Preamble: The Praise and Blame of Poetry

Introduction to Poetry and the Art of Poetry

Preamble

For the life and order of this desolation that looks like a dwelling, that is, the workshop of the world, the All-Wise has created different capacities in different groups of men, so that each group may keep busy with its own work according to its own taste and ability, and so that, through one another's efforts, everyone's needs may be met and no one's work be held up. Some of these groups do work that does not seem of much use to society; but since this is the share the Divider of the eternal portions has given them, they are content with their lot and keen in their efforts. The work they accomplish may count for nothing in the eyes of the world, but in their own eyes it is as necessary and indispensable as the useful and great works of other groups are in the eyes of the world. The farmer feeds the world by his labour, and the builder's labour protects people from the harm of cold, heat, rain and storm, so the work of both is held by all to deserve honour and esteem. But a flute-player, who sits alone on some deserted hillock comforting his heart with the strains of his flute, and perhaps now and then drawing the hearts of listeners to himself, though nothing much can be expected from him for the good of mankind, does not think his pleasant pastime any less necessary than the work of the farmer and the builder. He is happy in the thought that if this work had no place in the chain of civilised life, the Wise Maker would never have put a taste for it into man's nature.

A thousand colours are needed in this workshop;
do not cavil, Naziri: all of them were well made.

The Praise and Blame of Poetry

Much has been said in praise and in blame of poetry, and what has been said in blame is more reasonable than what has been said in praise. A poet himself has said that there is no one in the world, however low his trade, whom society does not need, except the poet. In the imaginary plan of a republic that Plato drew up for Greece, he allowed a need for people of every trade and art except poets. In our own time some have compared poetry to a magic lantern: the darker the room in which a magic lantern is lit, the brighter its show; in the same way, the darker and more ignorant the age in which poetry appears, the more it flourishes.

The Gift of Poetry Is Not Useless

These things, and many more of the kind that have been said against poetry, must be admitted. But it cannot be denied either that thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people are born whom nature made for this very work, and in whose nature it placed this gift. Most of them have used the gift against the demands of nature; but a gift bestowed by nature cannot be called vain and useless merely because most people use it against nature. Reason is a precious blessing of God, yet many people use it for cunning and deceit, mischief and disorder. Courage too is a divine gift, yet at times it is spent on murder, plunder and highway robbery. Does this make any difference to the nobility of reason or the excellence of courage? Not at all. In the same way the gift of poetry cannot be called bad because someone uses it badly.

It is accepted that poetry is not acquired by study; only the person who has the stuff of poetry in him becomes a poet. The first sign of the poet is held to be a natural sense of metre. It has often been seen that verses which some learned men cannot read in correct metre are read in correct metre, without effort, by unlettered people and small children. This shows that poetry is not something acquired; in some natures the capacity for it is God-given. So whoever uses this divine gift in keeping with the demands of nature cannot fail to bring some benefit to society.

The Power of Poetry Is Beyond Dispute

No one can deny the power of poetry. In its hearers it nearly always produces, in greater or lesser degree, grief or joy, ardour or dejection, and from this one can judge how far it could serve if it were put to use. The astonishing wonders that steam has now performed were first traced to the slight movement that the lid of a cooking pot used to make under the force of the steam. Who knew then that this trifling vapour concealed the strength of mighty armies and surging rivers?

Drama

In our country the work of *bhands* (jesters) and mimics is thought very low, and the *swangs* (masquerades) put on at Holi are considered harmful to society; yet in Europe this same masquerade and mimicry, once reformed, has brought nations endless moral and social benefits.

Music

All the instruments of music, which with us are always used at gatherings for idle amusement and which our wise men think utterly frivolous, have been put to suitable use by civilised nations, who have drawn very precious benefits from them. It is accepted that when the band plays on the battlefield according to the established rules, the soldiers' courage rises beyond measure, and every soldier is ready to give his life at his officer's command; and when for some reason the band stops playing during a battle, their hearts grow cold and the officer's command is little obeyed.

