The Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature: Poetry and prose miscellany

Book excerpt: The poetry section in the `Poetry and Prose Miscellany` volume begins with akbar Illahabadi (1846-1921), feature such celebrated practitioners of the genre as Muhmmad Iqbal, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Munibur Rehman, and Akhlaq Muhammad Khan Shahryar among others, and finally Tanveer Anjum. Prose Miscellany - essays and sketches, autobiography, drama, humour and satire, and letters - feature such past masters as Abdul Kalam Azad, Shahid Ahmad Delhvi, Saadat Hasan Manto, and Ismat Chughtai, and also includes an interesting selection of anecdotes about well known literary personages like Ghalib, Mir Insha ullah Khan Insha, Josh Malihabadi, and others - something that rarely receives the deserved imoportance in canonical literature.