gazals

Gazals are a poetic form that originated in the Arabic world and was refined in Persian, later becoming a central genre in Urdu and in other Persianate languages. A gazal consists of a sequence of couplets, called shers, each of which shares a strict rhyme and a refrain and can stand as a complete poem on its own. The overall mood is often lyrical and can range from romantic longing to spiritual longing, with frequent symbolic images of the beloved, night, wine, and divine love.

Form and structure: A gazal typically contains five to fifteen couplets. Each couplet ends with the same refrain (radif) and with a preceding rhyming word (qaafiya). The first couplet, the matla, introduces both the rhyme and the refrain in both lines; subsequent couplets preserve the same qaafiya–radif pattern. The final couplet, the maqta, frequently includes the poet’s takhallus (pen name). The meter (behr) is an essential formal constraint and varies between languages and traditions.

Origin and spread: The form arose in Arabic poetry and was perfected in Persian by poets such as Sanai, Hafiz, and Rumi. It was adopted and developed in Urdu, with major achievements during the 18th–20th centuries by Mir, Ghalib, Daagh, and Faiz. In Turkish, Azerbaijani, and other literatures, gazels exist with local adaptations. In music, many gazals are sung, making the form both a literary and a musical tradition.

Themes and reception: Gazals frequently explore love, separation, and yearning, often through refined metaphor and imagery. They have strong associations with Sufi mysticism in which earthly longing can symbolize the soul’s longing for the divine. Today the form remains active in poetry and song, with contemporary poets and singers continuing to adapt it to modern languages and styles.