The Popularity of Poets

History offers countless examples of poets who have won signal victories over people's hearts by the magic of their words. At times a poet's verse takes such hold of the public heart that everything about the poet, even his faults, begins to seem admirable in the eyes of the people, and they try to show that they too share those faults. It is well known of Byron that "people bought his portrait with great eagerness and carefully hoarded his tokens and keepsakes. They learned his verses by heart and tried to write verses like them; they even wished to look like him. Many people would stand before the mirror practising to put into their upper lip and brow the same frown that is seen in some portraits of Lord Byron. Some, in imitation of him [1], had given up wearing a neckcloth."

Great Things Have Been Done with Poetry in Political Affairs

In Europe, from ancient times, poetry has been regarded in times of political difficulty as a great instrument for rousing and urging a nation on. At one time there was a long war between the Athenians and the Megarians over the island of Salamis, in which the Athenians were defeated again and again, until their spirit sank so low that they gave up the fight for good and agreed that anyone who mentioned this war or proposed to fight it again should be put to death. At that time the famous Athenian lawgiver Solon was alive. He was deeply ashamed, and wanted to rouse his countrymen to fight again. He deliberately pretended to be mad. When it was rumoured in Athens that Solon had gone mad, he wrote some very moving verses and, dressed in old worn-out clothes, with a rope round his neck and an old cloth over his head, came out of his house. Seeing him in this state, people gathered round him. He went and stood on a height from which orators used to make their proclamations, and, against his habit, began to recite verses whose sense was this: "Would that I had not been born in Athens, but among the Persians or the Barbarians or in some other land, whose people were harder, more stony-hearted than my countrymen and ignorant of the learning and wisdom of Greece. That state would be far better for me than that people should look at me and say to one another, 'This man is from that Athens whose people ran away from the battle of Salamis.' O friends, take revenge on the enemy quickly, remove this shame and disgrace from us, and do not rest until you have freed the land taken from you out of the clutches of a cruel enemy." These verses, which stung their honour, struck the hearts of the Athenians so hard that they all took up arms at once, appointed Solon commander and governor of the army, and, embarking in fishermen's boats, attacked Salamis. In the end, as history tells in detail, they took possession of the island; many of the enemy were captured, and the rest fled, leaving all their goods and baggage behind. Once again the enemy attacked Salamis with great equipment, but to no avail.

Example 2

The history of England shows that when Edward invaded Wales, the poets of Wales, in the ardour of national feeling, began to compose very stirring verses to raise the courage and honour of the Welsh. Although they were nothing against the English army, the poets' fiery verse had spread such a passion of patriotism among them that even when they had lost all hope of success against the royal army, they would not willingly submit. The poets' verse caused Edward so much resistance and put him to such trouble that after the conquest he had all the poets and genealogists of Wales put to death. The result of their poetry was very bad for the Welsh poets, and it did the country no good either, but the event amply proves the power and the wonder-working of poetry.

Example 3

Lord Byron's poem called *Childe Harold's Pilgrimage* is a famous poem, in one part of which he shames France, England and Russia and urges them to free Greece from subjection to the Turks. He writes that Europe, and especially France and England, has never to this day repaid Greece for the benefits it drew from Greek learning and wisdom, and that Russia too, which professes to follow the Greek Church, has given Greece no help of any kind. Then, to shame the three powers, he urges the Greeks not to hope for anything from strangers, but to trust to their own arm and free themselves from slavery to the Turks. The poem was published in 1812, and through it Byron's poetry became famous throughout Europe, and the English were captivated by his verse. The result was that in France, England, Italy, Austria and Russia the poem did what fire does to gunpowder. When Greece rose against Turkey, the allied fleet of Europe went at once to its help. In 1827 the allied fleet defeated the Turkish fleet; Turkey was forced to set Greece free, and all Europe recognised its independence. Otho, a Danish prince, was made king of Greece, and a parliament was established in Greece. [TN: Otho, the first king of Greece, was in fact a Bavarian prince; Hali writes "Danish". The second king, George I, was Danish.]

Example 4

In 1830, when Charles X, King of France, began to act against the law of liberty, and great unrest and alarm arose among the people of France, two odes [2] were written in France too, one named after Paris and the other after Marseilles. They were sung to the war drum in the streets and highways, and in them the people were urged to rise against the king and to stand up for liberty.

