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How to Write a Ghazal: Structure, Radif and Examples
A ghazal is a poem of five or more couplets in which both lines of every couplet end with the same repeated word or phrase, called the radif, and with a rhyme just before it, called the qafia. The couplets do not tell one continuous story: each stands alone, and it is the returning radif that makes the sequence a single poem. Here is the structure, an original example in six couplets, six drafting steps and the mistakes that sink most first attempts.
Where the form comes from
The ghazal is generally traced to Arabic poetry of the seventh century and was carried into Persian, where poets such as Rumi and Hafiz made it a major form, and later into Urdu, where Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz are among the names most often taught. English-language poets began working with it seriously in the twentieth century, and the English ghazal has since settled into two habits: keeping the radif strictly, and treating the stricter classical metre as optional.
That history matters for one practical reason. The form grew in languages where rhyme and repetition fall differently than they do in English, so a writer working in English has to decide early how much of the classical apparatus to keep. Most contemporary English ghazals keep the radif and the qafia, respect the couplet's independence, and loosen the metre. Nothing about that choice is cheating, but it should be a choice rather than an accident.
The parts of a ghazal
| Term | What it is | What it does in the poem |
|---|---|---|
| Sher | A couplet | The basic unit: two lines, complete in themselves |
| Radif | The repeated word or phrase | Ends both lines of every couplet, unchanged throughout |
| Qafia | The rhyme before the radif | May change from couplet to couplet; sets the rhyme sound |
| Matla | The opening couplet | Both lines rhyme and carry the radif, announcing the pattern |
| Behr | The metre | In the classical form, one metre for every line |
| Maqta | The closing couplet | Traditionally works in the poet's name |
Two of these terms do most of the work. The radif is a contract with the reader: from the matla onwards, every couplet must end the same way, so a radif that cannot survive ten appearances will strangle the poem at couplet four. The qafia is the moving part, and it is what keeps the repetition from sounding like a tic, because a new rhyme arrives before the familiar phrase every time. If the notation is new to you, the guide to rhyme schemes explains how letters like A, a and B mark repeated and rhyming lines.
Why the couplets stand alone
This is the rule that surprises writers who arrive from the sonnet. In a sonnet, each line pays for the one before it; in a ghazal, the couplets are independent. A ghazal can open in a kitchen, move to a bus stop, and close on a letter that has nothing to do with either, and no reader will find the jump strange. What creates unity is the returning radif and the emotional pressure that builds behind it, not continuity of scene.
Practically, that means you draft the ghazal as a series of small, finished poems that happen to share an ending. If a couplet only makes sense because of the couplet before it, it usually belongs in a different poem. The one link that must hold is the one to the matla, which teaches the reader the pattern for everything that follows.
Metre, and what English does with it
In Persian and Urdu the ghazal is built on a strict metre (behr), chosen once and kept in every line of the poem. English-language practice is looser: many writers use a single line length and a consistent rhythm without committing to a named foot, on the reasoning that an English ear hears a repeated rhyme long before it hears a repeated measurement.
What survives either way is the shape of the line. Each line must be long enough to hold a full clause before the radif lands, and every line should be roughly the same length, because a short line followed by a long one makes the repetition sound accidental. If you do choose a metre, keep it from the first line to the last: a change in the middle is more obvious than in any other repeating form, precisely because the radif keeps drawing attention to the ends of lines.
A complete ghazal
Here is an original ghazal with the radif again. Each couplet is a separate moment; the rhyme before the radif changes, as the qafia should.
The kettle clicks and starts its climb again, the kitchen wall clock finds the time again. A neighbour's radio leaks through the door again, and someone's boots are crossing the floor again. The desk lamp throws a smaller light again, the window turns the whole room night again. A letter waits unopened in my hand again, a postmark from a windswept strand again. The last bus sets its passengers down town again, and nothing in the garden settles down again. The street goes quiet, the gears of the day turn slow again, the page begins to settle and lets go again.
The pattern is visible in the first two lines: again is the radif, and climb and time are the qafia. No later couplet uses that rhyme sound, but all of them end on the same word. Notice too that nothing links the kettle to the neighbour's radio or to the letter beyond the repeated ending and the hour of day they share. That is the form working as it should.
Six steps to draft one
- Choose the radif before anything else. It has to be short, common, and able to sit at the end of a clause without strain. Again, tonight, in the rain, still and anyway all work; nevertheless on Sundays does not.
- Write the matla first. Two full lines that both rhyme and both carry the radif. Read them aloud; if the repetition already feels heavy across two lines, change the radif before writing more.
- List your qafia options. For each couplet you intend, write eight to ten rhymes that could precede the radif. Cross out the ones that force a sentence no one would say.
- Draft each couplet as its own poem. One image, one small scene, two lines. Do not explain how it connects to the previous couplet; there is nothing to explain.
- Vary the endings' weight. Some couplets should end flatly, as a statement; others should turn the radif into a question or a shrug. Ten ends with identical tone will read like a list.
- Close without a name if you like. The classical maqta works the poet's name into the last couplet. Modern English ghazals often drop it, and the poem loses nothing except a flourish.
Common mistakes
- A radif that does the thinking. If every couplet ends in my heart, the phrase starts writing the poem and the writer stops.
- Making the couplets depend on each other. Continuity turns a ghazal into a short lyric with an odd ending, and the form's freedom disappears.
- Recycling a qafia. Two couplets on the same rhyme sound flatten the movement that keeps the repetition alive.
- Saving nothing for the last couplet. The final sher should land harder than the ones before it, because the reader has heard the radif five times already.
- Padding a line to reach a length. Extra syllables to hit a count are heard immediately beside a repeated ending.
Two exercises
Exercise 1: the matla test
Write four different matla couplets on the same radif, each with a different qafia. Read all four aloud, then keep the one that stops feeling like a repetition. Fifteen minutes, and it teaches you more about radif choice than any rule does.
Exercise 2: six unrelated scenes
List six places you passed today and write one couplet for each, ending every couplet on the same radif. The exercise is deliberately about independence: nothing connects the six except the ending, which is exactly the ghazal's logic. For a related exercise in loosening rhyme, try rhyming without being cheesy, and for the form's neighbour in English, compare the villanelle, which repeats whole lines rather than a word.
Frequently asked questions
How many couplets does a ghazal need?
Five is the usual minimum in English-language practice, and a hand-written ghazal often runs between five and twelve couplets. Traditional Urdu and Persian ghazals can be longer, and the count is a matter of convention rather than a fixed rule; what matters is that every couplet follows the same radif pattern.
What is the difference between the radif and the qafia?
The radif is the word or short phrase repeated at the end of both lines of every couplet, unchanged throughout. The qafia is the rhyme that comes immediately before it, and it may change from couplet to couplet. In the pair climb again and time again, again is the radif and the rhyme on climb and time is the qafia.
What is the matla of a ghazal?
The matla is the opening couplet, and it is the only couplet besides the closing one where both lines rhyme and carry the radif. A reader should be able to learn the radif pattern from the first two lines alone, which is why the matla usually decides whether the whole poem works.
Do the couplets of a ghazal have to tell one story?
No, and this is the point most often missed by writers new to the form. Each couplet is a sher, complete in itself, and may change scene, tone or subject freely. What holds the poem together is the returning radif and its rhyme, not a plot, so a ghazal can move from a kitchen to a bus stop to a letter without any transition.
Why does the last couplet name the poet?
In the classical form the closing couplet, called the maqta, works in the poet's name or pen name, which is why many ghazals seem to answer themselves in the final two lines. English-language ghazals often leave the maqta out altogether; the example in this article closes on the radif without a name.