Okay I am going to try and do a very difficult thing and explain a Ghazal - difficult because I am no expert. I am learning myself.
On the history of the Ghazal (pronounced Ghuzzle):
http://mushaira.org/history.shtmlI am going explain the structure so as to get it clear in my own head. But I need a poem to do that. So this is poor translation of a very popular Ghazal by the poet Ghalib.
Even a speck of hope comes not to me
Even a glimpse of her robe comes not to me
Earlier I could laugh at my situation
Now of laughter even a scope comes not to me
I find myself in such a realm where
Any news of how I cope comes not to me. This is the structure:
The poem is made up of couplets (called Sher).
The rhyming scheme is AA BA CA where A is the repetition of the same phrase (called Radif). Here Radif is "comes not to me".
In lines 1,2,4,6 there is in-rhyming with the words "hope" "robe" "scope" and "cope". This is called Kaafiyaa. (Okay robe does not rhyme, but as I said this is a poor translation)
Matla is the first couplet which must have the Radif (repetitive phrase) in both lines.
The poem follows a meter called Beher which (as of now) is Greek and Latin to me even though it is Urdu.
