Ghazal


Ghazal is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and the beauty of love in spite of that pain.
The ghazal form is ancient, tracing its origins to 7th-century Arabic poetry. It spread into the Indian subcontinent in the 12th century due to the influence of Sufi mystics and the courts of the new Islamic Sultanate, and is now most prominently a form of poetry of many languages of South Asia and Turkey. It set to music has also become a popular music genre in Malaysia and Singapore courtesy of Indian trade.
A poem of ghazal commonly consists of five to fifteen couplets, which are independent, but are linked – abstractly, in their theme; and more strictly in their poetic form. The structural requirements of ghazal are similar in stringency to those of the Petrarchan sonnet. In style and content, due to its highly allusive nature, ghazal has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation.

Etymology and pronunciation

The word ghazal originates from the Arabic word غزل. This genre of Arabic poetry is derived from غَزَل or غَزِلَ - To sweet-talk, to flirt, to display amorous gestures.
The Arabic word غزل ġazal is pronounced. In English, the word is pronounced or.

Poetic form

The ghazal is a short poem consisting of rhyming couplets, called bayt or sher. Most ghazals have between seven and twelve bayts. For a poem to be considered a true ghazal, it must have no fewer than five couplets. Almost all ghazals confine themselves to less than fifteen couplets. Ghazal couplets end with the same rhyming pattern and are expected to have the same meter. The ghazal's uniqueness arises from its rhyme and refrain rules, referred to as the qafiya and radif respectively. A ghazal's rhyming pattern may be described as AA BA CA DA, and so on.
In its strictest form, a ghazal must follow a number of rules:
  1. Matla': The first sher in a ghazal is called the matla. Both lines of the matla must contain the qafiya and radif. The matla sets the tone of the ghazal, as well as its rhyming and refrain pattern.
  2. Radif: The refrain word or phrase. Both lines of the matla and the second lines of all subsequent shers must end in the same refrain word called the radif.
  3. Qafiya: The rhyming pattern. The radif is immediately preceded by words or phrases with the same end rhyme pattern, called the qafiya.
  4. Maqta': The last couplet of the ghazal is called the maqta. It is common in ghazals for the poet's nom de plume, known as takhallus to be featured in the maqta. The maqta is typically more personal than the other couplets in a ghazal. The creativity with which a poet incorporates homonymous meanings of their takhallus to offer additional layers of meaning to the couplet is an indicator of their skill.
  5. Bahr: Each line of a ghazal must follow the same metrical pattern and syllabic count.
Other optional rules include:
  1. : The first line of each verse must be a statement.
  2. : The second line of each verse must be the proof of statement given in the first line.
Unlike in a nazm, a ghazal's couplets do not need a common theme or continuity. Each sher is self-contained and independent from the others, containing the complete expression of an idea. However, the shers all contain a thematic or tonal connection to each other, which may be highly allusive. A common conceit that traces its history to the origins of the ghazal form is that the poem is addressed to a beloved by the narrator.
Abdolhamid Ziaei considers the content of old Persian ghazal to include four elements: love, mysticism, education or excellence, and Qalandari.

Interpreting a ghazal

The Ghazal tradition is marked by the poetry's ambiguity and simultaneity of meaning. Learning the common tropes is key to understanding the ghazal.
There are several locations an Urdu sher might take place in:
  • The Garden, where the poet often takes on the personage of the bulbul, a songbird. The poet is singing to the beloved, who is often embodied as a rose.
hoon garmi-i-nishat-i-tasavvur se naghma sanj
Main andalib-i-gulshan-i-na afridah hoon
- Ghalib
I sing from the warmth of the passionate joy of thought
I am the bulbul of a garden not yet created

  • The Tavern, or the maikhana, where the poet drinks wine in search of enlightenment, union with God, and desolation of self.
mir un neem-baaz ankhon men saari masti sharab ki si hai
- Mir Taqi Mir
'Mir' is in those half-closed eyes ''all flirtation is a bit like wine''

