Ghazals

The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain.

The ghazal form is ancient, tracing its origins to 7th-century Arabic poetry. The ghazal spread into South Asia 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 the Indian subcontinent and Turkey.

A 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 the ghazal are similar in stringency to those of the Petrarchan sonnet. In style and content, due to its highly allusive nature, the ghazal has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation.

Postmodern Ghazal refers to a literary movement that began in the 1990s in Iran, claiming to mix postmodern ideas and traditional Persian poetry arrangements.

Etymology and pronunciation

The word ''ghazal'' originates from the Arabic word (''ġazal''). The root syllables Gh-Z-L have three possible meanings in Arabic:

# (ḡazal) or (ḡazila) - To sweet-talk, to flirt, to display amorous gestures.https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D9%84
# (ḡazaal) - A young, graceful doe (this is the root of the English word gazelle).
# (ḡazala) - to spin (thread or yarn).

The poetic form derives its name from the first and the second etymological roots, One particular translation posits a meaning of ''ghazal'' as ''the wail of a wounded deer'', which potentially provides context to the theme of unrequited love common to many ghazals.

The Arabic word ''ġazal'' is pronounced , roughly like the English word ''guzzle'', but with the ''ġ'' pronounced without a complete closure between the tongue and the soft palate. 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 (poems that exceed this length are more accurately considered as ''qasidas''). 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 ''qaafiyaa

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