Ghazal

In the book “An Explanation of Forms” there is a chapter called “Ghazal: To Be Teased into DisUnity” by Agha Shahid Ali which is about the poetry writing style, Ghazal. The ghazal originated in seventh-centry Arabia where it’s earliest writings are seen in multiple languages like :Arabic,Turkish, Hindi, Spanish, Farsi, Urdu, and Pashto. The format of a ghazal include multiple couplets which can be seem both as independant and unified ideas. The couplets can express different emotions than the others and are complete in their specific ideas, but they are overall about a similar idea. These couplets are also held together by containing a similar amount of syllables (Urdu) as well as a similar rhyme scheme. This scheme is called “qafia” and it’s refrain called “radif”, which occurs in both lines in the first couplet of the poem (matla) to establish the repeating rhyme phrase for the rest of the poem which will only be in the second line of the remaining couplets. Ghazal’s have incredibly large impacts on their writers as well as the readers, some of this is because of its repeating phrases or words. In regards to the writer, it is described as — “ once a poet establishes the scheme — with total freedom I might add — s/he becomes its slave” (Ali 211). After the writer has chosen what scheme fits the tone and flow of the first couplet, the writer must keep this scheme for the rest of the poem no matter the cost. This can be a very effective tool for a poet as repeated phrases tend to stick with readers and can help them grasp what the poem/couplet is about. The repetitiveness also create a unique relationship with the reader and writer as during public readings the audience would repeat the scheme to the author before they could even finish the line. This is described as “the back and fourth creates an immensely seductive tension because everyone is waiting to see how the suspense will be resolved in terms of the scheme established in the opening couplet” (Ali 213). The way ghazal’s would end would be with the signature couplet where the author could invoke their name. The reader would wait in such anticipation wondering just how the author would end the cycle. The audience may be left feeling upset by ghazal’s anticlimactic and abrupt endings because they have been so aroused by the poem, but that doesn’t take away from the main point of the poem, this is not necessarily a negative thing as this type of reaction shows how involved the audience is with the poem and its message. Overall, the ghazal format of poetry has many aspects which continue to have lasting effects on its audience through the specific rhyme scheme and the poems variety of its ideas being able to stand independently as well as together.

Ali, Agha Shahid. “Ghazal: To Be Teased Into Disunity.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art. Eds. Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes. Ann Arbor: U. of Michigan Press, 2002.