Best of Meer (Hindi and English Transliterations)

Meer Taqi Meer, the 18th century Urdu poet, is called the imam (leader) of Urdu poetry. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries and even the later poets including Ghalib who acknowledged Meer’s poetic genius. Meer belonged to the Delhi School of Urdu ghazals.

The greatest strength of his poetry is its simplicity. The language he used is not intricate or grand but simple and easily understood. It is this simplicity which makes a deep impact on the readers. There is an elegance in his style. Meer also used Persian imagery and idiom in his poetry to enhance its beauty. Though Meer tried his hand at various poetic forms, his fame is mainly due to his ghazals which deal with love, especially unrequited love. He has written some of the best poems on love in Urdu. His masnavi Mu’amlat-e-Ishq is counted among the greatest love poems in Urdu literature.

His personal life influenced the poetry he wrote. The pathos and melancholy in his poetry are due to the tragedies he suffered throughout his life. Meer wrote poetry both in Urdu and Persian. His collection of Urdu poems, Kulliat-e-Meer, has six volumes which have 13,585 couplets. Kulliat-e-Farsi is the collection of his poems in Persian language. Meer also wrote his autobiography in Persian called Zikr-e-Meer:

In The Best of Meer, Kuldip Salil has presented an English translation of many of his poems, with the original in both Hindi script and Roman transliteration, to enable even non-Urdu readers to enjoy poetry that articulates the entire range of human emotions.

Here is a book for all lovers of poetry to read and preserve.