ghazal questions
 

Colleagues—

Despite my initial resistance to the ghazal, I recently found myself inclined to try it—but my first stab at it has raised questions that my research hasn’t quite answered. And I guess I’m looking not so much for right answers, but for the opinions of informed readers like yourselves.

1. Much of what I read about the form, and most of the examples I’ve seen, suggest that a ghazal has to have a serious, possibly even sentimental tone. Would a light, or even flippant, ghazal be disrespectful to the tradition?

2. I understand that each couplet should be “independent,” but to what extent, and how essential is that restriction to the integrity of the form? Most, but not all, of the ghazals I’ve seen are non-narrative and non-linear, nearly meditative, and I wonder if my inclination to create a sense of forward movement, an almost-narrative momentum, would meet with resistance among informed readers.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Best,
Jean

Jean, I'll just paste here what I posted the other day on Charlie's ghazal in Met. It's a difficult form; I had to plunge in and fail for a few years. But it is the "Eastern sonnet," so I always feel drawn to it.

Here's a ghazal by Amit Majmudar, and one by Suzanne Gardinier, who has a whole book of great ghazals. The ghazals in Nemo's book When Men Bow Down are excellent too. I had my first ghazal lesson from Michael Cantor, so I took that route, though with translating a form, I suppose there are several routes to take. Below are some notes from various places. I most took to heart (from my reading of ghazal translations), Michael's point that "It's kinda schmaltzy." The greatest Iranian woman poet writes mostly ghazals - here is one of hers -


Wine of Light
Simin Behbahani

The stars have closed their eyes, come.
The wine of light flows through the veins of night, come.

I have poured so many tears waiting in the night’s lap,
that twilight has blossomed and the morning has bloomed, come.

In my mind’s sky your memory etches lines of gold
like a shooting star, come.

I’ve sat so long with the night telling my tale of woe
that the night and I have turned pale with sorrow, come.

If you are waiting to see me again when I die,
understand, this is the time, come.

If I hear anyone’s footsteps, I imagine they are yours,
with all this beating, my heart is bursting out of my breast, come.

You didn’t come when the sky was full of stars like grapes,
now that dawn has picked them one by one, come.

You’re the hope in the heart of Simin-the-broken-hearted,
put an end to my misery, come.


