GhalibMirClassical

Mir & Ghalib: The Masters, Closely Read

Fifty immortal ashaar, unpacked line by line — vocabulary, context, and soul.

4.9(1,854) 9.8K learners

Ustad Zafar HashmiUrdu Poetry · Poet & Scholar

20 hours 13 lessons Intermediate Urdu + English Certificate Updated May 2026

What you'll learn

Understand 50 canonical ashaar of Mir and Ghalib deeply, not approximately
Build the core poetic vocabulary of classical Urdu
Recognise the devices: rabt, ri'ayat, iham, and husn-e-ta'leel
Hear correct recitation and develop your own
Trace how Mir's simplicity and Ghalib's complexity shaped all Urdu verse

Course curriculum

3 modules · 13 lessons · 20 hours. Green lessons are free previews.

Mir's Delhi — a world endingPreview18:00
Dikhaai diye yun — reading Mir's grief16:00
Patta patta boota boota — nature as witness15:00
Ten essential Mir ashaar, one by one45:00
Quiz: Mir's vocabulary and voice15:00

Ghalib's mind: philosophy in two lines20:00
Dil-e-nadaan tujhe hua kya hai17:00
Hazaaron khwahishen aisi — desire and irony18:00
Fifteen essential Ghalib ashaar, one by one1:00:00
Quiz: Ghalib decoded15:00

Rekhta ke tum hi ustad nahin ho — Ghalib reads Mir19:00
Assignment: Write a 300-word sharh of one sher40:00
Quiz: Final close-reading exam20:00

About this course

Everyone quotes Mir and Ghalib; few truly read them. In this course, Ustad Zafar Hashmi takes fifty of the most beloved ashaar and opens them like doors — the Persian loanwords, the double meanings, the biographical wounds, the wit. Each lesson is one sher, fifteen minutes, and a lifetime of returning to it.

Requirements

Comfortable reading Urdu script
The Art of the Ghazal recommended first

Your teacher

Ustad Zafar Hashmi

Urdu Poetry · Poet & Scholar

5.029K students4 courses

A published poet and lifelong scholar of Urdu and Persian literature, Ustad Zafar Hashmi has spent three decades teaching the craft of the ghazal and the history of the subcontinent's greatest poets. His courses blend recitation, close reading, and the living tradition of the mushaira — students don't just study poetry with him; they begin to write it.

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