Poetry (Nazm): theme, tashreeh and poetic devices
The Nazm section treats each prescribed poem as one whole composition: the poet, the mauzoo (subject), the markazi khayal, tashreeh of given ashaar, the poet's message, and the sanat (poetic devices) through which that message is delivered.
What to prepare for every nazm
- A one-line subject, a two-line theme, and one line on the poet's purpose.
- Verse-by-verse meaning in plain Urdu, so that any printed sher can be explained on demand.
- Named devices with the exact words from the poem: tashbeeh (simile), istiara (metaphor), kanaya (allusion by suggestion), tazad (contrast), mubaligha (hyperbole), takrar (refrain), sawal-o-jawab, talmi (allusion to a known story).
- The link between the poem's message and the textbook's own note on it - not outside commentary.
Worked example
Printed verse: 'Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri.' A full-mark tashreeh does four things: (1) literal sense - the speaker's wish rises to his lips as a prayer; (2) poetic sense - desire itself becomes worship; (3) device - 'dua ban ke tamanna' is an istiara, giving the abstract wish the concrete form of prayer; (4) link - it supports the poem's theme of lawful, selfless aspiration. Skipping step 3 loses the device mark even when the meaning is right.
Traps that cost marks
- Naming a device without saying what it does in that verse.
- Offering only a paraphrase of the verse and calling it tashreeh.
- Importing ghazal terms - matla, maqta, radeef - into a nazm answer where they do not apply.
- Attributing the poem to the wrong poet; the poet's name is a separate mark.
- Writing a general essay on the theme instead of explaining the printed lines.