I think I have become the "frog in the well", listening to the same playlist. You can also suggest singers, composers, lyricists, albums etc.
Orpheus is a character in Greek mythology, Who had gone to the world of the dead, to bring back his love Eurydice. But he had to fulfill one condition, not to look back for his love till he reaches the earth, otherwise he would lose her forever. Orpheus, being impatient, looked back. And as said, he lost her forever.
The lines that caught my eye instead was:
"You miss the world
The one you knew
The one where everything made sense
Because you didn't know the truth
That's how it works
Till the bottom drops out
And you learn
We're all just hunters seeking solid ground"
ToBeDiplomat,
Excerpts from Love & Revolution, a biography by Faiz Ahmed Faiz by his grandson.
In order to understand the impact of a great poet on his era, it is necessary to also understand the age in which the poet lives. According to Faiz’s friend and literary scholar Ludmila Vasilieva:
A truly great poet is the product of his circumstances, the need of the times. What makes a great poet is not exactly something which can be quantified or categorized. It is like Iqbal says,
‘Bari mushkil se hota hai chaman mein deedawer paida’ [With great difficulty is a discerning eye born6].
A great poet, a true seer, is a representative of his times. He is born when the time is exactly ripe for him to come forward and stand in for his era through his poetry. Faiz was a poet of few words. He has not written a lot but just the same, there is not a single chapter in the history of the subcontinent that has not been reflected in Faiz’s poetry. Before the turmoil surrounding 1947, his poetry spoke of love, of romance.
Then came his famous
‘Mujh se pehli se muhabbat merey mehboob na maang’ [Do not ask of me, my darling, that love of old].
After 1947, he wrote of his country, of the world and everything he wrote clicked instantly with the masses. He was sparing in his words, but how well he spoke them! The “Inqilaab” chanting, thundering firebrands departed with Josh (Malihabadi). Faiz’s call for the truth is much more dulcet and soothing and has transcended far greater boundaries…The appeal of Faiz’s words was such that even his staunch enemies used to recite his verses and sway to the rhythm of his words in the privacy of their own houses. I believe that is the truest test of a great poet.
All the truly great poets rise from the troubles that embroil their people and their times. Take the Soviet Union. The atrocities of the Tsarist regime produced the likes of Pushkin and Lermontov. In Pakistan, you had Faiz. Going back further in history, even Ghalib was the product of his circumstances, since that was a time when the old world order was crumbling in on itself to usher in a new world.
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