Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq (Circle of the Men of Good Taste) is a Pakistani
literary movement
Literary movements are a way to divide literature into categories of similar philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features, as opposed to divisions by genre or period. Like other categorizations, literary movements provide language for comparing ...
begun in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
Noon Meem Rashid
Nazar Muhammad Rashed ( ur, ), (1 August 1910 – 9 October 1975) commonly known as Noon Meem Rashed ( ur, ) or N.M. Rashed, was a Pakistani poet of modern Urdu poetry.Qayyum Nazar
Qayyum Nazar (March 7, 1914 - June 23, 1989) was a prominent Urdu language poet from Pakistan. Along with fellow Urdu poets Meeraji and Noon Meem Rashid, Nazar was a member of the Pakistani literary circle, Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq. Nazar was born ...
, and
Meeraji
Mohammad Sanaullah Dar (25 May 1912 – 3 November 1949), better known as Meeraji was an Indian Urdu poet. He lived the life of a bohemian, working only intermittently.
Early life
Born into a Kashmiri family of Gujranwala and named Moham ...
, the latter of whom was invited by Nazar. The Halqa is the second modern literary movement in Urdu poetry in the 20th century, founded just a couple of years after the
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
Progressive Writers' Movement
The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' (( ur, ) or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय प्रगति ...
and is considered to be the most influential group in modern poetry in the
Its first meeting was held under the name Bazm-e dāstāngo (Storytellers' gathering) and organized by writers looking for a non-political meeting, and the name was changed to 'Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq' soon after. Unlike the Progressives, the Halqa was not politically driven, but reflected a traditional Western mode of modernist literature with new styles of prose and new subject areas outside of classical Urdu poetry, with some experimenting with themes relating to the personal experiences of the subjects of the British rule in India.
Noon Meem Rashid
Nazar Muhammad Rashed ( ur, ), (1 August 1910 – 9 October 1975) commonly known as Noon Meem Rashed ( ur, ) or N.M. Rashed, was a Pakistani poet of modern Urdu poetry.modernist poets
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
and
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
in exploring new verse forms. Urdu poet Meeraji, who introduced free verse and is considered to be the founder of
symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
Arts
* Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism
** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** Russian sy ...
in Urdu poetry, was also a prominent member of Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq in its early days. Under his guidance, the Halqa moved from poetry reading events to become a group who also made active critiques on members' poetry.
Although strongly influential on modernist Urdu poetry, the group included and welcomed members whose prose and poetry was more traditional, including writers of the
ghazal
The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...
. As time went by, left-wing progressives were also welcome as members both in India and Pakistan. These members included short story writer,
Krishan Chander
Krishan Chander (23 November 1914 – 8 March 1977) was an Indian Urdu and Hindi writer of short stories and novels. Some of his works have also been translated in English. He was a prolific writer, penning over 20 novels, 30 collections o ...
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and leading Urdu poet,
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi:
فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...
.
Halqa continues to have regular sessions in various cities of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, most notably in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
,
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
.Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq, Islamabad branch Retrieved 8 March 2021 While the organization was originally based in Lahore, Punjab in 1936, the Halqa (Circle) has branches wherever the Urdu language enthusiasts live—including India, Pakistan, Europe, and in North America.