Iqbal and modern Urdu poetry: from the Anjuman-e-Punjab to Bal-e-Jibril
Iqbal's work holds an important place in modern Urdu poetry. To understand it, we can trace a path from debates in Lahore about new poetic forms to the collections published in his final years. Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) wrote in both Urdu and Persian, so considering either language alone gives an incomplete picture of his work. How did poetic form change, and why did he see poetry as a means of thinking? This article follows the main stages, from the Anjuman-e-Punjab to Bal-e-Jibril.
Modern Urdu poetry and the Anjuman-e-Punjab
Modern Urdu poetry began to take shape in Lahore. In the early 1870s Azad and Hali called at the Anjuman-e-Punjab for a new kind of nazm, organised around a subject. A chosen theme, rather than traditional conventions, would give the poem its structure. Hali (1837-1914) wrote the long poem Musaddas, an important point of reference for this period.
This background helps explain why discussions of Iqbal's poetry so often return to the nazm. Understanding the new emphasis on a sustained subject gives readers a useful starting point for considering his place in modern Urdu poetry.
From Asrar-i-Khudi to Bang-e-Dara
Asrar-i-Khudi (The Secrets of the Self), a philosophical poem written in Persian, appeared in 1915. Its title points to Iqbal's concern with questions of the individual, beyond the formal beauty of poetry. As a Persian work, it should be distinguished from his Urdu collections.
Iqbal's first collection of poems in Urdu, Bang-e-Dara (The Call of the Marching Bell), appeared in 1924. It provides a useful reference point when approaching the books that followed.
Bal-e-Jibril and the last collections
Bal-e-Jibril (Gabriel's Wing), published in 1935, is associated with the poet's journey to Spain. Zarb-i-Kalim followed a year later, in 1936. Armaghan-e-Hijaz appeared in 1938, after his death. Reading these publications in sequence allows us to follow the development of his poetry, from the first Urdu collection through the final years of his life.
The poem as a tool for thought
For Iqbal, poetry was a means of thinking about the individual, the community and freedom, rather than simply an exercise in ornament. His work illustrates the ambitions behind the new nazm advocated in Lahore: a poem shaped by its subject and guided by a line of thought. Readers seeking to understand modern Urdu poetry can approach these collections in the order in which they were written, following that thought as it develops.
Read more about Iqbal's poetry on Siyahi.