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.