Ghalib and Metaphor

The sheer lyrical power of simile can be make up throughout Ghalibs poetry. Ghalib utilizes this figure of speech, I believe, to help us connect to and really examine what he is trying to tell us about life, recognize, and hardship. It seems that, through metaphor, he implores us to delve deeper into his belles-lettres and enter into the suffering, heartache, alienation, and ambition that marked his entire life. Using ghazals from the Joy of the Drop website, I volition examine and discuss the verses that I thought to be the most profound and inspiring. I have taken to grave the deep scar of happiness hile she stands above in her hundred colors Happiness, in this line, has left field Ghalib critically wounded. Whether in his pursuit of an ideal life or a societys ideal life, whatever happiness is to him, he has non exactly failed to achieve it, but it has succeeded in ruining him. The earnest seems to stand, unscathed and lofty, above the defeated Ghalib, still adorned wit h the pristine and elaborate clothing that Ghalib has ascribed to her. We know from historic accounts of Ghalibs life that he searched, unsuccessfully, for influence, status, and financial stability, none of which he would be able to grasp in his lifetime.This may be the ever- unreachable happiness he is referring to here. The beloved seems to have not only found this happiness but fully abides in this state of being. As a boy I around threw stones at that crazed lover trapped always in desire but at weather I remembered Leaving I bear the scars of an unfulfilled longing to exist like an extinguished standard candle I know no place of friendship Pursuit has unraveled the strings of beautys veil leaving nil but threads for those who can see These lines, rich with metaphor, point to a beaten and existentially muzzled Ghalib.Married at bakers dozen and without a proper education or monetary income Ghalibs inner struggle with this life, that had seemingly been stab upon him, can be seen in the above verses(Ahmad). Feeling subdued, Ghalib seems to flee from his boyish desires, but he is not able to fully recover from the unfulfilled dreams and aspirations that were the sum of his longings. An extinguished candle is used here as simile concerning friendship and community. An extinguished candle does not have purpose and is discarded or overlook when it no longer gives, or is able to give, light.After fleeing desire and experiencing loss of purpose and meaning, Ghalib uses metaphor to reveal something philosophically profound. Pursuit unraveling the veil of beauty to uncover nothing can be seen as a irregular where Ghalib wonders if his desire and longing to exist mean anything at all. What if, in the chasing of a pre-conceived notion of a scenic life, we find that the beauty in that particular life doesnt exists. How devastating Maybe this verses metaphor of beautys veil shows us that unless we can learn to free ourselves from that desire-driven pursuit, w e will be forever tormented in life.This can be found in Buddhist teachings and although, buddhism wasnt as large in India at the time, it still might have had subtle influences on a closely versed and knowledgeable Ghalib. Ghalib somewhat hints at religiously-influenced, philosophical concepts, at times while communicating it employ metaphor as can be seen in these verses Who has seen the single face of the beloved if one of us glimpsed her keister she unravels One could surmise from Ghalibs verses, like this one, that his life was one of spiritual seeking and questioning. The unraveling of the shadow of the beloved points towards the idea that we cannot pigeonhole God.Seemingly, God, according to Ghalib, is elusive and beyond what we know of Her. As soon as we have developed a theological rule about who God is She vanishes and we are left with only a glimpse of the smallest speck of understand. His deep devotion to religious mystery and unknowing was juxtaposed with his glorio us subversiveness concerning fundamental views of God in Islamic influenced, 19th century, India. At e in truth step I am closer only to knowing the distance as fast as I carry the desert runs on This metaphor of a running desert leads one to believe that Ghalib realized that very few things are graspable in this life.It seems the more you learn the more you realized you dont know. The desert is in a sense, dead, and the barren wasteland can be hard to travel. This sheds light on the early maturity of Ghalib. It sounds like the wisdom of an old man but he was in all likelihood very young when he wrote this. In all his searching and coming up unfulfilled, Ghalib probably turned to abusing take up at an early age. Some of his most comical and sorrowful lines involve wine. You should always be inebriate that too is wisdom the self holds a cabinet for every liquor, Viewing the self as a cabinet for every liquor is a clever way of saying that you are a lush.And in this particular vers e, Ghalib, doesnt just mention wine. He is willing to fill his cupboards with all types of liquor maybe to numb his sorrows. Wine or drink also loosened or freed Ghalib to be himself. Wine, melting a bottle that he is hiding in, can be a reference to the release of the strangle-hold of inhibitions that comes when one drinks. No telling how many ghazals were written under the influence. This verse also seems to hint at the dangerously elate power of love. Both have the ability to destroy. If love burns more than the heart avoid love ven wine melts the bottle I hide in Ghalib was a genius, a lover, a seeker, a drinker, and probably had a better grasp on what the effects of longing-love, as apposed to emotional romance, had on a person(Ahmad). No longer ask about those seekers of love time has illuminated their bodies of grief We see this grief reflected in his ghazals and we learn about his personal experiences through his biographies. The power he evokes in his verses by using meta phor is what inspires me to keep reading and studying this great poet. Ahmad, Aijaz, ed. Ghazals of Ghalib. Columbia University Press, 1971.