Diwan-E-Ghalib

With Mir, Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz, to name only four, the firmament of Urdu poetry is truly star-studded, with numerous starlets strewn around. Ghalib has not only a pride of place among them his stature is growing with every passing decade. He got less than his due in his own time. He was ahead of his age and his contemporaries failed to comprehend him fully. But it was really when India (and Pakistan) celebrated his first death centenary in 1969 that he was rehabilitated as a great poet that he is. There has been no looking back after that. As with other great poets, such as Shakespeare, one discovers a new wealth of meaning every time one reads him and different people find different meaning, suiting their need and situation. Great poets are inexhaustible in their appeal and meaning and do not become dated—they mirror their times most effectively. Ghalib's writings are not only an authentic account of his own age, his poetry transcends his times and situation. It is universal in its appeal.