many diverse subjects, one of them being English
Literature".

In May 2008, in "Topic of the Month (05/08) basant-bahaar awr barkhaa-
rut" I mentioned Geoffrey Chaucer..

angrezii ke mash_huur shaa'ir Geoffrey Chaucer ne " The Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales" kaa aaGhaaz yuuN kiyaa hai.

Whan that April with his showres soote
The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veine in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flowr; (ll. 1-4)

(When, in April, sweet showers fall
And pierce the drought of March,
And bathe the vein and root
Of every plant with such liquor
That genders forth the flowers)

Afzal Sahib responded by saying, "Aap ne is shaa'ir ka hawaala de kar
mujhe apni zindagi ke ek mehboob daur ki yaad dilaa di. Shukriya."

A year earlier, in May again, Afzal Sahib posted, "Robert Southey And
Akbar Ilah'baadi" in which Southey's " The Cataract of Lodore" was
presented with Akbar's Urdu translation under the title, ""Aab-e-
Lodore". It appears that "angrezii adab kii taRap" in the form of
"..darling buds of May" is having a profound effect on Afzal Sahib's
mood in this month of May!

With Afzal Sahib's leave, I ask all ALUPers to join me so that we can
visit Afzal Sahib in his "baiThak" in order to share with him his love
and passion for English (and Urdu) literature.

Now that we are all sitting comfortably and are sipping tea which even
Maulana Azad did not have the pleasure of tasting, munching the
tastiest cakes and biscuits and eating the choicest mangoes that would
be found only in Mirza Ghalib's house and all this amidst matchless
"Afzal.A.Khan" hospitality, I would like to begin with a poem by
Tennyson entitled, "The Poet's Mind" and its translation by Naadir
Kaakorvii.

..........................................................................................

The Poet’s Mind: Tennyson

I.

Vex not thou the poet’s mind
With thy shallow wit;
Vex not thou the poet’s mind,
For thou canst not fathom it.
Clear and bright it should be ever,
Flowing like a crystal river,
Bright as light, and clear as wind.

II.

Dark-brow’d sophist, come not anear;
All the place is holy ground;
Hollow smile and frozen sneer
Come not here.
Holy water will I pour
Into every spicy flower
Of the laurel-shrubs that hedge it around.
The flowers would faint at your cruel cheer.
In your eye there is death,
There is frost in your breath
Which would blight the plants.
Where you stand you cannot hear
From the groves within
The wild-bird’s din.
In the heart of the garden the merry bird chants.
It would fall to the ground if you came in.
In the middle leaps a fountain
Like sheet lightning,
Ever brightening
With a low melodious thunder;
All day and all night it is ever drawn
From the brain of the purple mountain
Which stands in the distance yonder.
It springs on a level of bowery lawn,
And the mountain draws it from heaven above,
And it sings a song of undying love;
And yet, tho’ its voice be so clear and full,
You never would hear it, your ears are so dull;
So keep where you are; you are foul with sin;
It would shrink to the earth if you came in.

............................................................................................................

The translation, "shaa'ir kaa dil" was published in November 1902 in
"Khadang-i-nazar" and this is what Munshii Naadir Ali Khan Sahib
Naadir Kaakorvii had to say about it.

"aNgrezii nazmoN ko ba-muqaabalah-i-Urdu auzaan ke nazm kahnaa hii nah
chaahiye. un ke do misra' ba-mushkil ek saaNche meN Dhale hu'e aur ek
paimaanah se nape hu'e mileN ge. ek aksar uNgal-bhar kaa aur duusraa
aksar chaar uNgal kaa. kahiiN ek band meN tiin misra' hoN ge kahiiN
paaNch. aisii be-qaa'idah nazmoN ko Urdu ke aise nape tule auzaan meN
tolnaa aur phir is tarH se kih shu'raa kii nuktah-sanj jamaa'at (jin
kaa yih Haal hai kih sirf qaafiyah nah hone se nazm ko mauzuuN hii
nahiiN maante) us ko qubuuliyat kii nazar se dekhe ko'ii aasaan kaam
nahiiN hai balkih mumkin hii nahiiN jab tak us ke misr'oN kii kamii-
beshii mutarjim apnii taraf se puurii nah kare. lekin is izaafah ko
asl mazmuun meN milaa denaa kih goyaa vuh bhii aslii hai ek qism kii
khulii khulii chorii hai jis qadar izaafah majbuur-an karnaa paRe us
ko saaf dikhaa denaa chaahiye.

zail kii nazm iNglistaan ke mash_huur maliku_shshu'araa Lord Tennyson
kii mash_huur nazm (Poet's Mind) kaa tarjumah hai jis meN naazuk-
Khayaak shaa'ir ne vuh jazbaat zaahir kiye haiN jin se hamaare Urdu
literature kaa Khazaanah ab tak Khaalii hai. ham is nazm ko apne dost
Munshii Naubat Raay Sahib "Nazar" kii farmaa'ish se Urdu nazm meN
tarjumah kar ke nazr-i-"KhadaNg-i-nazar" karte haiN. jahaaN kahiiN
zaruurat-i-shaa'irii se majbuur ho kar ham ko asl mazmuun par kuchh
izaafah karnaa paRaa hai ham us ko bracket ke andar (qaus meN) kiye
dete haiN taa kih nazm nazm rahe aur yaaraan-i-suKhan-sanj us ko be-
tukkii shaa'irii nah kaheN."

