میرؔ ان نیم باز آنکھوں میں
ساری مستی شراب کی سی ہے
miir un niim-baaz aañkhoñ meñ
saarii mastii sharaab kii sii hai
Mir, in those half-open eyes
lies all the intoxication of wine.
Tashbeeh and isti'ara
Level 3: Aesthetic Craft and Style · about 12 minutes
Tashbeeh is a comparison made explicit with a comparison word (saa, sii, jaise, misl, suurat). Isti'ara drops the comparison word and simply calls one thing by another's name.
Sharaab kii sii: 'like wine'. The word sii makes it a tashbeeh.
لب پہ آتی ہے دعا بن کے تمنا میری
زندگی شمع کی صورت ہو خدایا میری
lab pe aatii hai du'aa ban ke tamannaa merii
zindagii sham' kii suurat ho khudaayaa merii
My longing comes to my lips as a prayer:
O God, may my life be like a candle.
Sham' kii suurat: 'in the form of a candle', another tashbeeh.
تو شاہیں ہے پرواز ہے کام تیرا
ترے سامنے آسماں اور بھی ہیں
tuu shaahiiñ hai parvaaz hai kaam teraa
tire saamne aasmaañ aur bhii haiñ
You are a falcon; flight is your calling;
before you lie other skies still.
Iqbal does not say 'you are like a falcon'; he says 'you are a falcon'. That is isti'ara.
Practice
Rhetorical devices: 6 questions, built fresh each time from the couplets.