Ghazals and Other Western Forms

As I said in class, the main reason I enrolled in LIT 232 was to become more exposed to worldly literature and poetry outside of North America and Europe. In many ways, it is serendipitous that the Ghazal is the first topic of discussion in class since this is the most foreign type of expressive writing I have seen yet. However, after becoming acquainted with the sylistic and structural aspects of the Ghazal I was able to put it into contexts with other types of poetry I have been familiarized with. Last semester I took a class in creative writing and we spent several weeks discussing the sonnet. The sonnet (especially the Shakespearean sonnet) is similar to the Ghazal in several ways. Both the Ghazal and the Shakespearean sonnet are formulaic in their construction. The two poetic forms must be consistent with certain rhyme schemes to stay true to tradition. Where the Ghazal has verbal restrictions such as radifs and a particular rhyme scheme, Shakespearean sonnets follow iambic pentameter and a single rhyme scheme. Where Ghazals open with a makta, or rhyming couplet, Shakespearean sonnets always end with a rhyming couplet. Furthermore, Ghazals are known to encounter differing themes and emotions with each passing couplet, creating diverse and often perplexing themes. The Shakespearean sonnet also contains a key thematic change in its structure called a volta. Usually occurring after the second quatrain, the volta also diverstifies the emotions of the poem, often turning a love sonnet into a song of lament and remorse, or vice versa. Lastly, Ghazals and Sonnets are both similar in their common thematic expressions of love.
Thus, I found it interesting to see that the Ghazal, though very different from western forms, is not completely foreign as it shares some distinct commonalities with Shakespeare's influential form of sonnet.