Ghazal Full Analysis

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------------------------------------------------- Ghazal – Mimi Khalvati STRUCTURE. * A Ghazal is a traditional Persian love poem – just like the English sonnet. * It is written in couplets, and there are two rhyming couplets at the start and the end. * There is a strong rhythm as there are 12 syllables per line. * Every couplet ends in ‘me’ – so ‘me’ is the refrain. Her name is ‘Mimi’ so the repetition of ‘me’ sounds like her name and gives it a personal touch. * All the second to last words in each couplet rhyme. * A Ghazal traditionally uses a lot of metaphors. * Ghazals are written in rhyming couplets with the use of a refrain. * In a Ghazal, each couplet is a singular thought/image. THEMES. * Points to feminism. * Women as the forgotten/invisible voice. * Love (Ghazal form.) * Multi-cultural perspective. * Islam. RELATIONSHIP FOCUS. * Ghazals should be written to a moral beloved (a man or a woman), usually about unattainable love, written from the perspective of the unrequited lover. * Ghazals are ambiguous as they should also be written to a divine love which is directed towards God, and the love for God brings completion to the poet. LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS. If I am the grass and you the breeze, blow through me. * ‘If’ is repeated often at the beginning of a couplet throughout the poem. This indicates possibilities. This suggests that it is an imagination rather than reality. * There is alliteration ‘breeze’, ‘blow’. * ‘Grass’ is a noun, whereas the ‘breeze’ is an abstract noun as you can’t see it or feel it, but you know it’s there. * ‘Grass’ is a rooted object so it is constant, which is the opposite of the ‘breeze’, which is not balanced an also symbolises independence and freedom. If she is constant but he is free to move and is independent, then this opens the

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