Ghalib's poems provide a stark contrast to some of the other poems you have read this semester.
What we often think of when we think of poetry in the 21st century is the sentimental stuff, popular sappy stuff, that came out of Europe and North America during the 19th and 20th centuries - the stuff of greeting cards and grannies. That sentimentality that we alternately embrace and endure was, at least in part, a reaction to the realities of the big, scary, difficult, and depressing social, political, and economic landscape that Europeans (and colonists of European heritage) had to cope with during the time. Sentimentality, with its script fonts, gilt letters, and flowery prose, has persisted because it's largely innocuous, and we find it comforting. Look around at weddings and funerals, and you'll see signs of it everywhere still today. It's a nice escape. Think about what seasickness during a passage across the Atlantic, or the reality of being a sod buster, or the horror of serving in either of the Civil War armies may have done to the average person, and you'll begin to see sentimentality as a coping mechanism.
In contrast to what we may expect, poetry during the 18th and 19th century in Europe, as many of you have reported back to me, seems excessively dark. From Pushkin to Coleridge to Heine, the landscape is bleak. I've suggested in previous weeks that you consider Heine, Pushkin, and Coleridge through a historical lens. Poetry always makes more sense if we know what's going on socially and politically to precipitate it. The headnote reveals a wealth of historical context and also provides valuable information about individual authors. Back to the point: Ghalib's poems come from a different context.
We're talking about a different continent, fundamentally different from Europe. Ghalib's poems are gorgeous. There are no two ways about that. They're more enjoyable to read, in many cases, because they're not focused on some of the more morbid or depressing themes as those of his European contemporaries were. They're also closer, in many ways, to European pre-Enlightenment poetry because they're focused on themes like piety and courtly love. To deduce that Ghalib, and other authors on the subcontinent and in the Middle East, however, are behind the times is a profound misunderstanding. Instead, keep in mind that this poetry comes from a different place, with different religious traditions, systems of governance, values, beliefs, and customs.
I hope you like these! I think they're fantastic 
For more information about Ghalib, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirza_Ghalib
For some additional color plates, see http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/Ideas/ghalib.html