In short, people in Europe have done very great things with poetry. Above all it is very hard to measure how much benefit dramatic poetry has brought Europe. That is why Shakespeare's dramas, from which the people of Europe have drawn countless benefits of every kind, political, social and moral, are held equal to the Bible; indeed those who are free of the bonds of religion think them even more useful and beneficial than the Bible.

Although in the poetry of Asia examples like those given above may be hard to find, a great many incidents can be told that give ample proof of the extraordinary power of poetry and of its magic.

The Power of A'sha's Verse

It was proverbial of the famous Arab poet Maimun ibn Qais [3], who was called *al-A'sha* (the dim-sighted) because he was blind, that whoever he praised became honoured and well spoken of, and whoever he satirised became despised and disgraced. Once a woman came to him and said, "I have many daughters and can find no husbands for them anywhere. If you wish, you can turn people's attention to our family through your poetry." A'sha wrote an ode in praise of her daughters' beauty and good qualities, through which the fame of their looks and character spread over the whole country. Proposals began to come for them from every side, until noblemen married them, settling heavy dowers on them. Whenever one of the daughters was married, the mother would send A'sha a camel as a present in thanks.

The Power of the Verse of the Age of Ignorance

Besides this, the poetry of the *Jahiliyya* (the pre-Islamic "Age of Ignorance") is full of examples in which, say, a poet reproaches his tribe when all its men are willing to accept blood-money for one of theirs who has been killed, and rouses them to take revenge on the killer; or, because of some grievance, stirs up his tribe to fight another tribe or take vengeance on it; or, when his spring of water or his pasture has been seized, seeks help from his people and tries to fire them up; and in such urgings he mostly succeeds. For instance, Abdullah ibn Ma'dikarib, the chief of the Banu Zubaid, was sitting one day in an assembly of the Banu Mazin and had been drinking wine, when an Abyssinian slave of Makhzum the Mazinite sang some amorous verses about a woman of the Banu Zubaid. Abdullah stood up and struck him hard across the face. The slave cried out. The Banu Mazin, in a fury, killed Abdullah. Then they went to Amr ibn Ma'dikarib, Abdullah's brother, and pleaded, "Your brother was killed by a foolish man among us who was senseless with drink. We beg your forgiveness and are ready to pay as much blood-money as you wish." Amr agreed to take the blood-money. When Kabsha bint Ma'dikarib [4] learned that her brother had agreed, she composed very reproachful verses, in which she bitterly shamed Amr for not taking revenge. In the end Amr, moved by his sister's reproaches, rose up to take revenge, and did not rest until he had avenged his brother's blood on the Mazinites.

The Power of Rudaki's Verse

There is a well-known story of the famous Persian poet Rudaki. When the Amir Nasr ibn Ahmad the Samanid conquered Khurasan and was taken with the refreshing climate of Herat, he settled there, and Bukhara, the true capital of the Samanids, slipped from his mind. The army commanders and the chief nobles, who had splendid houses and fine gardens in Bukhara, grew weary of staying on in Herat, and the people of Herat too were distressed at the army's long stay. All of them asked Master Abu'l-Hasan Rudaki to find some way to persuade the Amir to return to Bukhara. Rudaki wrote an ode [5] and recited it before the king while he was absorbed in wine, music and merriment. The ode moved the Amir's heart so much that he left the gathering in full swing, rose at once, mounted his horse without putting on his boots, and set off for Bukhara with his army, making his first halt ten *kos* away.

Incidents of this kind may be rare in Asian poetry, but there are countless stories of a verse read or sung at a fitting moment, so that the hearers' hearts were carried away and the whole mood of the company changed. One such story is given here.

