The 20th death anniversary of renowned poet, biographer and scholar John Elia is being observed today.
Elia was born on December 14, 1931. Born in Amroha, Uttar Pardesh, in 1931, Elia migrated to Pakistan in 1957 and settled in Karachi. He belonged to a family of intellectual giants like Rais Amrohvi, Syed Muhammad Taqi and Shafiq Hasan Elia.
He wrote his first Urdu couplet when he was just 8. His famous poetry collections include Shayed, Ya’ni, Gumaan, Lekan, and Goya. He also had complete command over Arabic, Persian, and Hebrew. He was a highly skilled translator.For his literary services, he got the Presidential Pride of Performance Award.
Beside Urdu, Jaun was also fluent in Arabic, English, Persian, Sanskrit and Hebrew.
As poet Pirzada Qasim said, “Jaun was very particular about language. While his diction was rooted in the classical tradition, he used to touch new subjectsâ€.Jaun was very particular about language. His diction is rooted in the classical tradition as he touches on new subjects.
One of the most prominent modern Pakistani poets, popular for his unconventional ways, he acquired knowledge of philosophy, logic, Islamic history, the Muslim Sufi tradition, Muslim religious sciences and Western literature.
His poetry often discusses the tough life he had to live. This was probably due to the long fight he had to endure against Tuberculosis. He remained a chronic patient of TB from 1950s till the end of his life. And died on November 8, 2002. He will always be remembered for his greatest services to the Urdu language as he was one of the best poets the Urdu language has ever produced.
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