Just as one additional source description for the ghazal form, here's a partial definition that addresses the "rhyme" of the ghazal:
In its form, the ghazal is a short poem rarely of
more than a dozen couplets in the same metre. It always opens with a rhyming couplet
called matla. The rhyme of the opening couplet is repeated at the end of second
line in each succeeding verse, so that the rhyming pattern may be represented as AA, BA,
CA, DA, and so on. In addition to the restriction of rhyme, the ghazal also
observes the convention of radif. Radif demands that a portion of the first
line -- comprising not more than two or three words -- immediately preceding the
rhyme-word at the end, should rhyme with its counterpart in the second line of the opening
couplet, and afterwards alternately throughout the poem.
The reference web page [http://www.msci.memphis.edu/~ramamurt/ghazal.html] provides numerous links to ghazals written in the Urdu language.
Ann White
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