When Sardar Jaffery suffered a heart attack in 1968, he returned from the hospital and on the advice of doctors, during a three-month rest, began to test his memory. He wrote all the couplets that he remembered from his childhood. From this test of memory, a long list was prepared. Then he came up with the idea of compiling a lexicon of Urdu couplets and also happened to get a two-year fellowship for this work. Titled 'Sarmaya-e-Sukhan', this lexicon comprised a selection of over 21,000 words used in Urdu poetry and arranged them in the alphabetical order, providing comparatives and commentaries in a work that was unlike any other work of lexicography. The long preface to the book is also very interesting. It includes a chapter titled 'Maqbul Istiaaro.n  Ka Khizaana', which expounds upon the prominent metaphors used in Urdu poetry. This was Sardar Jafri's crowning work which could not be published in his lifetime. He intended to write it in several volumes, and was just writing the second volume, with a large part of the work completed, when death decided to take him away in its embrace.

Parveen Shakir began writing poetry at the age of 16, and formerly wrote under the pen-name ‘Biinaa’, But has it occurred to you what her nick-name could be? In a letter written to famous critic Nazir Siddiqui, Parveen brought to light:
“My nick-name is both Paaro and Paara. But, don’t consider this Paara (piece) to be a ‘Shah-Paara’, ‘Mah-Paara’, or something of the kind. Instead, the word is used in its scientific meaning, that is mercury! As a child, I was so mischievous that my family members, considering my mercurial nature, started calling me Paara. That mischievousness is now gone, but the nick-name remains. Thus, some call me Paara, and some, Paaro.” After Parveen Shakir’s death, these letters were published in form of a book in 1997, titled “Parveen Shakir Ke Khuutut, Nazir Siddiqui Ke Naam”. Writing the foreword to this book, Nazir Siddiqui stated, “My acquaintance with Parveen started in January 1978 and lasted some one-and-a-half year. During this time, I received about 25-26 letters of hers. As far as our acquaintance went it was good, but its end was acutely abrupt.”

Shah Naseer is one of the prominent poets of the eighteenth century. He composed many couplets in his lifetime but never compiled a Diwan. After writing a Ghazal he would set aside it with others and when a lot of Ghazals accumulated he would take a pillow-case like bag and load them into it, often afterwards pressing his family members to take care of them. Shah Naseer had several disciples to whom he not only provided with corrections but also helped them compose new Ghazals altogether. He was fond of composing Ghazals with tricky rhymes and refrains. It was his poetry which took him to the court of Shah Alam. Shah Naseer died in Hyderabad and his Divan ‘Chamanistan-e-Sukhan’ was published posthumously. This famous couplet too is penned by him:
KHayaal-e-zulf-e-dotaa me.n 'nasiir' piiTaa kar
gayaa hai saa.np nikal tuu lakiir piiTaa kar

Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poetry began when he was in seventh grade, and his first shot was a satire. The story is that Faiz had been interested in reading novels and poetry since his school days. A friend of his brother, Tufail Ahmad Khan, who was three years older than him, asked Faiz, ‘do you only read poetry, or do you write it as well?’ Faiz replied, ‘I haven’t, so far’. Then he asked him to write a satire on his friend Chhajju Ram, and Faiz wrote it as per his understanding. The next day at the school, there was a hullabaloo due to his poem. The soft-hearted Faiz was very sorry that Chhajju Ram must have been hurt because of him and went and apologized to him. But surprisingly, Chhajju Ram was very happy, because the poem made him famous in the school. At the age of fifteen, Faiz won first prize for his ghazal in a school poetry competition. The judge of this competition was Maulvi Mir Hassan who also taught Allama Iqbal. A teacher to both Iqbal and Faiz, Mir Hasan was conferred with the title of Shams-ul-Ulama.

Akbar Allahabadi was one of the leading Urdu poets of humour and satire, who was also a session courts judge. He was a great supporter of Eastern culture and civilization. Throughout his poetry, strong satire on English culture can be seen. But he sent his own son Ishrat Hussain to London for studies.
When he was leaving, Akbar made him promise that he will not forget the traditional values and cultures of east. Once it was too late for Ishrat's letter to arrive, Akbar Allahabadi wrote his famous Qita, and sent it to him. 
These are the two couplets from that famous Qita :

"Ishrati ghar ki mohabbat ka mazaa bhool gaye,
khaa ke london ki hawa ahd-e-wafa bhool gaye

pahunche hotel meN toh phir eid ki parwah na rahi,
cake ko chakh ke sewaiyoN ka maza bhool gaye"