Case 01; Ghazal
Oftentimes in poetry, when we see ‘structured’, what pops in the mind is ‘rigid’. We imagine the lack of comfortability in cramming up our ideas in this mental-jar of rules, and a hand forcing the seal tight. Maybe we even imagine some of these ideas slithering off to the sides in the process, and therefore, most of us rarely attempt structured poetry because we think of rules as an enemy to our creativity.
So, let’s break that stigma first, shall we?
What is structured poetry?
History has it that poetry was first an oral art before it evolved into written forms. The earliest poetry is believed to have been recited or sung, employed as a way of remembering oral history, genealogy and law. For a time where oral art played such a significant role in ensuring the passage of heritage from one generation to the other, it was therefore important that such art is one that is easily memorable.
Structured poetry is poetry that follows a consistent framework based on features such as line length, syllable count, rhyme pattern, rhythm, repetition, metre or a combination of these. It is a poem’s structure that generally influences the way it sounds when read aloud and helps to make it memorable.
It is, therefore, because of such rules that some of the structured poetry we came across years ago may still feel ingrained in our memories.
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With time and technology, the purpose of poetry is now not limited to what it was in the past. Poetry has stretched and keeps spreading its wings farther to touch on diverse themes and different individual expressions of life. And though free verse poetry is more famous for doing justice in this area, the rules of structured poetry do not make such expressions impossible. On the contrary, that mental-jar of rules is a million times wider and a million times deeper than we think. We have boundaries, yes, but there is so much to explore within these boundaries.
As it is in any form of writing, the key to easing yourself into writing structured poetry is to familiarize yourself with it by reading and practicing writing your own. It is when you put your heart and will into consistent learning, that you discover the rules are not limiting, but are rather guiding.
Introducing the Ghazal
The ghazal is a poetry form that has roots in Arabic, Urdu, Hindi and Hebrew. It is a poetry of longing. Traditionally, the ghazal tended to invoke melancholy, unattainable love or metaphysical questions. See the example of a ghazal below:
Tonight- by Agha Shahid Ali
Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell tonight?
Whom else from rapture’s road will you expel tonight?
Those “Fabrics of cashmere-” “To make me beautiful-”
“Trinket” to gem “Me Adorn-How tell”- tonight
I beg for heaven: Prisons, let open your gates-
A refuge from belief seeks a cell tonight
God’s vintage loneliness has turned to vinegar
All the archangels- their wings frozen-fell tonight
He’s freed some fire from ice in pity for heaven
He’s left open-for God- the doors of hell tonight
In the heart’s veined temple, all statues have been smashed
No priest in saffron’ left to toll its knell tonight
God, limit these punishments, there’s still judgement day
I’m a mere sinner, I’m no infidel tonight
My rivals for your love- you’ve invited them all?
This is an insult, there’s no farewell tonight
The hunt is over, and I hear the call to prayer
Fade into that wounded gazelle tonight
And I, Shahid, only am escaped to tell thee-
God sobs in my arms. Call me Ishmael tonight
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A ghazal form explained.
1. A traditional ghazal consists of five to fifteen couplets.
2. Each couplet should be a poem in itself, there should be no continuous development of a subject from one couplet to the next.
3. A refrain (a repeated word or phrase) appears at the end of both lines in the first couplet, and at the end of the second line in each succeeding couplet.
The refrain provides a link between couplets, but they should be detachable units. See below:
Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell tonight?
Whom else from rapture’s road will you expel tonight?
Those “Fabrics of cashmere-” “To make me beautiful-”
“Trinket” to gem “Me Adorn-How tell”- tonight
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4. One or more words before the refrain are rhymes or partial rhymes
I beg for heaven: Prisons, let open your gates-
A refuge from belief seeks a cell tonight
God’s vintage loneliness has turned to vinegar
All the archangels- their wings frozen-fell tonight
5. The poet may use the final couplet as a signature couplet, using his or her name to make a more direct declaration of thought or feeling to the reader.
And I, Shahid, only am escaped to tell thee-
God sobs in my arms. Call me Ishmael tonight
What do you long for? Try putting that into a ghazal of your own. Keep practicing and let’s learn more structured poetry together!
Christina is a literary enthusiast and a lover of art from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She writes poetry, flash fiction, and short stories. Among her published works is ‘The Bookstore’. This is a short story published in the Kalahari Review.
In 2020, Christina served as an editor of the WSA magazine. This is a monthly literary magazine published by Writers Space Africa. She was also a second runner up for a creative writing competition hosted by Shuzia magazine in February 2020 and was shortlisted for the Wakini Kuria Children’s literature awards in 2019.
Currently, Christina is the assistant Coordinator of Writers Space Africa (Tanzania Chapter), and a poetry editor for Poeticafrica magazine.
