Editing Ghazal (section)

== Interpreting a ghazal ==
The Ghazal tradition is marked by the poetry's ambiguity and simultaneity of meaning.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ahmed|first=Safdar|date=June 2012|title=Literary Romanticism and Islamic Modernity: The Case of Urdu Poetry|journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies|language=en|volume=35|issue=2|pages=434–455|doi=10.1080/00856401.2011.633300|s2cid=144687955|issn=0085-6401}}</ref> Learning the common tropes is key to understanding the ghazal.

There are several locations a Urdu ''sher'' might take place in:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pritchett |first= Frances W.|title=Nets of awareness : Urdu poetry and its critics|date=2004|publisher=Katha Books|isbn=81-87649-65-8|oclc=419075128}}</ref>

* The Garden, where the poet often takes on the personage of the [[bulbul]], a [[songbird]]. The poet is singing to the beloved, who is often embodied as a [[rose]].

<blockquote>hoon garmi-i-nishat-i-tasavvur se naghma sanj

Main andalib-i-gulshan-i-na afridah hoon

- [[Ghalib]]

''I sing from the warmth of the passionate joy of thought''

''I am the bulbul of a garden not yet created''</blockquote>

* The Tavern, or the ''maikhana'', where the poet drinks wine in search of enlightenment, union with [[God in Islam|God]], and desolation of self.

<blockquote>mir un neem-baaz ankhon men saari masti sharab ki si hai

- [[Mir Taqi Mir]]

'' 'Mir' is in those half-closed eyes'' ''all flirtation is a bit like wine''
</blockquote>