History

Origins in Arabia

The ghazal originated in Arabia in the 7th century, evolving from the qasida, a much older pre-Islamic Arabic poetic form. Qaṣīdas were typically much longer poems, with up to 100 couplets. Thematically, qaṣīdas did not include love, and were usually panegyrics for a tribe or ruler, lampoons, or moral maxims. However, the qaṣīda's opening prelude, called the nasīb, was typically nostalgic and/or romantic in theme, and highly ornamented and stylized in form. In time, the nasīb began to be written as standalone, shorter poems, which became the ghazal.
The ghazal came into its own as a poetic genre during the Umayyad era and continued to flower and develop in the early Abbasid era. The Arabic ghazal inherited the formal verse structure of the qaṣīda, specifically, a strict adherence to meter and the use of the qafiya, a common end rhyme on each couplet.
The nature of the ghazals also changed to meet the demands of musical presentation, becoming briefer in length. Lighter poetic meters, such as khafîf, ramal, and muqtarab were preferred, instead of longer, more ponderous meters favored for qaṣīdas. Topically, the ghazal focus also changed from nostalgic reminiscences of the homeland and loved ones, towards or erotic themes. These included sub-genres with themes of courtly love, eroticism, homoeroticism, and as a highly stylized introduction to a larger poem.
During the Umayyad and early Abbasid eras, the ghazal blossomed. It inherited the structure of the qaṣīda, focusing on meter and end rhymes. With time, it adapted for musical presentation, becoming shorter. Lighter meters were preferred, and themes shifted towards romance and eroticism.

Spread of the Arabian ghazal

With the spread of Islam, the Arabian ghazal spread both westwards, into Africa and Spain, as well as eastwards, into Persia. The popularity of ghazals in a particular region was usually preceded by a spread of the Arabic language in that country. In medieval Spain, ghazals written in Hebrew as well as Arabic have been found as far back as the 11th century. It is possible that ghazals were also written in the Mozarabic language. Ghazals in the Arabic form have also been written in a number of major West African literary languages like Hausa and Fulfulde.

Dispersion into Persia

Early Arabo-Persian ghazals (10th to 11th century)

However, the most significant changes to the ghazal occurred in its introduction into Iran in the 10th century. The early Persian ghazals largely imitated the themes and form of the Arabian ghazal. These "Arabo-Persian" ghazals introduced two differences compared to their Arabian poetic roots. Firstly, the Persian ghazals did not employ radical enjambment between the two halves of the couplet, and secondly, the Persian ghazals formalized the use of the common rhyme in both lines of the opening couplet. The imitation of Arabian forms in Persia extended to the qaṣīda, which was also popular in Persia.
Because of its comparative brevity, thematic variety and suggestive richness, the ghazal soon eclipsed the qaṣīda, and became the most popular poetry form in Persia. Much like Arabian ghazals, early Persian ghazals typically employed more musical meters compared to other Persian poetry forms. Rudaki is considered the most important Persian ghazal poet of this period, and the founder of classical Persian literature.

Early Persian ghazal poetry (12th to early 13th century)

The Persian ghazal evolved into its own distinctive form between the 12th and 13th centuries. Many of those innovations created what we now recognize as the archetypical ghazal form. These changes occurred in two periods, separated by the Mongol Invasion of Persia from 1219 to 1221 AD.
The 'Early Persian poetry' period spanned approximately one century, from the Ghaznavid era till a little after the Mongol Invasion. Apart from the movement towards brevity, this period also saw two significant and lasting changes to the ghazal form.
The first change was the adoption of the Takhallus, the practice of mentioning the poet's penname in the final couplet. The adoption of the takhallus became a gradually accepted part of the ghazal form, and by the time of Saadi Shirazi, the most important ghazal poet of this period, it had become de rigueur. The second marked change from Arabian ghazal form in Persian ghazals was a movement towards far greater autonomy between the couplets.

Late Persian poetry in the Early Mongol Period (1221–)

The ghazal later spread throughout the Middle East and South Asia. It was famous all around the Indian subcontinent in the 18th and 19th centuries

Introduction into Indian subcontinent

The ghazal was spread from Persia into Indian subcontinent in the 12th century by the influence of Sufi mystics and the courts of the new Islamic sultanates. This period coincided with the early Islamic Sultanates in India, through the wave of Islamic invasions into the region in that period.
The 13th century Chishti Sufi poet Hasan Sijzi is regarded as the originator of the Indo-Persian ghazal. Sijzi's contemporary, the poet and musician Ameer Khusrow is not only credited as the first Urdu poet but also created Hindustani as we know today by merging braj, khadhi boli, Hindi, Urdu, Persian and other local dialects.
During the reign of the Sultan of Bengal Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah, the city of Sonargaon became an important centre of Persian literature, with many publications of prose and poetry. The period is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature is illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence with the Persian poet Hafez. When the Sultan invited Hafez to complete an incomplete ghazal by the ruler, the renowned poet responded by acknowledging the grandeur of the king's court and the literary quality of Bengali-Persian poetry.
It is said that Atul Prasad Sen pioneered the introduction of Bengali ghazals. Residing in Lucknow, he was inspired by Persian ghazals and experimented with a stream of Bengali music which was later enriched profusely by the contribution of Kazi Nazrul Islam and Moniruddin Yusuf.