Verse 81816aa))iikaa
G2
1
don't give the letter so much length, Ghalib, write {an abstract / briefly}
2
that 'I am a longing-measurer of the breadth/petition of the tyrannies of separation'
'Abridged, curtailed, abbreviated, contracted; concise; small; --a compendium, abridgment, an epitome; an abstract; a digest; --adv. In short, briefly'.
'Grief, regret, intense grief or sorrow; —longing, desire'.
'Weigher, measurer; examiner (used as last member of compounds, e.g., or , s.m., A measurer of sounds, i.e. a musician; --, s.m. A weigher of words; an orator; a poet)'.
'Presenting or representing; representation, petition, request, address; --(v.n. fr. 'to be broad'), s.m. Breadth, width; (in Geog.) latitude; --a military muster, a review'.
| References | |
|---|---|
| Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali | Ghazal# 11 |
| Raza, Kalidas Gupta | 149-150 |
| Nuskhah-e-Hamidiyah | 50-53 |
| Asi, Abdul Bari | 61-62 |
| Gyan Chand | 87-90 |
| Hamid Ali Khan | Open Image |
In Persian means 'to weigh' and 'to make measured/harmonious'. Thus are all familiar constructions and are on the lips of correct speakers. But later connoisseurs of the language and their followers, like Bedil, etc., have begun to formally versify as well, and this is not free of artificiality [].
== Nazm page 26
He says, 'Oh Ghalib, when you lengthen the letter by writing all kinds of laments and all types of complaints, what's the point? Write a shortish sentence, that I have in my heart a longing to express the tyrannies of separation and the suffering of being apart.' (51)
The meaning of is 'one who has a longing'. From to make is proper for and , but now , , etc. too are widely used. In short, to present the tyrannies of separation. The theme of the verse is clear. (87)
Compare 132,7 . (256)
Ghalib has done an elegant thing with and , by exploiting the wide range of their meanings (see the definitions above). The lover adjures himself to cut to the chase, to describe the essence of his situation. He then depicts himself as either a strange kind of surveyor (a 'longing-measurer' of 'breadths') or a strange kind of expert judge (a 'longing-examiner' of 'petitions'). In other words, even when the lover urges himself to make a brief, pithy [] abstract or statement of his situation, the result remains elusive. The lover wraps up his whole life within a single claim to a terrible kind of expertise: he's a professional assessor of suffering.
The objection that Nazm makes is that is traditionally used with words evoking music or sound (as can be seen from Platts's examples too). Thus it can easily be used for a 'measurer' of the pace of music, or the metrical rhythm of poetry. But here it has been applied by extension to 'sorrow, longing, desire', which have no musical flow or poetic meter (unless the poet 'writes them in'). Nazm disapproves, but how much do we care? It's like criticizing Shakespeare for his neologisms.
graphics/bookreadermet.jpg