غزل

What it means

غزل (ghazal) is a lyric love poem in monorhyme couplets. Five to fifteen beyts (couplets), each ending in the same rhyme plus an optional radif (a refrain word). The final couplet contains the poet’s takhallos (pen name).

How to use it

• غزل حافظ (ghazal-e Hâfez) “a Hafez ghazal”
• یک غزل خواند (yek ghazal khând) “He recited a ghazal”
• غزل عاشقانه (ghazal-e âsheqâne) “a love ghazal”

Form and structure

Each couplet is self-contained yet links to the whole through rhyme. The first couplet (matla) sets both rhymes; subsequent couplets rhyme only on the second hemistich. The closing couplet (maqta) signs the poem with the poet’s takhallos like Hafez, Saadi, or Rumi.

Cultural depth

The ghazal is the heart of classical Persian poetry. Iranians open Hafez’s Divan for fâl (divination) on Yalda night. Saadi’s ghazals are sung in traditional music. Rumi extended the form to ecstatic Sufi vision. A literate Iranian can recite at least a few couplets from memory.

Register notes

Literary and elevated. The word ghazal in casual speech can refer to any love song, but in literary context the form is precise.

Etymology

From Arabic root gh-z-l (غزل), meaning spinning thread, also flirtation and amorous talk. The form began in Arabic, was perfected in Persian, then exported back to Urdu, Turkish, and Pashto literature.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab
• Wiktionary