translated by Farzaneh Milani and Kaveh Safa


~~~NOTES

The beauty of Ghazal.

Ghazal originated in medieval Arabia, around 1300 AD. In old Arabic tongue, it means ‘a heart to heart talk to a woman’. Of course by definition itself, it is a soft and beautiful manifestation of poetry, usually intense with emotions or beauty or wisdom.

A Ghazal is characterized by its unique form. It is a collection of couplets. Each couplet is totally independent of each other and conveys a meaning on its own. The important rule is that all the couplets should be on the same theme and should convey a larger thought or emotion or beauty when all the couplets are put together.

The essential parts of Ghazal are –

Sher ( A meaningful couplet)
Mathla ( The header couplet )
Maqta (Copyrighted couplet)

The essential conditions of each couplet are –

Beher (Meter) – All couplets in a Ghazal should follow the same meter

Michael Cantor:
A Note on the Form: The ghazal (pronounced to rhyme with “guzzle”) originated in 10th Century India, and consists of about 10 to 15 couplets, which generally conform to the following guidelines:

- A refrain at the end of the second line of each couplet is repeated throughout.

- There is a constant rhyme buried in the ghazal - it appears immediately before the refrain.

- The first couplet repeats the rhyme and refrain, and establishes the theme. Thereafter, the rhyme and refrain are only in L2 of each couplet.

- Individual couplets may be enjambed, but there is absolutely no enjambment between couplets. Each couplet should, ideally, function as a brief, independent poem, and the ghazal has been compared to a string of pearls.

- Lines should be consistently metrical (Urdu meter, originally – I used HP) and of the same length. (This is often ignored in contemporary ghazal.)

- As a general rule, while the couplets stand alone, they deal with a related theme

- It is custom for the author’s name – a “signature” - to appear in the last line of the poem.

- Ideally, each couplet should have a “volta”, with L2 taking off from L1, similar to some haiku

Traditionally, the ghazal is chanted, and the meter, rhyme and refrain play a powerful role. Traditionally, as well, these are love poems, or at least poems of intensity.

It's kinda schmaltzy. But that's what ghazals are. Understatement is not a Middle Eastern hallmark, and this ghazal is true to the tradition. (And I like the longer, hex line.)

One of the things that makes ghazals work effectively is the combination of a strong rhythm and meter, and the L2 internal rhyme and refrain in each stanza. Because the actual content of a ghazal is often mush and emotion, I think that it is more important than in Western poetry that the meter and rhythm carry it along, that there is almost a background drone - and consequently the substitutions that are often needed in a sonnet, for example, to avoid sounding like a metronome, don't work in a ghazal. To my mind, a ghazal is close to old Anglo Sazon accentual - you want the repeating rhythm, the guys around the campfire nodding and chanting with it.

? 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. I.e. AA BA CA etc
? 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. Or even have continuity of thought. This is called a musalsal ghazal, or "continuous ghazal". 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 takhallus 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.

Mary--

Thanks for your prompt reply!

I should have noted that my original query was prompted in part by having already read the post that Mary has copied here. I'm hoping to get further responses/opinions/thoughts concerning the two specific concerns in my first post.

But again, I do appreciate your quick attention to my questions, Mary.

Best,
Jean

The best way to write a ghazal in English is, in my opinion, to look at the one by James Elroy Flecker and copy his method. I realise it is not exactly what a Persian one would be like, but we are writing in English, after all. Here it is:

Yasmin

(A Ghazel)

How splendid in the morning grows the lily: with what grace he throws
His supplication to the rose: do roses nod the head, Yasmin?

But when the silver dove descends I find the little flower of friends
Whose very name that sweetly ends I say when I have said, Yasmin.

The morning light is clear and cold: I dare not in that light behold
A whiter light, a deeper gold, a glory too far shed, Yasmin.

But when the deep red light of day is level with the lone highway,
And some to Meccah turn to pray, and I toward thy bed, Yasmin;

Or when the wind beneath the moon in drifting like a soul aswoon,
And harping planets talk love's tune with milky wings outspread, Yasmin,

Shower down thy love, O burning bright! For one night or the other night,
Will come the Gardener in white, and gathered flowers are dead, Yasmin.

James Elroy Flecker

Lord, I wish I had written that! Richard Burtyon reads it on You Tube.

Wow, this is all so helpful, Mary--and everyone. I hadn't thought of writing a ghazal, but I'm saving this invaluable info for when I might, just possibly, maybe, try it...

Good luck with yours, Jean.

Charlotte

The ideal (textbook) form, of a ghazal or anything else, is just the background music to what you choose to do with it. You can harmonize or break harmony, depending. What will people think? That's up to them. If it's a good poem most will like it.

Mary will probably tell you that you learn the most from a form by submitting to it entirely. There is sense in that. It makes sense to learn to play an instrument conventionally before you start picking where you should bow or playing with your teeth. But, as Wilbur says, things have to be done in one way or another.

C

The introduction to Agha Shahid Ali's Ravishing DisUnities provides easily understood rules for writing a ghazal in English: http://books.google.com/books?id=m4Le7cfMK58C&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad= 4#v=onepage&q&f=falseunities
You'll note that, in his introduction, Ali pays particular attention to the following humorous ghazal written by John Hollander:

A GHAZAL ON GHAZALS --- by 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 this second line only will rhyme at the end.

On a string of such strange, unpronouncable fruits,
How fine the familiar old lime at the end!

All our writing is silent, the dance of the hand,
So that what it comes down to’s all mine, at the end.

Dust and ashes? How dainty and dry! We decay
To our messy primordial slime at the end.

Two frail arms of your delicate form I pursue,
Inaccessible, vibrant, sublime at the end.

You gathered all manner of flowers all day,
But your hands were most fragrant of thyme, at the end.

There are so many sounds! A poem having one rhyme?
–A good life with a sad, minor crime at the end.

Each couplet’s a different ascent: no great peak,
But a low hill quite easy to climb at the end.

Two-armed bandits: start out with a great wad of green
Thoughts, but you’re left with a dime at the end.

Each assertion’s a knot which must shorten, alas,
This long-worded rope of which I’m at the end.

Now Qafia Radif has grown weary, like life,
At the game he’s been wasting his time at. THE END.

- - - - - - -

Jean,

I'm no-one to give advice on this form- you can see just how hopeless I am with it here. And yet, I like your inclination. I want to say something like 'run with it, make it yours, follow your inclination, see where it takes you.' I'm sure you *would* get a little push back, but so what? I think we should all write this out on a little post-it note, and stick it to our monitors:

Nous voulons, tant ce feu nous brûle le cerveau,
Plonger au fond du gouffre, Enfer ou Ciel, qu'importe?
Au fond de l'Inconnu pour trouver du nouveau!

Good luck with your project. I can't wait to see the results!

Best,

Bill

There are also (naturally) web sites about ghazals. You can try some back issues of the Ghazal Page at www.ghazalpage.net.

What CC says is classic sense.

C