The Power of a Quatrain of Omar Khayyam

Nur Bai the singer, who through her beauty, her lovely voice, her wit and her fine gifts as a companion had won the favour of Muhammad Shah and held the hearts of all the nobles of the court, was sitting one day at the house of Nawab Raushan-ud-Daula, and there was laughter and banter, when the carriage of (I think) Miran Sayyid Bhik Sahib arrived, for whom the Nawab had the deepest reverence. The Nawab at once seated the Bai in another room and had a screen let down in front of it. Miran Sahib came in and, as it happened, stayed a very long time. The Bai, a very lively and restless woman, could not bear to sit alone any longer. She boldly came out, bowed low before the shaikh, made her salutation and said, "If your slave-girl may have leave, she will sing something." Miran Sahib, being a lover of *sama'* (devotional music), stayed silent. Taking his silence for leave, the Bai began to sing this quatrain in a most plaintive and moving air:

A shaikh said to a harlot: "You are drunk; you have broken with good and joined yourself to evil."
The woman said: "I am all that I appear to be; but are you all that you appear?"

Hearing this quatrain, so apt to the moment, the shaikh was so overcome that the Bai had to be deeply ashamed of her boldness. Although Nur Bai had been silenced, the shaikh's agitation would not abate. He rolled on the ground like a slaughtered bird and beat his head against the walls. This went on for a long time, and only with great difficulty did he come to his senses.

Notes

[1] Hali's note: Mir Anis and Mirza Dabir also won almost the same popularity in Lucknow. Those who admired Mir Anis imitated him as far as they could in composing and reciting *marsiyas* (elegies), and the party that favoured Mirza Dabir followed him in everything. But there is this difference between the popularity of Lord Byron and that of these two gentlemen: Lord Byron's greatness in English hearts came only from their seeing him as their national poet, and so Catholics and Protestants alike held him dear; whereas the greatness of Anis and Dabir came purely from their being religious poets, and so the esteem and reverence they generally had in the hearts of one sect was not shared in the same way by the other. This distinction, between the national and the religious, is found in all our doings and in those of the people of Europe.

[2] Hali's note: Rifa'a Effendi, Director of the School of Languages of the Kingdom of Egypt, translated both these odes into Arabic verse and gave them in his travel book, which is called *al-Diwan al-nafis bi-iwan Baris*. The first stanza of each is given here. The Parisian ode: "O people of France, the mighty, O you who have risen up among you, you lived in bondage and its shame, and now [the way] is clear: be free! How fine is the day of your glory, in the oneness of your word! Charge, and victory charges with you; triumph is the ally of your courage." The Marseilles ode: "Up, then, sons of the homeland, up! The hour of your glory is made ready for you. Raise the great banner all together, and launch the raid of battle long and hard. To arms, O citizens! Order your ranks like strings of pearls, and wade into the blood of the wicked, for they are your foes in every case. Their onslaught tomorrow among you is plain: so wade into the blood of the wicked." [TN: Rifa'a al-Tahtawi (1801–1873). His account of Paris is usually known as *Takhlis al-ibriz fi talkhis Bariz*; Hali gives the title as above. The Arabic of these stanzas is printed in small type in the scan and some words are uncertain.]

[3] Hali's note: He is a *mukhadram* poet, that is, one who saw both the Age of Ignorance and Islam. He also wrote an ode in praise of the Prophet (God bless him and his family and give them peace). He was the first Arab poet to make reward and gifts the basis of praise-poetry, and he grew rich purely by writing praise.

[4] Hali's note: Kabsha's verses are these: "When his day came, Abdullah sent word to his people: 'Take no blood-money for my blood; do not take young camels and she-camels from them while I am left in a dark house at Sa'da. Leave Amr alone, for Amr is a man of peace; and is Amr's belly more than a span for food? If you do not take revenge, but accept blood-money, then walk about with the ears of the crop-eared ostrich, and come down to the water only as the hindmost of your women, when their heels are stained with blood.'"

[5] Hali's note: The first few verses of this ode are these:
The scent of the kind friend comes to me; the memory of the stream of Muliyan comes to me.
The sand of the Amu and all its roughness feel like silk beneath our feet.
The water of the Oxus, with all its wonders, comes up only to our white horses' girths.
O Bukhara, rejoice and live in joy: the king is coming to you as your guest.
The king is the moon and Bukhara the sky: the moon is coming to the sky.
The king is the cypress and Bukhara the garden: the cypress is coming to the garden.