Firaq Gorakhpuri: Man of his age‏

Some writers seem entwined with their age. One reads the profile of
an entire period in them. Their work displays the best and the worst
of an entire epoch. Firaq Gorakhpuri too was such a poet. He belonged
so completely to the twentieth century - with all its splendours and
miseries. In the opening years of the new millenium, wondering what
shape and form of literature will emanate from this great unknown, we
reflect on the age which has just concluded.

If for this purpose somebody wants to de-code the twentieth century,
then Firaq could well be a natural choice for a figure to start from.
He seems so much at home in his time and age. He symbolizes its
strengths and embodies its deficiencies and contradictions, not so
much characterizing as characteristic of the age which gave letter and
spirit to his work and was in turn reflected in it.

Fraught with lyricism, romantic to the core, soaked in the sensuous,
evoking the beauty of the body, going back to the tradition of the
classic and yet totally contemporary in his concerns, universal in its
appeal and Indian in its spirit, Firaq's poetry embodied distinct
elements. From the very outset, he seemed cut out to be a great poet.
But is he all that he seemed to be? Dead but not gone, the question
seems worth examining and his life and work worth exploring.

Two decades ago, when he had just died, Firaq seemed to belong to an
age of titans. By a strange coincidence, he was joined in his death by
his close contemporary and friend Josh Malihabadi and both of them
seemed to be Olympian, larger than life figures. Everything was
phenomenal about them. They seemed to be the stuff legends were made
of. They were prolific in everything they did, including their poetry.
Their immense output bedazzled their readers/audience and could hardly
be contained by book publishers. Filled to the brim, the cup was ready
to overflow.

They gave the feeling of being in contact with sources of
inexhaustible energy, the elan vital. Their poetry crossed over onto
their lives. Who has not encountered strange and fascinating tales
about them, their great vitality, acid wit and the tremendous zest for
life. Clearly some of this was the product of the not-so-gentle art of
self-aggrandizement and both willfully and enthusiastically lent their
support to the making of their own legends. With their going, it was
the passing away of an age, the end of an epoch. What then is left
behind? Josh and Firaq, Firaq and Josh -- do we value them now for
their poetry or for the symbolic value of their lives? Only a few
years in an uncertain age and time seems to be speaking in a harsh
voice.

Firaq began his career in the second decade of the century,
over-arching a full span and just stopping short of the last decade.
Born Raghopati Suhai in the city of Gorakhpur in the-then United
Provinces, he was the scion of a family steeped in the traditions of
Urdu poetry and well-versed in the "ganga-jamni tehzeeb". His father
was a well-known lawyer and Urdu poet. Firaq passed his matriculation
in 1913. Soon after his family arranged his marriage, putting him in a
position of life-long anguish. He continued to complain bitterly about
this throughout his life.

Another defining feature of this problem may have been his sexual
orientation which became an "open secret" at the heart of his
celebrated aesthetic creed. At the advice of Jawaharlal Nehru, he had
a brief political stint when he worked for the Congress but took up
teaching as his career. In 1932, he joined the Allahabad University's
department of English and remained associated with it till his
retirement in 1968, known to countless students as an inspiring if
somewhat moody and eccentric teacher at a bastion of learning.

Ghazal was Firaq's first love and remained his claim to fame. Scholar
and critic Kalidas Gupta Raza made a chronological selection of
Firaq's ghazal and the earliest couplets he has included are from
1919. However he estimates that Firaq must have been taking "islah"
from an "ustad" from about 1915. He established an early reputation as
a poet and had an early association with critic and short story writer
Majnoon Gorakhpuri, the arch-aesthate, and man of letters turned

Firaq's major collections of poetry appeared by the time he was at the
peak of his career. These include Shola-i-Saz (1945); Ramz-o-Kanayat
(1947); and Shabnamistan (1947). Rooh-i-Kainat published in 1945,
included his nazm and another collection which stands out is Roop
(1946), focussing on forms of feminine beauty based on the traditional
Indian concepts of the aesthetic. The later poetry remains uncollected
and it is sad to note that in Pakistan, most of these books remain out
of print.

In his poetry, Firaq was a romantic aesthate who venerated the themes
and the love-centre which characterize the ghazal. He became
associated with the Progressive movement and wrote a number of nazms
which reflected his social and political concerns. His interest in the
ghazal led him to explore the work of several classical poets, some of
whom had fallen into neglect.

His explorations led to the essays collected in Andazay. The approach
adopted by him became known as "tassurati" or impression-based
criticism. Urdu Ki Ishqia Shairi, published in 1945, signposts
attitudes about love and their literary expressions. Letters addressed
to Mohammed Tufail, the editor of Nuqoosh were published as "Man Anam"
and here one finds Firaq in his true element, holding court,
discoursing on his creative stance.

These letters include an exchange on the concept of "Islamic art" and
here too, Firaq seems to be talking in today's context. In 1969,
India's highest literary honour, the Gayan Path, was awarded to Firaq.
He continued writing till the very end.

In his later years he became known as a champion of the Urdu language
when he felt that it was under threat from the pro-Hindi policies of
the Indian body politic, going to the extent of ridiculing Hindi. A
long conversation, spread over several years, became the subject of a
book-length interview conducted by Sumt Prakash Shoq. It shows Firaq's
strong opinions and cherished beliefs.

Several years of decay followed, in which the scantly-clothed,
foul-mouthed, eccentric and willful old man is vividly recaptured by a
number of writers, including Professor Jagan Nath Azad, Gayan Chand
Jain and Shamim Hanafi who have left portraits of the aging maestro.
Firaq breathed his last in a hospital in Delhi in March 1982 at the
ripe age of 85.

Firaq was an important poet and was recognized as such during his
life. He was much admired for his acumen for defining and describing
shades and nuances of emotion. His psychological understanding was
seen to be expressed in emotive language. At the same time, he was not
like the traditionalists who shared no sympathies with the travails of
the current society. No wonder that Firaq was a great favourite with
critics.

Professor Mumtaz Hussain and Mujtaba Hussain wrote on him as did Aftab
Ahmed. But nobody more than Mohamed Hassan Askari, who was also his
student at Allahabad University. Askari wrote a number of articles
about his teacher's poetry and sometimes seems to be almost gushing
with his enthusiasm. Another one of his students, the critic Shamim
Hanafi, edited a book of essays on him.

In Pakistan, Nawazish Ali made Firaq the subject of his doctorate
thesis. However, his posthumous reputation is open to question as
dissenting opinions have also emerged. Critic Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
wrote an incisive article many years ago, revealing Firaq's somewhat
limited grasp of traditional language and shoddiness in the craft,
which increased with his prolific output. A number of critics,
including the ever-volatile Shamim Ahmed. took up arms when this
article was published in Dr Jameel Jalibi's Naya Daur but Farqui's
analysis of language use seems difficult to refute.

The life and work of Firaq are the focus of a three day long event
organized by Irtiqa Adabi Forum and Wada, a small NGO managed by poet
Fehmida Riaz. There will be sessions devoted to the life, work,
criticism and poetry, and social consciousness of the poet.

Hopefully this will lead to a reassessment of his work so that one can
salvage what is the best and enduring. "What thou lovest well
remains," said Ezra Pound. "The rest is mere dross."
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This article was posted on Guzergah-e-Khayal on July 18, 2010 by Adnan Haq.