Express Your Thoughts Through Urdu Sher-o-shayari

By Author: Basit Habib
Total Articles: 5
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An estimated 250 million people in the Indian sub-continent express their thoughts and emotions through Urdu. It's the official language in Pakistan. Yet, not many outside the Indian sub-continent know of Urdu language let alone Urdu poetry. Urdu, which is believed to be a colorful mix of Persian, Arabic and Turkish, is probably the sweetest of all ancient languages. Urdu poetry or Sher-o-Shayari as it's known in common parlance is known for its highly romanticized and soul stirring verses. Literary influences can be traced back as far back as the 15th and 16th century with poets like Kabir and Amir Khusro enriching the language, thus paving way for modern day literary giants like Mir Taki Mir, Allama Iqbal, Syed Sajjad Hussain and many more.

Sher-o-Shayri in Urdu is often reminiscent of themes that involve human feelings, nature, and of course the never outdated theme - love. In the days of yore rendering Sher-o-Shayri was an elaborate affair with poets being asked to deliver their work through mushairas or poetic expositions. Poets were given a common theme or a particular style of poetry or Shayari and asked to render ...
... poems accordingly. The crowd often applauded the work of these poets through ‘Vah-Vah' - the general term used for applause.

There are different forms of Urdu poetry , with the principal ones being, Ghazal( a poems that's composed of a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 25 verses, with a common theme that runs across the poem), Qasida( an ode or a poem that deals with an important event), Marsiya( a poem that describes the events that led to the death of Hassan and Hussein and his families), Masnavi( a poetic romance) , Tazkira(a biographical anthology) and Nazm. Every poet has his own unique style of writing, with each poet leaving a ‘takhallus' or a pen name at the end of the poem (generally on the last couplet) as a signature.

Nowadays mushairas generally don't stick to a theme. Poets are free to recite anything that they feel like. Gen -Y, however doesn't identify with these formal settings and prefer a casual atmosphere to discuss their love for Urdu and Urdu poetry. Thanks to a number of Pakistani chat rooms, Urdu lovers all over the world can now share their love for the language. These forums are used to share everything right from Kahani Urdu, Shayri SMS, love Shayri, sad shayri, shayri on dosti ghazal, and even greeting cards. Besides Urdu, these chat rooms provide a healthy meeting ground for Urdu lovers from all over the world to discuss myriad topics.

UrduWorld a heaven for urdu poets and poetry lovers with a selection of shayari, shayri sms, love shayri, sad shayari, sher o shayri, shayri on dosti, and ghazal, also include greeting card, pakistan chat room and urdu kahani collection.