Ghazal

Ghazal

1. writer expresses intense feelings of love

2. conjures up a new image in each stanza

3. Form

   • Ghazal-an ancient poetic form originally from middle East
     • used to express beauty & pains of love
   • final word in each couplet is the same

4. Structure

   • separate nature of each stanza means we're given whole range of different ideas and images in quick succession
     • makes poem seem playful but intense
   • further down becomes more serious

5. Language about nature

   • natural imagery makes poem seem timeless
     • suggest her love is permanent & profound
     • their love is a natural thing
   • 'venomous tongue, the serpents tail, charmer'
     • dangerous animal-natural imagery to describe herself
       • isn't tame or gentle
       • wants him to be like snake charmer-teasing & in control
       • image of snakes-magic
   • 'If I rise in the east as you die in the west...every night renew me'
     • like sun and moon setting and rising in turn
       • can't be with each other at same time
     • image of parts of the world and life
   • 'if I am the grass and you the breeze'
     • seems rooted
     • he's free to move around
     • implies interconnection
   • 'laurel leaf'
     • imagery of royalty and victory
     • without me you would be nothing
   • 'hawk to shadow, moth to flame'
     • want to attract him to her
     • sense relationship is destructive

6. Language about being loved

   • asking to be object for her lover's love despite the fact she's one chasing him with this poem
   • language in poem makes clear her love isn't all about sweetness
     • some images hint conflict and aggression
   • 'what shape should I take to marry your own'
     • question could be read as summing up whole poem
     • she would change for him
       • suggest really in love
   • 'have you ..-pursue me'
     • wants to get him to be the active one in relationship
   • 'if you are the rhyme and I the refrain, don't hang'
     • mage of poetry
       • metaphor of love
     • 'don't hang'
       • enjambement reflects her waiting for 'cue' on next line
   • 'iron fist in the velvet glove ...arrow flies, the heart is pierced, tattoo me'
     • suggest she wants him to be firm but gentle with her
     • heart pieced with arrow is traditional tattoo, also its permanent
     • arrows=cupid

7. 'if I am'

   • implies interconnection
   • trying out different scenarios on her beloved

8. 'if when ends we are just friends'

   • different idea from one you find in traditional love poem

9. 'be heaven and earth to me and I'll be twice the me'

   • he means more to her
   • ghazal's feature poets name in last stanza -'twice me'-MImi

10. Feelings& Attitudes

    • Intense love
    • playfulness
      • range of different images & repeating rhymes -seems joyous and playful
    • pleasure
      • narrator enjoys being in love and language of love