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Ghazal

ghazal · form · validated

Autonomous couplets sharing a refrain word and the rhyme preceding it, with the poet often named in the closing couplet.

Provenance

  • Source: Traditional; classical Persian and Urdu poetry
  • Attribution: traditional — classical or folk; no single origin to name
  • Checkability: self — decidable from the text and its parameters alone
  • Attested: codified — formulated as a rule by a tradition rather than declared by an author

Details

  • Kind: restrictive
  • Languages: en
  • Requires: tokens, phonemes
  • Deterministic: yes
  • In other languages: Ghasel (de), Ghazel (fr)

Prompt hint

Write self-contained couplets that all end on the same refrain word and rhyme.

Parameters

Name Type Default Description
unknown_rhyme string undecidable What a line ending absent from the pronouncing dictionary means: leave the pair unscored (undecidable), let it satisfy the scheme (free), or fail it (strict).

Examples

radif-and-qafia-held

en — this text satisfies the procedure.

i cannot find the road tonight
the lamps have all been slowed tonight
the river takes another turn
and leaves its heavy load tonight
the letters that i never sent
are lying in the code tonight

Source: constructed example

radif-dropped-on-the-last-line

en — this text does not satisfy the procedure.

i cannot find the road tonight
the lamps have all been slowed tonight
the river takes another turn
and leaves its heavy load tonight
the letters that i never sent
are lying in the code today

Source: constructed counterexample

radif-und-qafia

de — this text satisfies the procedure.

ich finde nicht den Weg im Wald heut Nacht
die Lampen sind schon alle kalt heut Nacht
der Fluss nimmt eine andre Wendung an
und lässt sein schweres Wasser alt heut Nacht

Source: constructed example; heut Nacht is the radif, repeated at every closing

radif-et-qafia

fr — this text satisfies the procedure.

Le vent se lève et je pleure encore
La nuit s'installe et je pleure encore
Le temps passe et rien ne change
Il sent la douleur encore
Le silence dure et s'étend
Mon coeur bat de chaleur encore

Source: constructed example; encore is the radif, repeated at every closing

radif-perdu-sur-la-derniere-ligne

fr — this text does not satisfy the procedure.

Le vent se lève et je pleure encore
La nuit s'installe et je pleure encore
Le temps passe et rien ne change
Il sent la douleur encore
Le silence dure et s'étend
Mon coeur bat de chaleur toujours

Source: constructed counterexample; the last carrier line drops the radif

ghazal-platen

de — this text satisfies the procedure.

Wenn du sammelst goldne Trauben ein,
Hüllen Reben dich in Lauben ein;
Wenn am Hügel dich umfängt der Schlaf,
Girren dich verliebte Tauben ein;
Wenn du liebst, so stellen Engel sich,
Die der Sorge dich berauben, ein;

Parameters: unknown_rhyme='free'

Source: August von Platen, Ghaselen (Erlangen: Heyder, 1821); text via gedichte-lyrik-online.de, not collated against the 1821 edition