MIR Babar Ali Anis is a master of descriptive poetry, so much so that he can be compared with one of the best descriptive poets of the world. Spenser, in English poetry, is a suitable counterpart for this contrast. It so seemed that the poet of the 16th-century England was reborn in 19th-century Lucknow.

Before making any comparison or contrast, it seems in the fitness of things to say something about the art of poetic greatness of Anis, as well as Edmund Spenser.

Anis and Marsia are interrelated. Perhaps, one is short without the other. Like the great descriptive poets of the world, Mir Anis has a full sway in the depiction of natural scenes.

He is a natural poet and has inherited this quality from his forefathers. He is fully justified to take pride in his lineal descent.

Mir Anis, from his childhood, began to compose poetry. His reputation spread even during his father’s time. So when Khaleeq and Zamir left the field of marsiya goi (elegy writing), it was Anis and Dabir who took the ground and sublimed this craft to its ultimate height.

Mir Anis is said to have composed some two-and-a-half lakh couplets. He had composed hundreds and thousands of marsiyay, salams, qitas and rubaiats. His full works have not been published. Yet, what has been traced and published is in five volumes.

Anis possesses a sensuously rich mind that has mastery over all types of sensuous perceptions.

“Spenser comes first in the series of great writers,” says one critic, “who are the glory of English literature in the 16th and 17th centuries. Shakespeare appears soon after the publication of the Faery Queene. Hooker’s ecclesiastical poetry is brought out in 1597. The land is aglow with every form of life and Spenser connects the past with the future.”

Literary worth: Comm-enting upon the literary worth of The Faery Queene, G.W Kitchin says “...we must be struck with rapid movement of the tale, its completeness of structure, the greater variety of scenes, the beauty of the descriptive passages and the numerous types of characters, all distinctly and freely touched off.

“The whole book is full of graphic power pictures bright or dark, vivid personification, marked character, nor do either the moral or the religious sentiments found below the poetic level. It is the highest poetic fancy combined with most complete truthfulness.”

Indeed, Spenser is rightly regarded as a poets’ poet. Against the above background, let us proceed with some comparison and contrast of the two poets, whereas their intrinsic worth is concerned.

To start with, the depiction of the morning scene is their common attempt. Both of them have dealt with it in their own way. A reader with a developed taste can very well discern the deftness of their handling. Says Spenser in the first book of his poem The Faery Queene (Stanza 7; Canto II):


Now when the rosy-fingered morning faire, Weary of Aged Tithones saffron bed, Had spread her purple robe through dewy air, And the high hills titan discovered.


Anis portrays the morning in the following words:

Both are masters of their craft, but Anis’ imagery and perception is definitely more striking when, as a master painter, he applies sweeping colours against the background of his four earlier lines through his last two.

Perhaps, another morning scene from the works of both the masters would not be a repetition to show their talent in such delineations. Says Spenser in the first book of The Faery Queene (Stanza 2; Canto V):


At last the golden oriental gate, Of greatest heaven gain to open faire, And Phoebus fresh as bridegroom to his mate, Came dancing forth shaking his dewie hair, And hurls his glistering beams through gloomy air.


Anis delineates more or less the same thing in the flowing words:

It is difficult to give preference to one over the other. In spite of different literary backgrounds, the beauty of each stanza is all but apparent. Let the reader decide for himself what is what. Yet, one cannot refrain from saying that Anis is perhaps more consummate in bringing to the inward eye a full imagery.

Contrast: A word picture wherein two warriors are deeply engaged in the act of warfare, is often a difficult task for any poet to draw. Only an accomplished of real intrinsic worth can do so. Spenser and Anis both have drawn such pictures. A simple contrast will speak for itself the real command and grip each master possesses.

Says Spenser in the first book of The Faery Queene (Stanza 3; Canto III):


And full of wrath that with his sharp-head spare, Through vainly crossed shield he quite did pierce, And his staggering stead not shronke for feare, Through shield and bodieeke he should him beare, Yet, so great was the puissance of his push, That from his saddle quite he did him beare, He tumbling rudely down to ground did rush, And from his gored wound a well of blood did gush.


Delineating the same subject, says Anis:


It is now left to the readers at large to discern for themselves the poetic worth of both the stanzas, though Spenser’s lines are not a full stanza. However, one thing is crystal clear that Anis as a real master has intermixed fact with fiction in such a way that their admixture has a charm, as if some real artist has unduly lengthened the contours of his picture to infuse extra charm into it.

Poets: Spenser and Anis both have depicted the actual turmoil of warfare. Both are master artists. Let a quotation each of the two great poets be put forth for the appreciation of readers. Says Spenser in the first book of the The Faery Queene (Stanza 6; Canto V):


A thrilling trumpet sounded from one hye, And unto batill had themselves address, Their shining shields about their wrest they tie, And burning blades about their heads do lesse, The instrument of wrath and heaviness.

With greedy force each other did assayle, And strike as fiercely, that they do impress, Deep dinted furrows in the battered mayle, The iron walles toward their blows are weak and fraile.


Says Anis:

The above depiction needs no comment. Perhaps both are matchless in their own way. If Spenser is a bit particular to pinpoint the paraphernalia of warfare, Anis is more general to supply sweeping colours for glorifying the picture. And thus, each has his own charm to infuse in their respective compositions.

Anis is a great descriptive poet. A little comparison and contrast with Spenser has shown the real worth of Anis.