Ghazal: Form and Appreciation
Ghazal questions ask you to recognise form and to appreciate a sher. You must know matla, maqta, radif, qafiya, takhallus, beher, and the idea that each sher can stand alone while the whole has rabt (connection).
Form checklist
- Matla: the opening sher in which both lines rhyme.
- Maqta: the final sher containing the takhallus.
- Radif: the exact repeated word or phrase after the qafiya.
- Qafiya: the rhyming word before the radif.
- Beher: metre; a mis-scanned line breaks the ghazal.
- Sher: two misras - misra-e-ula and misra-e-sani.
Appreciation
Explain both lines; identify the sukhun (thought); trace the emotional logic; comment on device and tone; link to the ghazal's broader themes.
Worked example
'Tere aane se gulshan mein bahaar aayi hai / Mere dil mein bhi ajeeb si khushi chhaayi hai.' This is a matla because both misras end with the radif 'hai'; the qafiya is 'aayi/chhaayi'. Meaning: the beloved's arrival brings spring outside and joy inside. Device: parallelism between gulshan and dil. Reasoning: external spring mirrors internal joy, so the sher concerns the beloved's transformative effect, not horticulture. If asked for the radif, answer only 'hai', not the whole line.
Traps that cost marks
Calling the radif the qafiya; treating all shers as one continuous story; missing the maqta; ignoring beher; over-reading one word; forgetting that a ghazal's unity is thematic, not narrative.