Poetic form
What is a Ghazal?
Definition
A ghazal is a Persian and Urdu form of five or more independent couplets sharing one refrain (radif), often signed with the poet's own name in the final couplet.
The ghazal is at least thirteen centuries old — born in Arabic, perfected in Persian by Rumi and Hafiz, and raised to its Urdu summit by Ghalib. It runs five to fifteen couplets, and here's the strangeness: each couplet is a complete, free-standing poem. No narrative connects them. Unity comes instead from sound — a refrain word or phrase (the radif) ends both lines of the opening couplet and then the second line of every couplet after, with a rhyme (the qafia) chiming just before it each time.
The classical subject is love and longing, earthly and divine left deliberately indistinguishable — is the beloved a person or God? Yes. The final couplet, the maqta, traditionally turns inward: the poet addresses themselves by name (the takhallus), signing the poem from inside it. Agha Shahid Ali spent his career bringing the strict form into English, and thanks to him the real thing — not just 'a poem in couplets' — now thrives here.
Structure of a ghazal
- Five to fifteen couplets, each a complete, free-standing poem
- Both lines of the first couplet — then every second line — end on the same refrain (radif)
- A rhyme (qafia) sits just before the radif each time
- The final couplet (maqta) traditionally includes the poet's name — the signature (takhallus)
How to write a ghazal
- Choose a radif you can live with — a short, charged word or phrase you'll repeat all poem.
- List qafia rhymes before drafting; the rhyme-plus-refrain combination is the hard part.
- Make each couplet stand alone — a reader should be able to quote any one by itself.
- Sign the last couplet with your own name, addressed as if by a friend or an accuser.
- Read Agha Shahid Ali to hear the strict form landing in English.
2 ghazal examples
Classic and original ghazal poems, free to read in full.
Thou and I (opening couplet)
Rumi (Jalāl al-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī)
2 lines · ghazal
What Is to Be Done, O Moslems? (opening lines)
Rumi (Jalāl al-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī)
3 lines · ghazal
Common questions
What is a ghazal poem?
A Persian and Urdu form of independent couplets unified by a repeating refrain (radif) and a preceding rhyme (qafia), classically about love and longing.
What is a radif?
The ghazal's refrain — a word or phrase that ends both lines of the first couplet and the second line of every couplet after it.
Who are the most famous ghazal poets?
Rumi and Hafiz in Persian, Ghalib in Urdu — and in English, Agha Shahid Ali, who championed the strict form and edited the landmark anthology Ravishing DisUnities.