God make my life a little light,
Within the world to glow,—
A tiny flame that burneth bright,
Wherever I may go.
God make my life a little flower,
That giveth joy to all;—
Content to bloom in native bower
Although its place be small.
God make my life a little song,
That comforteth the sad;
That helpeth others to be strong,
And makes the singer glad.
God make my life a little staff
Whereon the weak may rest,—
That so what health and strength I have
May serve my neighbor best.
God make my life a little hymn
Of tenderness and praise,—
Of faith, that never waxeth dim,
In all His wondrous ways.
Matilda B. Edwards (1836 - 1919) England
When was it written and published?
ReplyDeleteHi Riaz. Thanks for the question. It was published in 1884 (by K. Paul, Trench & Co, London) in her book "Poems" under the title "Hymn for a little child" (p. 54). It will have been written some time earlier, but I don't know the date on composition, I'm afraid. The book was revised and enlarged in 1907, printed by David Nutt, London (avaibale online here: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.l0070597018).
DeleteHi bruce, There is nothing by the title 'hymn for a little child' in the book 'poems'. Can you explain sir?
DeleteHello "unknown". The link in my reply above is to the 1907 revised edition of her book "Poems". If you type 72 in the "Jump to" box at the top of the page, and click on "Go" this should take you to page 72 where you should see the poem I mentioned. If you looked on page 54, that's only for the earlier 1884 edition!
DeleteGreat poetry
ReplyDeleteOhhh...
ReplyDeleteThat mean Allama Iqbal Copied this poem ...
Hi Adil. I wasn't aware of that. Do you mean his poem "The child and the candle" (see my post here: https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-child-and-candle-allama-iqbal.html)? I don't think he was the sort of person who would copy another's work.
DeleteHi Bruce,
DeleteGood Day,
Dosn't matter it is. This world is the imitation of an imitation the similarity is to some extend.worth appreciable is Iqbal's Urdu diction it self which has made the poem hear[10/18, 2:30 PM] Ahmad Hussain: Ahmad Mamoun
[10/18, 4:38 PM] Haris sabir: Kon ho beta
[10/18, 4:38 PM] Haris sabir: Mein ap ko nahi jantat touching full of spritulaty and melodious that is beyond any other's thinking.
Kind regards ,
Ahmad
Mobile no : 0092 3022356200
Iqabal copied this poetry and also from pushto famous poet khushal khan khatak.
DeleteIqbal copied work all his life.
DeleteIqbal did not copy. His rendering of this poem in Urdu (Bachay Kee DUa) which appears in his book Bang-e-Dara clearly mentions that it is inspired by this poem.
DeleteBut it's barely like the poem by Matilda...not even close
DeleteDear Bruce,
ReplyDeleteGood Day...!!
May you ever wave the flag of victory...!!
Dose'nt matter. The world is the imitation of an imitation similarity is to some extend.
Worth appreciable is Iqbal's diction in itself.
Its heart touching depiction, melody and more over spirituality are beyond any boby's else thinking.
Kind Regards,
Ahmad.
یہ تو علامہ محمد اقبال کی لکھی ہوئی ہے
ReplyDeleteHi - thanks for your contribution. When you say this was written by Allama Iqbal, do you mean literally this poem, or one like it? If this poem, please can you point me to the original text as I haven;t been able to find one. Thanks, Bruce
DeleteI think Allama Iqbal took inspiration from that poem, as to write a poem in any language it should have proper weigh and balance. In Urdu it's much more difficult to rhyme than english. So we can say he wrote the poem in his own perspective
Deleteassalam o alaikum...
DeleteI hope that you will all be fine as today our teacher told us that Allama Iqbal was a cheater but as I read Hadiya's comment I truly agreed with her.He wrote in his own way it's way too different than this poem and I truly ignored my teacher and her opinion.
Anyways thanks for your precious time you just took to review my comment :)
Allah hafiz.
Bye.
Sign:XoXo..
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi plz tell me in short I'm student what is this poem about
DeleteHi. This poem is a child's prayer to be good - each stanza describes different aspects of what being good means - for example the first stanza is about being a light to others (i.e. showing them the nature of God). I hope this helps.
DeleteHi Mr Bruce. I need an advice. I also have an account in Blogspot and I have articles which I want to publish but I want to know, what's the criteria to earn money from Blogging?
ReplyDeleteOmer, I'm not really the right person to ask, as I don;t even try to make money from my blogs. I suggest you have a look at this article in the Blogger FAQs/Help:
Deletehttps://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1269077?hl=en
Iqbal's some poems r transltd frm other languages..it may b too bt its nt exact copy
ReplyDeleteYoo these people are saying Allama Iqbal used to or have
ReplyDeleteCopied some one else's work
Are you outta your mind ?
Maybe he was influenced by above
Poet/poetess or maybe he was inspired by his/her poem !
Wao. This poem inspired Allama Iqbal to write "child's prayer" in Urdu. It doesn't mean he copied for his diction is better and his poem a bit longer. It is just like as Goethe adobted Faustbusch legend and carved an epic out of it or Marlowe wrote Dr. Faustus.
ReplyDeleteEither Marlowe or Goethe didn't copied from that specific legend, just got inspiration and built a new structure around that.
Hi Bruce,
ReplyDeleteHere is the original poem written by Allama Iqbal with English translation:
http://iqbalurdu.blogspot.com/2011/02/bang-e-dra-9-bache-ki-dua.html
Best regards,
Yes this is very similar to lab pe aati hai tamanna meri by iqbal
ReplyDeletethis is not the one he copied . He also copy the pushto language poet khushal khan khattak .and he was inspired by him too
DeleteHalf of the poetry of Iqbal is copy of Pashto poet Khushhal khan khatak. The rest he copied from western poets . But he had a good sense of poetry and articulation to give his poetry an original touch.
ReplyDeletePlease tell me the theme of this poem in some lines.(Markazi khyial)in english.
ReplyDeleteHi. Have you looked at my reply to a previous comment? See 20 February 2020 at 18:11
DeleteIn what year did Matida write her poem?
ReplyDeleteSee my earlier reply (above) to the same question
Deletegreat poets in sub continent like ghalib and mir taqi mir have developed their own style of poetry in order to avoid any allegation of plagiarism. they were that much conscious. further in the world of creative art, we expect new and fresh ways to communication. iqbals copying child's pray or paradise lost and regained of john milton ( shikwa and jawab shikwa) are considered as intellectual theft. even the verses were merely translated into urdu. Even if these were inspired of the english poets, credit or references should have been furnished as in those days even in books authors tend to refer to the original source of information. iqbal didnt know that google would be invented to expose his frauds.
ReplyDeleteDear Bruce
ReplyDeleteI am an ordinary student of Iqbal.
Allamah Iqbal wrote many books in Persian, Urdu and in English language. His use of languages, philosophy and thinking is unique and have inspired millions. None in his right mind would blame him for copying or plagiarism others. Iqbal's articulation and poetry is divine and his poetry is unmatched in Urdu and Persian circles.
Good ideas and beautiful thoughts are revealed to humanity. It is from universal consciousness. Many times, my own writings on Islamophobia and speeches on human rights look and sound very close to other activists but it does not mean that I copy them or they copy me.
By the way, those who write as anonymous are not worth a second of serious commentators.
Kind regards