اردو شاعری میں بلاغت، علم اور موضوعات: مرزا غالب اور محمد اقبال کی شاعری میں بلاغت کا تقابلی مطالعہ

Rhetoric, Knowledge, and Subjectivity in Urdu Poetry: A Comparative Study of Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal

Abstract

This article examines the transformation of rhetoric in Urdu poetry through a comparative study of Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal. It argues that the transition from Ghalib to Iqbal does not merely represent a change in poetic style or subject matter; rather, it marks a fundamental transformation in the function of rhetoric itself. In Ghalib’s poetry, rhetoric is characterized by ambiguity, irony, contradiction, and semantic multiplicity. These rhetorical features create an epistemological condition of uncertainty and present the self as fragile, divided, and unstable. Thus, Ghalib’s poetry reflects the modern experience of existential anxiety and epistemic crisis. By contrast, in Iqbal’s poetry, rhetoric becomes directive, performative, and action-oriented. Through imperative language, direct address, and the concept of khudi, Iqbal transforms poetry into a means of self-construction, moral responsibility, and historical consciousness. Knowledge in his poetry is not suspended in uncertainty; rather, it is reconstructed through action, faith, and will. Consequently, the reader is transformed from a mere interpreter of meaning into an active historical subject. This study employs close textual reading and a comparative method to analyze selected verses of Ghalib and Iqbal. Themes such as desire, destiny, selfhood, individual and society, knowledge, and certainty are examined in order to compare the rhetorical strategies, modes of address, and readerly positions in both poets. The analysis demonstrates that Ghalib’s poetry directs the reader toward ambiguity, doubt, and interpretation, whereas Iqbal’s poetry guides the reader toward action, resolve, and historical responsibility. Using a theoretical framework based on classical rhetoric, epistemology, and subject formation, the article concludes that rhetoric in Urdu poetry is not merely an aesthetic device but also an active mechanism for the production of knowledge and the construction of the self.