Ghazal

 

 

 

Type: Structure; Meter; Rhyme

Structure: Ghazal (pronounced ghuzzle) is over 1000 years old, of Persian origin. It is composed of 5 to 15 couplets. Each couplet should be a poem unto itself. The first couplet should rhyme. The second line of the following couplets should rhyme with the first couplet. There can also be a refrain with each of the rhyme words. Each line must have the same rhythm. The last couplet is often the poet's signature/.

Rhyme Scheme: aA bA cA dA etc.

Example: These Aged Pines by Erin Thomas

Amid lush fern carpet stand per pending pillars;
Into broad canopy rise impending pillars.

Shady gloom in quiet calm hangs perpetual
Neath enshrouding shelter of attending pillars.

Ringlets firm encircle hearts of antiquity,
Deeply shielded within great suspending pillars.

More than stately; more than magnificently made,
High up into heavens reach transcending pillars.

Among elder giants Zahhar walks astonished,
His heart held uplifted by extending pillars.