Ghazal

In poetry (and as the lyrics in songs), the ghazal is a poetic form consisting of couplets which share a rhyme and a refrain. (The word "ghazal" is pronounced roughly like the English word "guzzle.")

The form is ancient, originating in medieval Persian verse; it spread early into India. Today, ghazal is most prominently a form of Urdu poetry, though English language poets have written in the ghazal form from the early twentieth century. The ghazal is a common song form in India and Pakistan. Strictly speaking, it is not a musical form, but a poetic recitation. Today, however, it is commonly conceived of as an Urdu song, with prime importance given to the lyrics.

The Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali was a proponent of the form, both in English and in other languages; he edited a volume of "real ghazals in English." The Indian Mirza Ghalib is the quintessential ghazal poet.

Table of contents

1 Details of the form
2 References
3 External links

Details of the form

The second line of each couplet in a ghazal ends with the repetition of a refrain of one or a few words, preceded by a rhyme (though in a less strict ghazal the rhyme does not need to precede the refrain immediately). In the first couplet, which introduces the theme, both lines end in the rhyme and refrain.
There can be no enjambment across the couplets in a strict ghazal; each couplet must be a complete sentence (or several sentences) in itself.
All the couplets, and each line of each couplet, must share the same meter.

''See also: Urdu poetry

References

Agha Shahid Ali (ed). Ravishing Disunities: Real Ghazals in English. ISBN 0819564370.
Agha Shahid Ali. Call Me Ishmael Tonight: A Book of Ghazals. ISBN 0393051951.