Ghazals

[NonEuclideanAngles]

I've only just discovered this form and while I am interested, all my sources currently contradict eachother. They won't even agree to disagree. Can anyone clarify the requirements of modern English Ghazals?
Thanks in Advance http://www.everypoet.com/poetry/poetry_forums/wink.gif
Ciao!

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"Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir,
I have tried in my way,
to be free."

-Leonard Cohen

[chilla]

Yes, yes, yes ... the ghazal.
Originally a Persian form, if I remember correctly. Traditionally, 5-12 loosely related couplets usually dealing with mysticism or love(loss and longing) that may or may not include rhymes at the ends of the couplets[ex:aabaca]. The couplets are also usually long lines, extending toward the margines even.

This form is not based on coventional logic; it is an associational form. thus the couplets exist as independent thoughts and need not have any relation, much like the sequenced haiku. Some ghazals include the author's name in the last line. As a rule, they consist of at least 5 couplets.

Hope this helps! I'll see if I can dig up some examples.

P.S. Afterthought: Look up Ghalib ... he is considered a master. He is the Basho of Ghazals!

[This message has been edited by chilla (edited 03-26-2001).]

[NonEuclideanAngles]

Thank you so very much! I've come across so much conflicting info. of late. Do you know if the couplets must have internal rhyme? What of the rumor of a required refrain?
I've heard they should look like this:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXrefrain
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXrefrain

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXrefrain

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXrefrain

etc....

Have you any thoughts?
Thank you again.
Ciao.

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"Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir,
I have tried in my way,
to be free."

-Leonard Cohen

[clive]

John Hollander: -

"Ghazals are couplets, also apparently disjunct from each other, assembled into poems written in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu. Both lines of the first couplet, and the second lines of all the following ones, end with a repeated refrain (Qafia) and, just before that, a rhyming word (Radif). The poet signs his name pseudonymously in the final ghazal". He then goes on to give an example in which the refrain words are "at the end" and the rhyme words in front of the refrains are prime/time/mime/chime etc. Best to get his book "Rhyme's Reason" to see for yourself.

Clive