Firaq Gorakhpuri: The Poet of Love, Longing and Pain in Urdu Poetry

Description

Firaq Gorakhpuri was born on 28 August 1896 as Raghupati Sahaay Firaq. On his birth anniversary, we return to a poet who changed how love could be written about in Urdu. Firaq writes of ishq, but also of what accompanies it: desire, qurbat, longing, loneliness, memory and dard. What sets him apart is the attention he pays to these emotions. He doesn’t just describe them; he looks closely at what they do to us. In this episode, we follow some of his best-known verses and his deeply personal nazm “Jugnu” to grasp a sense of Firaq’s world, his life and the many shades of love that run through his poetry. Perhaps, along the way, we will better understand how he revolutionized Urdu poetry by blending classical Urdu romance with modern psychology and Eastern philosophy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices