Ghalib as an Indo-Persian Poet Essay

Ghalib is an Indo-Persian poet that was writing in the Urdu language and became popular and influential in the XIX century. The lifestyle and conduct of Ghalib were inspiring people, saving faith and belief in their hearts during harsh times. The poem chosen for this assignment is “The “Godless” Lover.” The name of this work refers to the Islamic government dubbing Ghalib godless. Still, in many lines of the poet, one can find Koranic characters and reflections about the relationship between a human and the Creator. Ghalib, in this poem, emphasizes the meaning of God to his soul and puts special stress on the initial presence of God. All the people, according to Ghalib, are the result of creation that would not have mattered if they existed or not without God. It is especially evident in the following lines:

When there was nothing, there was God
If nothing had been, God would have been
My very being has been my downfall
If I hadn’t been, what would it have mattered?

Various tones come across in the poem: negative and positive, and it might depend on the reader and his current condition. Ghalib states that God has always been there for a human, and even if there is no hope and it seems that the world has ended, God will be there to help each soul. The tone of the narrator depends on the perceptions of the reader, his experience, and his current state. The author of this paper tends to believe the poem’s tone is positive, and it reminds of eternal and unbreakable things a man can refer to. Even if the process of human creation would not have existed, a human would still have been united with God.

Robert Bly expressed similar thoughts with the help of different words. He stated: “Our perception of ‘things’ as real doesn’t quite fit with the idea that they don’t actually exist. One Muslim belief sees the universe we know as a mixture of the Existent and the Non-Existent. Things such as trees, streets, people, and clouds all belong to Non-Existence: they are only shadows thrown by a genuinely existent sun.” The genuinely existent sun here is God, and all the people, nature, and other inevitable items of human life are shadows. Staying close to the sun is staying close to God and self. Then all the other aspects will have meaning in each soul’s lifespan.

Indian culture is unique and many-sided, and after hearing the poems sung, the impression from the artwork becomes more meaningful. Some parts of the human soul answer more actively when they hear music. Songs in Indian manner have various qualities of tone hypnotizing and relaxing the listener. The major impression after watching the videos can be described with words calmness, belief, honesty, and truth. Listening to the poems discloses the meaning of the poem deeper and differs significantly from reading the text.

Ghalib is a central figure in Indo-Persian culture as he transferred faith via his poems, raising essential questions for a human. The most important items for an individual are hope and the connection to it, seeking the answers to the initial existence of things, and staying devoted to it. Ghalib was an example of a strong person who never lost hope even after harsh moments of his life. The poem “The “Godless” Lover” underlines the attitude of Ghalib to God and God’s connection to human beings.