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Mirza Ghalib was a classical Urdu and Persian Poet from the Mughal Empire when the subcontinent was under British colonial rule. Forty two years after his death, another left-wing intellectual, revolutionary Urdu poet, Faiz Ahmad Faiz was born. Both the poets had an almost similar stay on this earth spanning a period of seventy two and a half years. There is a remarkable similarity between the two in terms of their poetic excellence but there exists a complete diversification when one looks at the larger canvas of their lives.
The idea that life is one continuous painful struggle which can end only when life itself ends is a recurring theme in Ghalib's poetry. Before Ghalib, the ghazal was primarily an expression of anguished love; but Ghalib expressed philosophy and the travails and mysteries of life, thus vastly expanding its scope. Ghalib's poetry primarily revolved around the love of his beloved, while remaining immersed in her thoughts with utmost devotion.
Dil dhondta hai phir wo hi fursat ke raat din Bethay rah'en tasawwor-e-jana kiye hoye Phir jee mein hai ki dar pe kisi ke pade rahein Sar zar-e-baar-e-minnat-e-darbaan kiye huwe The intensity of his emotion and richness of depth comes later in the verse with ravishing ferocity when he writes: Ghalib...