THE GHAZAL

The ghazal (pronounced “guzzle”) is an ancient Middle Eastern form, centuries older than the sonnet. “Traditionally invoking melancholy, love, longing, and metaphysical questions, ghazals are often sung by Iranian, Indian, and Pakistani musicians. The form has roots in seventh-century Arabia, and gained prominence in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century thanks to such Persian poets as Rumi and Hafiz. In the eighteenth- century, the ghazal was used by poets writing in Urdu, a mix of the medieval languages of Northern India, including Persian. Among these poets, Ghalib is the recognized master,” says the entry at poets.org (the Academy of American Poets) in describing the provenance of the form.

The characteristics of the form are as follows:

• The poem comprises at least five couplets.

• Each couplet can stand alone—both syntactically and thematically.

• The lines are the same length; in English no particular meter is required.

• Both lines in the first couplet conclude with a rhyme (the quafia) and a

repeated phrase, or refrain (the radif). This same rhyme and refrain conclude

the second line of each couplet that follows.

• In the final couplet, the author typically refers to him or herself in first or third

person, often giving the meaning of his or her own name.

For our models, let’s look at two ghazals, one by the Iranian-born English poet

Mimi Khalvati, and the other an adaptation by her of a poem by Hafez.

IT’S HEARTACHE

When you wake to jitters every day, it’s heartache. Ignore it, explore it, either way, it’s heartache.

Youth’s a map you can never refold, from Yokohama to Hudson Bay, it’s heartache.

Follow the piper, lost on the road, whistle the tune that led him astray: it’s heartache.

Stop at the roadside, name each flower, the loveliness that will always stay: it’s heartache.

Why do nightingales sing in the dark? Ask the radif, it will only say “it’s heartache.”

Let khalvati, “a quiet retreat,” close my ghazal and heal as it may its heartache.

GHAZAL after Hafez

However large earth’s garden, mine’s enough. One rose and the shade of a vine’s enough.

I don’t want more wealth, I don’t need more dross. The grape has its bloom and it shines enough.

Why ask for the moon? The moon’s in your cup, a beggar, a tramp, for whom wine’s enough.

Look at the stream as it winds out of sight. One glance, one glimpse of a chine’s enough.

Like the sun in bazaars, streaming in shafts, any slant on the grand design’s enough.

When you’re here, my love, what more could I want? Just mentioning love in a line’s enough.

Heaven can wait. To have found, heaven knows, a bed and a roof so divine’s enough.

I’ve no grounds for complaint. As Hafez says, isn’t a ghazal that he signs enough? ______

The tone of the persona narrator in each of these poems is similar: both reflective and declarative. Each couplet offers a different way to view the theme of the poem, which is named in the refrain. “It’s Heartache” offers different examples of heartache (jitters, lost youth, the loveliness of a flower, etc.); the poem after Hafez offers different examples of the persona narrator’s feelings of satisfaction. Notice that all of the examples are based in images. Though the speaker may have a philosophical bent, there’s nothing intellectual here, no explanations. And notice that though the mood of each poem is different—one reflects on sorrow, the other on joy—they share a sense that the world is replete with significance, vivid with meaning.

Assignment: Create a passionate first-person narrator who is going to use sensory language and imagery to reflect on his or her views on a matter of the heart in a ghazal.

For your ghazal, choose a radif that offers you some range in exploring this matter; a single word (like “enough”), brief clause (like “it’s heartache”), or prepositional phrase or brief adverb phrase could work. Use a rhyming dictionary to discover all the possibilities of the rhyme you choose for the quafia. Indeed, allow the possible rhymes to suggest ideas and images to you—the form can certainly inform the content of your poem, as much as the other way around. And because each couplet should offer an independent thought, you have quite a lot of freedom as you explore your subject.