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 Arabic word "ghazal" is pronounced roughly like the English word "guzzle", but with a different first consonant, and literally means "speaking with women").

The form is ancient, originating in 10th century Persian verse. It is derived from the Persian qasida, which in turn derived from an Arabian form that can be traced back to the 8th century. The ghazal spread into India in the 12th century under the influence of the Mughals. Although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Urdu poetry, today, it has influenced the poetry of many languages.

A Ghazal in short, is a collection of couplets (called sher) which follow the rules of Matla, Maqta, Beher, Qaafiyaa, Radif, Khayaal and Wazan . The traditional complete ghazal has a matla, a maqta, and three other shers in between. The first two shers of a ghazal have the form of a qatha (a specific variation of which is a ruba'ee ); most familiar to modern readers from Khayyam's Rubayyat.

Ghazals were written by the Persian mystics and poets Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (13th century) and Hafez (14th century), the Turkish poet Fuzuli (16th century), as well as Mirza Ghalib (1797–1869) and Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), who both used the Persian as well as the Urdu language. Through the influence of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), the ghazal became very popular in Germany in the 19th century, and the form was used extensively by Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866) and August von Platen (1796–1835). 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 ghazal is a common song form in India and Pakistan today. 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.

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, known as a Radif, preceded by a rhyme (though in a less strict ghazal the rhyme does not need to precede the refrain immediately), known as a Kaafiyaa. In the first couplet, which introduces the theme, both lines end in the rhyme and refrain.
• There can be no enjambement 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.
• Ghazal is simply the name of a form, and is not language-specific. Ghazals also exist, for example in the Pashto and Marathi languages.
• Some Ghazals do not have any Radif. This is, however, rare. Such Ghazals are called "gair-muraddaf" Ghazal.
• Although every Sher, should be an independent poem in itself, it is possible for all the Shers to be on the same theme. The Ghazal "Chupke chupke raat din aasun bahaanaa yaad hai" is a famous example of this.
• In modern Urdu poetry, there are lots of Ghazals which do not follow the restriction of same Beher on both the lines of Sher. But even in these Ghazals, Kaafiyaa and Radif are present.
• The restriction of Maqta has become rather loose in modern times. The Maqta was used historically as a way for the poet to secure credit for his or her work and poets often make elegant use of their thakhallus in the maqta. However, many modern Ghazals do not have a Maqta or, many Ghazals have a Maqta just for the sake of conforming to the structure or tradition. The name of the Shayar is sometimes placed unnaturally in the last Sher of the Ghazal.

Ghazal singers

• Begum Akhtar
• Ghulam Ali
• Talat Aziz
• Mehdi Hassan
• Runa Laila
• Master Madan
• Talat Mahmood
• K. L. Saigal
• Jagjit Singh
• Chitra Singh

See also

• Persian literature
• 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.

External links

• Basic Points about the Ghazal, by Agha Shahid Ali
• Urdu Ghazal: An Introduction
• Example ghazal