News at Eleven: The book which is the first of its kind

to be published in the United States, provides an anglophone audience with a comprehensive introduction to Pakistani poetry.

The collection begins with Iqbal's famous poem "The Great Mosque of Cordoba," which is replete with mystical references and evokes the syncretic Euro-Arab culture of Muslim Spain. This provides a marked contrast to Josh Malihabadi's "Address," written at the outbreak of World War II amid growing Indian nationalism, which taunts the British by reminding them of their imperial history and equating their misdeeds with those of Hitler. These two poets are followed by translations of Urdu poetry by Hafiz Jallundari, the Pashto poetry of Samandar Khan Samandar and five Pashto ghazals by Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari.

from Newsline: Modern Poetry of Pakistan

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