In this session, we will be reading two ghazals by Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan ‘Ghalib’, thought by many to be the best poet of Urdu that ever lived. We will spend some time familiarizing ourselves with the formal conventions of the genre, as well as with the conventions of love and romance as they appear in the world of Persianate poetry, including Urdu. 

Important terms:

शायर śāyr [A. śāʿir], m. a poet.

शायरा śāyrā [A. sāʿira], f. U. a poetess.

शायरी śāyrī [A. sāʿir + P. -ī], f. the art or practice of poetry; poetry.

ग़ज़ल Gazal [A. g̠azal], f. a poem of partic. metrical type on, or including conventionally, an amatory theme.

बैत bait [A. bait], f. E.H. a verse couplet.

शेर śer [A. śiʿr], m. 1. poetry. 2. a verse, a couplet. — ~ कहना, or सुनाना, to recite poetry. ~ बनाना, to compose poetry.

रदीफ़ A ردیف radīf, (in prosody) a word following the rhyme;

काफ़िया P قافيه qāfiya (for A. قافية qāfiyat, v.n. fr. قفو ‘to follow’), s.m. The rhyme, cadence, metre, the last letter in a verse (to which all the other distichs rhyme; in poems which terminate in a double rhyme, the penult syllable is qāfiya, the last being called radīf)

मतला A مطلع mat̤laʻ (n. of place fr. طلع ‘to rise,’ &c.), s.m. —the beginning or exordium (of a qaṣīda or ode)

मक़्ता A مقطع maqt̤aʻ (inf. n., and n. of place, of قطع ‘to cut,’ &c.), s.m. —the last verse of a poem (in which the writer introduces his nom de plume):

तख़ल्लुस A مقطع maqt̤aʻ (inf. n., and n. of place, of قطع ‘to cut,’ &c.), s.m. Cutting, severing, dividing; amputation; a cut;—interruption, an abrupt breaking off; a place of separation: a pause (in reading verse), a caesura;—the last verse of a poem (in which the writer introduces his nom de plume):

आशिक़ āśiq [A. ʿāśiq], m. loving: a lover. — ~ होना, to be or to fall in love (with, पर). – आशिक़–जार [= yār], m. pl. 19c. lovers. आशिक़–माशूक़, m. pl. lover and beloved, lovers.आशिक़–मिज़ाज़, m. amorous by disposition.

माशुक़ A معشوق maʻshūq (pass. part. of عشق ‘to love passionately’), s.m. = P معشوقه maʻshūqa (for A. معشوقة maʻshūqat, fem. of maʻshūq), s.f. (lit. ‘loved, beloved’), A beloved object; beloved, love, sweetheart, mistress.

मुशायरा muśāyrā [muśāʿara], m. a gathering at which poets recite their poems.

मज़मून A مضمون maẓmūn (pass. part. of ضمن ‘to contain, include,’ &c.), s.m. That which is included or comprised (in a thing); the contents (of a writing or letter), what is implied (in a writing, &c.), import, sense, signification, meaning, tenour;—subject-matter, subject;