Publisher's Synopsis
This book contains selections from the marasi (singular marsiya) of elegiac epics of Mir Anis hailed as the greatest exponent of this form as well as one of the greatest poets of the Urdu language. The theme is the Tragedy of Karbala, 680 A.D. and Mir Anis has presented his elegies in long narrative poems for recitation in the first instance. It contains descriptions of the battle ground, the heat and thirst, single combats, general engagement followed by the death of the protagonist. By convention, the horse and the steed are depicted in an ornamental manner. The death of the protagonist is followed by lamentation. The poems of Mir Anis are noted for purity of diction and exemplary idiom. T. Grahame Bailey calls the elegiac epic poetry the highest form of Urdu verse and Anis one of the three greatest poets (SOAS, 1932). Ralph Russell: The marsiya moves me too, and will move any person of strong feeling. Look at any of Anis's marsias and you can almost see it being recited (SOAS, 1999). David Matthews: The Marsiya is a very grand composition. Anis is regarded as one of the finest classical Urdu poets
