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I used a Mirza Ghalib Urdu poetry to create almost similar poetry (the pink image contains the poetry I created in Hinglish language. It's just a rough illustration to represent the poetry I created.) of 2 lines which emphasizes that I'm failing continuously at getting job because of hard time. (In case of actual poetry, it as about failure of love. I replaced love with job stuff).

Now, I don't want to disrespect Mirza Ghalib at all. So with the design I want to share (the 2nd line in caption in the image below in black text) that it is totally inspired from his poetry and doesn't mean to disrespect him.

Also, the text you would suggest here has come to after a caption, in following way:

enter image description here

Summary: I don't need writing for a poetry. I need a better sentence (pointed by yellow arrow) to show some respect to Mirza Ghalib and admit that my design is inspired from his poetry.

How should I write that?

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16
  • There's a pretty standard construction exemplified for your context by something like Writing job application resumés in times of high unemployment is like flogging a dead horse - it's a lot of effort for little reward. Where that final highlighted "explanation" element is usually omitted if the way in which the two things are similar is obvious (as with my example), but in other cases it's some non-obvious / amusing way of drawing a comparison: Love is like a good cigar: it can go out many times, but each time you relight it, it tastes worse. But this is Off Topic writing advice
    – FumbleFingers
    Jan 5 '20 at 14:35
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's non-specific "writing advice"
    – FumbleFingers
    Jan 5 '20 at 14:35
  • @FumbleFingersReinstateMonica I think you misunderstood my question and details.
    – Vikas
    Jan 5 '20 at 14:40
  • I admit I have no idea exactly what you're asking here. You English isn't really good enough for you to clarify what kind of help you're looking for here, let alone write English poetry (which would normally require much greater fluency than simply asking questions). I just pointed out an "idiomatically standard" construction often used for making comparisons. Other possibilities include To paraphrase Mirza Ghalib... or (most modestly) With apologies to Mirza Ghalib... followed by your own text in the style of Mirza Ghalib.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jan 5 '20 at 14:48
  • 1
    Please do that! :)
    – FumbleFingers
    Jan 5 '20 at 14:50
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A standard turn of phrase (idiomatic usage) for the context here is...

With apologies to Mirza Ghalib...
(Your poetic efforts, which you admit are feeble compared to one of the acknowledged "poetic greats")

This is a common self-deprecating way of admitting that you know your "poetry" isn't particularly good by comparison - but at least you're trying to emulate the style.

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12
  • Do I have to write just "With apologies to Mirza Ghalib" or also the 2nd line you've quoted under it?
    – Vikas
    Jan 5 '20 at 15:41
  • I think you should forget about trying to write poetry in a language you don't yet understand very well. Concentrate on learning more of the basics.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jan 5 '20 at 16:22
  • No. no. I completely understand the poetry, that's why edited it to my version. I just replaced 2 words and it perfectly makes sense. The poetry is not in English, it is in Urdu which is very similar to Hindi. Hindi is main language here.
    – Vikas
    Jan 5 '20 at 16:26
  • Well, I guess it's up to you. But honestly, you have a lot to learn about English, and I don't see how this sort of question is going to help you do that. Nor am I sure this specific question will ever be any use to other learners, and the whole point of ELL (and all SO sites) is that questions and answers should become a useful reference source for future visitors.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jan 5 '20 at 16:30
  • Why I asked this because it's not limited to this question. I face similar problem on many instances. When I share others' stuff I don't have the right words. For example sometimes I use phrase "credit to him" or "posted by him" or something like that. You see I'm not confident here. I'm not sure if it's grammatically correct or not. I have the feelings to express, but don't know how to put it into words. I'm not sure if it is credit or credits etc.
    – Vikas
    Jan 5 '20 at 16:43

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