A ghazal is a poetic form consisting of a series of autonomous couplets, typically five to fifteen, that share a rhyme and refrain pattern. In the opening couplet (matla), both lines end with the refrain word or phrase (the radif), preceded by the rhyme (qafia). In subsequent couplets, only the second line carries the rhyme and refrain; the first line is unrhymed.
Each couplet is semantically self-contained — it must be a complete poetic unit that can stand on its own. Unity in the ghazal comes not from narrative or argument but from resonance: the couplets orbit a shared mood, theme, or obsession without being logically connected. The final couplet (maqta) traditionally includes the poet’s name or pen name.
The ghazal originated in seventh-century Arabic poetry and became a central form in Persian, Urdu, and Turkish literary traditions. Its major practitioners include Hafiz, Rumi, Ghalib, and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. In English, the form was taken up by poets including Agha Shahid Ali, who insisted on preserving the formal constraints rather than treating the ghazal as merely a sequence of couplets.