Ghazal: History and Key Facts

Ghazal is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry and a predominant form in Persian Poetry, that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and the beauty of love in spite of that pain.

The ghazal form is ancient, tracing its origins to 7th-century Arabic poetry. It flourished in Persian poetry in the works of Sa'di (1209–1291) and Hafez (1325–1390). It spread into the Indian subcontinent in the 12th century due to the influence of Islam in the courts of the new Islamic Sultanate, and is now most prominently a form of poetry of many languages of South Asia and Turkey. It set to music has also become a popular music genre in Malaysia and Singapore courtesy of Indian trade.

The unit of ghazal is a line (beyt) and each line is made of two parts with identical meter. A ghazal commonly consists of five to fifteen lines, which are relatively independent, but linked – abstractly, in their theme; and more strictly in their meter, and rhyming pattern.

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

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from Ghazal by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.