This week I’m studying ghazals. I wrote one yesterday, one today. Today’s was full of longing and sentence fragments. At least one of these qualities is typical of a ghazal. The one yesterday was about climate change. They are fun to try.
Here is a list of resources. So far small, but useful.
Reference
Ghazal Poetic Form (Academy of American Poets)
Ghazal Poetry Generator
Provides a fill-in the blank ghazal generator that counts syllables, offers rhymes, and will create a finished ghazal from your work. Be prepared to realize how far from done your highly polished ghazal is with this helpful tool. Good luck.
Poems:
Agha, Shahid Ali. Call Me Ishmael Tonight: A Book of Ghazals. Norton, 2003.
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE GHAZALS
Articles:
Caplan, David. “In That Thicket of Bitter Roots”: The Ghazal in America. VQR 80.4 (2004). Web. 18 April 2017.
http://www.vqronline.org/essay/%E2%80%9C-thicket-bitter-roots%E2%80%9D-ghazal-america
tspoetry. “Ghazal Poetry: How to Write a Ghazal and Playlist!” Tweetspeak. 7 Oct. 2013 Web. 21 April 2017. https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2013/10/07/ghazal-poetry/
Video
“Very Sad Urdu Ghazal of Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi live in Mehfil E Moseeqi.” YouTube Video. 25 April 2016. Web. 20 April 2017. https://youtu.be/t8Nt9ozbZnE
A very expressive performance. I haven’t a clue as to the words, but the singer sounds vulnerable, hurt, and full of yearning. I love it.