Naadir
.......................................................................................

shaa'ir kaa dil

mat dukhaa shaa'ir kaa dil zaalim kabhii tuu bhuul ke
apnii ochhii 'aql se aur apne ochhe fahm se

mat dukhaa shaa'ir kaa dil tuu ziinhaar (ai nuktah-chiiN)
us ke jazbaat kaa tuu andaazah kar saktaa nahiiN

saaf aur raushan ravaaN haiN suurat-i-nahr-i-billaur
saaf misl-i-baad (-i-bustaaN) aur raushan misl-i-nuur

tiiragii-i-jahl jis ke paas aa saktii nahiiN
chappah-chappah hai yahaaN kaa vuh muqaddas sar-zamiiN

duur rakh apnaa tamasKhur aur Hiqaarat (kii nazar)
in adaa'oN kaa nahiiN in paak KhittoN meN guzar

jitne yih gulhaa-i-rangaa-rang haiN is meN khile
siiNchtaa huuN sab ko Khuun-i-dil se ashk-i-paak se

jhaariyaaN laurel kii in phuuloN pih haiN saayah-figan
taa nah kumhlaa'eN ta'assub se tire ( O dil-shikan)

aaNkh meN Tonaa hai paalaa hai tanaffus meN tire
maar jaa (O bad-nazar zaalim) nah paudoN ko mire

chahchahe kartii hai bulbul is Hariim-i-paak meN
tuu ne gar rakhaa qadam mil jaa'e gii vuh Khaak meN

siHn-i-gulshan meN hai favvaarah ik aisaa chhuuTtaa
misl-i-sham'-i-Tuur jis kii Ghair-faanii hai ziyaa

aa rahii hai saaf Khush-aahaNg naGhmah kii sadaa
aur vuh naGhmah hai havaa meN raat-din guuNjaa hu'aa

ek koyal hai kih siinah se phudak kar koh ke
jo kih vaaqi' hai vahiiN kuchh faasilah par baagh se

arGhavaaN zaar-i-chaman meN uR ke aatii hai magar
kheNch letaa hai use phir koh auj-i-'arsh par

Ghair-faanii 'ishq kaa vuh gaa rahii hai ek raag
('aalam-i-piirii kaa maatam nau-javaanii kaa suhaag)

go sadaa us kii nihaayat saaf aur bharpuur hai
tuu nahiiN sun paa'e gaa haiN gosh-i-dil bahre tire

rah jagah par apnii (dekh apnii taraf) O pur-Khataa
Khaak ho jaa'e gii gar tuu ne qadam andar dharaa

...............................................................................

Naseer

Munh Maarvi

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May 25, 2011, 7:19:43 PM5/25/11

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> ..........................................................................................

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>
> Naseer

It would be interesting to see if someone has translated/rendered TS
Eliot in Urdu. Some of his poems seem very amenable to Urdu.

Naseer

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May 9, 2020, 9:54:11 AM5/9/20

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Naseer

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May 10, 2020, 10:12:53 AM5/10/20

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Here is a link to a translation by Nadir Kakorvii of Thomas Moore's "Oft In The Stilly Night

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/alt.language.urdu.poetry/translation$20Afzal%7Csort:date/alt.language.urdu.poetry/HsTTBD52uqA/5Or022avGAAJ (Thomas Moore's "Oft In The Stilly Night")

Naseer

Naseer

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Dec 14, 2020, 9:20:13 AM12/14/20

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Here is a link to Afzal SaaHib's latest addition to poems in other languages that have been translated into Urdu. This poem, in English, called " Night" and posted in a thread entitled "A Short English Poem ---- And Its Urdu Rendition" is by Francis William Bourdillon. The translation is by Syed Min'hajuddin Rudaulvi.

https://groups.google.com/g/alt.language.urdu.poetry/c/_DnWFB3j5AM

B.G. M.

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Dec 14, 2020, 2:10:09 PM12/14/20

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On Monday, December 14, 2020 at 9:20:13 AM UTC-5, Naseer wrote:
> Here is a link to Afzal SaaHib's latest addition to poems in other languages that have been translated into Urdu. This poem, in English, called " Night" and posted in a thread entitled "A Short English Poem ---- And Its Urdu Rendition" is by Francis William Bourdillon. The translation is by Syed Min'hajuddin Rudaulvi.
>
> https://groups.google.com/g/alt.language.urdu.poetry/c/_DnWFB3j5AM

Great
Naseer Saahab, aap ne yeh achChhaa kiyaa.
MaiN chaahtaa huuN kih janaab Raj Kumar “Qais” saahab ki woh nazm jo Fariduddin Attaar ki persian nazm kaa tarjumaa thii, usay bhi yahaaN daaKhil kiyaa jaaye. Kyaa aap mujhe is meN madad kar sakte haiN?
BaRii navaazish hogi!
==============================

Naseer

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Dec 15, 2020, 5:35:16 AM12/15/20

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BGM SaaHib, aadaab.

I believe in the second post I wrote "I intend to collect in this thread, links to those threads that are connected with translations from another language into Urdu. Please feel free to add". So, please feel free to add!

As for Raj Kumar SaaHib's translation, it is not a translation into Urdu from Persian but from an English translation of the Persian. So, it is a translation of a translation.

Naseer