Ghazel

The ghazal (also spelled ghazel or ghazl) is lyric love poetry dating back to the 7th Century in Arabia. Pronounced "guzzle," it usually consists of 5 to 15 couplets. The couplets are united by both a rhyme scheme and refrain, but have a thematic disunity and no enjambment between couplets. According to Agha Shahid Ali, "each couplet must be like a precious stone that can shine ven when plucked from the necklace though it certainly has greater luster in its setting." [1] The ghazal tradition can be found in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Turkish, Pashto, Hindi, and Spanish.

In the first couplet (matla), the poem establishes its rhyme scheme (quafia) at the end of both lines, followed by a refrain (radif). In the following couplets the rhyme and refrain are only found in the second of the two lines. According to John Hollander,

For couplets the ghazal is prime; at the end

Of each one's a refrain like a chime: 'at the end.'

But in subsequent couplets throughout the whole poem,

It's the second line only will rhyme at the end. (lines 1–4)

Sources:

Faiz, Faiz Ahmed. The Rebel's Silhouette: Selected Poems. Translated by Agha Shahid Ali. University of Massachusets Press, 1995.

Kanda, K.C., editor. Masterpieces of the Urdu Ghazal: From the 17th to the 20th Century. Sterling Pub Private Ltd., 1991.

Mufti, Aamir. "Towards a Lyric History of India." boundary 2, 31: 2, 2004