Edmund--
>>part of the skill of the Persian epic poet is in often delighting the
audience with a huge run of rhymes which double into puns on root-sounds,
and in using a variation on the metaphors already used.<<
This is the essence of the ghazal. It is a real challenge to write one in
English. Do you know Agha Shahid Ali's book, Call Me Ishmael Tonight (I
think that's the title)? It's a book of ghazals in English that adhere, at
least in terms of rhyme scheme, to the ghazal form. There's also a book that
I have not yet read through called The Green Sea of Heaven which contains a
wonderful essay on Persian prosody, rhyme and meter, as it pertains to
Hafez' ghazals.
It's also really interesting to be at a ghazal reading and hear people--at
least this is true among Pakistani's--actually respond to the rhymes (they
call out "bah! bah!," which in Persian signifies delicious) and then call
out the rhymes when the poet comes to them. Quite different from the very
staid poetry readings here in the States, where people often don't laugh at
lines that are very obviously supposed to evoke laughter.
>>I think where Marvell is an interesting point of contact is in his...
longer reflections on the art of government and on the civil war - in verse
and prose.<<
Could you point me to some of these, the poetry in particular? Thanks.
Richard
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