Ghazals 🔗
Overview
Originating in 7th century Arabia, this form of shayari has historically focused on matters of love (spiritual or worldy), with a particular emphasis on separation and reunification with the beloved. While the technical constraints are strict, ghazals do not need to have a single topic running through the poem. Rather, they emphasize a tone or a mood more than any narrative continuity. Often abstract, ghazals employ contradictions, opposites and multiplicities of meaning.
Common themes portrayed in Urdu ghazals:
- Lover and beloved
- Seperation and reunion (hijr aur wisaal)
- Wordly love and spiritual love (ishq-e-mijazi, ishq-e-haqiqi)
- Self and society
- Language and inneffability
- Symbol and referrant
Classical imagery evoked in Urdu ghazals:
- Gardens, flowers and songbirds
- Moths and flames
- Lamps and candles
- Wine, goblets and taverns
- Dawn and dusk
- Light and dark
- Mirrors and reflections
- Rivers and oceans
Technicalities
Ghazals are usually composed of five to fifteen shers. The poetic devices of the ghazal are illustrated in the following ghazal by Qateel Shifai:
Qaafiya ( قافیہ) is the rhyming suffix, word or phrase that precedes the radeef.
Matlah is the first sher of the ghazal, where the radeef is present at the end of both misrahs, and Maqta is the last sher of the ghazal, which may include the takhalus, or pen name, of the poet.
Behr (بہر) is the meter of the shayari. See the appendix for an in depth description of behr.
Nazms 🔗
Nazms encompass the world of free verse in Urdu poetry. While a nazm doesn’t necessitate the following of explicit metrical rules or structures, the word nazm literally means “order” or “arrangement”. Nazms are often focused on a single idea or theme (as opposed to the loosely connected ashaar of the ghazal), which give narrative structure to the poem. In the late 19th and 20th century, this form of shayari became the standard beaerer for addressing social and political conditions in Urdu. Though there are countless sub-genres, nazms can broadly be categorized into four buckets:
Paaband Nazm (پابند نظم), which translates to “constrained” or “bound Nazm,” is a form that adheres to specific rules of meter (behr) and rhyme (qaafiya, and often radeef), and can be seen as a bridge between the structured traditions of classical Urdu poetry and the freer forms of Nazm that emerged later. Key characteristics of the Paaband Nazm include following a consistent meter, having a rhyme scheme, and adhering to a stanzaic structure.
Nazm-e-Mu’arra (نظمِ معرّیٰ), often translated as “blank verse” or sometimes “unrhymed poem,” represents a significant departure from the rhyming traditions of classical work. While a consistent behr is still followed, and lines are of equal or regular syllabic length, it dispenses with end-rhymes (qaafiya) and refrains (radeef).
Azad Nazm (آزاد نظم), literally “free verse,” represents a more radical departure from traditional poetic constraints than Nazm-e-Mu’arra. This form largely discards the conventional rules of behr, qaafiay and radeef, allowing for lines of unequal lengths and localized or sporadic use of rhyme. The form is focused on flexibility and naturalness, often seeking to capture the rhythms of natural speech.
Nasri Nazm (نثری نظم), or “prose poetry,” is a hybrid literary form that deliberately blurs the traditional distinctions between prose and poetry. It is written in prose, appearing on the page in paragraphs rather than in verses or stanzas, but it employs many of the techniques and aims of shayari, such as vivid imagery, metaphor, heightened emotional tone, symbolism, and a focus on cadence within the prose sentences themselves.
Writing Prompts 🔗
Prompt 1
Urdu has many different words for, and ways of describing, fire. Listen to this description of four Urdu words that describe different intensities of fire. Can you write a sher (or the first line of a nazm) that incorporates one of these words?
Example Shers
روشن جمالِ یار سے ہے انجمن تمام
دہکا ہوا ہے آتشِ گُل سے چمن تمام
raushan jamāl-e-yār se hai anjuman tamām
dahkā huā hai ātish-e-gul se chaman tamām
– Hasrat Mohani
جلتے دیوں میں جلتے گھروں جیسی ضَو کہاں
سرکار روشنی کا مزا ہم سے پوچھیے
jalte diyoñ meñ jalte gharoñ jaisī zau kahāñ
sarkār raushnī kā mazā ham se pūchhiye
– Khumar Barabankavi
اپنے جلنے کا ہمیشہ سے تماشائی ہوں
آگ یہ کس نے لگائی مجھے معلوم نہیں
کبھی کرتی ہے الاؤ روشن
بھیڑیے دور بھگانے کے لیے
apne jalne kā hamesha se tamāshā.ī huuñ
aag ye kis ne lagā.ī mujhe ma.alūm nahīñ
kabhī kartī hai alaao raushan
bheḌiye duur bhagāne ke liye
– Muhammed Aazam
جلا ہے جسم جہاں دل بھی جل گیا ہوگا
کریدتے ہو جو اب راکھ جستجو کیا ہے
jalā hai jism jahāñ dil bhī jal gayā hogā
kuredte ho jo ab raakh justujū kyā hai
– Mirza Ghalib
Qaafiya + Radeef templates:
___bujh chuki hai ______ ki roshni
___dehekti rahi ______ se jali
Word bank
چَراغ - Charaagh - oil lamp
آتش - Aatish - fire
دیا - Diya - lamp
دُھواں - Dhuan - smoke
شُعْلے - Sholay - flame, flash
انگارہ - Angaara - embers
چنگاری - Chingari - spark
راکھ - Raakh - ash
الاؤ - Alaao - bonfire
Prompt 2
Write about a metamorphosis. Think of a moment in time when life suddenly changed - or the realization of a slower shift. How were things before, during and after? Consider various subjects: the self, the beloved, the environment, society, and so on.
Example shers
میں اندر سے کہیں تبدیل ہونا چاہتا تھا
پرانی کینچلی میں ہی نیا ہونا تھا مجھ کو
maiñ andar se kahīñ tabdīl honā chāhtā thā
purānī keñchulī meñ hī nayā honā thā mujh ko
Qaafiya + Radeef templates:
____ guzraa
____ ki tabdili
Word bank
تبدیل - Tabdeel - Change
تحَوّل - Tahawul - apostasy, total change
تَجْدِید - Tajdid - renewal
Workshops 🔗
Since the publishing of this guide, we have conducted numerous writing workshops, materials linked below:
The Garden
On Intoxication
Metapoetics
Appendix 🔗
Tools
Further Resources
Principles of Metric Pattern in Urdu Poetry
Primary Lesson in Poetry - Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
Bahr: The Backbone of Shaa’irii