SOURCE: "New Evaluation of Ghalib and His Poetry," in Indian Literature, Vol. XI, No. 1, 1968, pp. 36–48.

In the following essay, Wig attempts "to study Ghalib's life from a psychological point of view, in an effort to understand his complex personality and the way it influenced his poetry."

The first centenary of Ghalib's death will be celebrated in 1969. Perhaps no other Indian poet in recent times except Tagore has won so much acclaim. Unfortunately, in Ghalib's case, most of it came after his death. There are more than 40 books on his life and works by different authors, apart from numerous articles and special numbers of magazines devoted to him.

The amazing fact about this poetic genius is that much of his popularity rests on only one slender volume, Diwan-i-Ghalib, in Urdu, containing 185 Ghazals. Perhaps no other poet in history can claim such abiding popularity for such a slender work. This...