{"id":530,"date":"2016-03-09T11:57:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T11:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/?p=530"},"modified":"2016-03-09T12:28:21","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T12:28:21","slug":"visiting-writer-poet-nabila-jameel-persian-and-urdu-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/2016\/03\/09\/visiting-writer-poet-nabila-jameel-persian-and-urdu-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Writer: Poet, Nabila Jameel– Persian and Urdu Poetry."},"content":{"rendered":"

The department welcomed poet, Nabila Jameel, this week. She delivered an outstanding lecture on Persian and Urdu poetry, from classical to modern, and the complexities of its translation. We read and discussed texts by several Urdu and Persian poets that included Alama Iqbal, Rumi, and Hafiz and explored women\u2019s voices too in Zebunissa, Parvin E\u2019tesami and Parveen Shakir.<\/p>\n

For me these are new poets, and voices of extraordinary resonance. These lines from \u201cWhen I want to Kiss God\u201d by fourteenth century poet, Hafiz particularly struck me in their sharpness of image, concern for the sublime, and the tension inherent in its secretive confessional tone:<\/p>\n

When
\nNo one is looking<\/p>\n

I swallow deserts and clouds
\nAnd chew on mountains knowing
\nThey are sweet
\nBones!\u00a0\u00a0 (Hafiz, 64)<\/p>\n

\"Zeb-un-Nisa_Begum\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Zebunissa, WIki Commons)<\/p>\n

We also read Zebunissa (1638-1702) who was a princess of the Muhgal Empire held captive for the final twenty years of her life by her father. The verse that she wrote then still has bold political register in contemporary debates about society, gender and Islam:<\/p>\n

I will not lift my veil,
\nFor if I did, what may befall who knows.
\nAs Nightingales do directly love the rose,
\nAnd as the Brahman worships Lakshmi\u2019s grace,
\nThus lost in contemplation of my face,
\nThe poor beholder may forget and fail. (Zebunissa, 124)<\/p>\n

This strong, female persona declares and defends her position in defiant lyricism and also questions and reflects upon the role of woman in society.<\/p>\n

You can read Jameel\u2019s work in Stand magazine, the Poetry Review and in a recent anthology by Bloodaxe: Out of Bounds<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/span>:<\/p>\n

The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master<\/em>. Daniel Ladinsky (trans.) Penguin Compass, 1999.
\nAnnie Krieger Krynicki. 2005. Captive Princess: Zebunissa, Daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb<\/em>. OUP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The department welcomed poet, Nabila Jameel, this week. She delivered an outstanding lecture on Persian and Urdu poetry, from classical to modern, and the complexities of its translation. We read and discussed texts by several Urdu and Persian poets that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":313,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3710,40452],"tags":[83567,83566,40433,16075,83565],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-visiting-writers","tag-jameel","tag-persian","tag-poetry","tag-staffordshire-university","tag-urdu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":536,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions\/536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}