Ghazal Poetry
In Kashmir, half asleep, Mother listens to the rain.
In another country, I feel her presence in the rain.
A rooster precedes the Call to Prayer at Dawn:
God is a name dropper: all names at once in the rain.”
(page 214)
What you read was from Rafique Kathwari’s poem, “Jewel House Ghazal, and it uses a poetic form called Ghazal. The Ghazal, an intricate and captivating poetic form, transcends cultural boundaries and has captured the imagination of poets worldwide. As John Hollander’s Ghazal exemplifies, this form blends structured elegance with creative freedom and has a rhythmic allure that keeps audiences engaged.
In the initial couplet, often referred to as the “matla,” a pattern of rhyme, known as the “qafia,” and a repeating refrain, known as the “radif,” are introduced, and these elements are echoed in both lines of this couplet (Page 211). However, from that point onward, this established pattern only manifests in the second line of each subsequent couplet. Once a poet shows this pattern, they willingly adhere to its structure and rhythm. The repetition of the refrain, “to/in the rain,” is evident twice in the initial couplet and once in the following one. Similarly, the rhyme scheme is mirrored in the opening couplet with “listens” and “presence,” and it recurs once more in the subsequent couplet with “once.” In ghazals, it’s noteworthy that the rhyme consistently appears just before the refrain.
Furthermore, the Ghazal’s influence is not confined to its Arabic origins but extends to various languages, including Persian, Urdu, and even German Romanticism through poets like Goethe. It’s a form that thrives on thematic independence within couplets while maintaining formal unity through rhyme, refrain, and prosody. As Victor Kiernan notes, the challenge of adapting the Ghazal into English lies in the contrasting accentual rhythms of Urdu and English. Urdu, designed for public declamation, has a solid accentual rhythm that differs significantly from English, translating a complicated task.
Nonetheless, this poetic form remains a powerful means of conveying diverse ideas and themes within each couplet while maintaining formal unity through rhyme, refrain, and prosody.
Ali, Agha Shahid. “Ghazal: To Be Teased Into Disunity.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art, Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes, U. of Michigan P, 2002, pp. 210–216.
Kathwari, Rafique. “Jewel House Ghazal.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art, Edited by Annie Finch and Kathrine Varnes, University of Michigan Press, 2002, pp. 214.
