Poetry (Nazm): Tashreeh, Radif-Qafia and Funni Mahasin
The Nazm section tests the prescribed poems of the Urdu textbook: the poet and the mauzoo, the markazi khayal, the tashreeh of given asha'ar, and the funni mahasin (tashbeeh, isti'ara, kinaya, tajnees) together with radif and qafia.
Rules
- Tashreeh is not translation. Give the verse's meaning in easy nasr, then one sentence on the poetic point it makes. Never bolt on a moral the verse does not carry.
- Radif versus qafia: the radif is the exact word or words repeated after the rhyming word at the end of every verse; the qafia is the rhyming word itself. Test: delete the repeated word - whatever still rhymes is the qafia.
- Markazi khayal is one or two sentences in your own words; a line-by-line summary loses marks.
- Funni mahasin must be named and located. 'Is sher mein tashbeeh hai' earns nothing; 'sha'er ne subah ki roshni ko umeed se tashbeeh di hai' earns the mark.
Worked example
Two verses end '...nazar aata hai' and '...asar aata hai'. Question: qafia aur radif alag kijiye. (2) Reasoning: the element repeated identically is 'hai', so 'hai' is the radif, not the qafia. The rhyming element before it, 'aata', is the qafia. Candidates lose the mark by writing 'hai' as the qafia because it sits at the end of the line; position is not the test, exact repetition is.
Traps
- naming the radif as the qafia, or quoting the whole line as the qafia;
- writing tashreeh as a biography of the poet;
- mixing imagery from two different nazmein in one answer;
- giving the markazi khayal as a single word instead of a full sentence;
- quoting the sher again instead of explaining it.