A star-studded anthology infuses English poetry with the rigor and wit of a foreign form. In recent years, the ghazal (pronounced "ghuzzle"), a traditional Arabic form of poetry, has become popular among contemporary English language poets. But like the haiku before it, the ghazal has been widely misunderstood and thus most English ghazals have been far from the mark in both letter and spirit. This anthology brings together ghazals by a rich gathering of 107 poets including Diane Ackerman, John Hollander, W. S. Merwin, William Matthews, Paul Muldoon, Ellen Bryant Voigt, and many others. As this dazzling collection shows, the intricate and self-reflexive ghazal brings the writer a unique set of challenges and opportunities. Agha Shahid Ali's lively introduction gives a brief history of the ghazal and instructions on how to compose one in English. An elegant afterword by Sarah Suleri Goodyear elucidates the larger issues of cultural translation and authenticity inherent in writing in a "borrowed" form.

This book is a companion volume to author's earlier book, "Masterpieces of Urdu Ghazal" which contained English translations of 108 ghazals selected from nine major poets. The present volume contains 129 ghazals representing 20 outstanding Urdu poets. Thus, this anthology, taken together with The Masterpieces, may rightly claim to be a fully representative collection of Urdu ghazals in English translation. The ghazals are carefully selected and explained in English for the average readers as well as Urdu Connoisseurs. The book contains brief biographical notes and introductory essays on the ghazals.

Essays on the Ghazal

"Ali's ghazals are contemporary and colloquial, deceptively simple, yet still grounded in tradition....Highly recommended."—Library Journal The beloved Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali presents his own American ghazals. Calling on a line or phrase from fellow poets, Ali salutes those known and loved—W. S. Merwin, Mark Strand, James Tate, and more—while in other searingly honest verse he courageously faces his own mortality.

The primary aim of this book is to enable its audience in composing ghazals, including writing lyrics and setting music melody to it. The book is unique and original in that it introduces the history of ghazal, elaborates its technical structure and provides guidance on setting a musical score. The book also incorporates some of my compositions over the past four decades – 18 Urdu ghazals and 1 Nazm in a collection that my ghazal-loving friends affectionately call “Diwan-e-Aman” in the lighter vein. The impetus and inspiration behind these compositions are the rubayaths of the famous Persian poet Omar Qayyam and the ghazals of Hazrat Amir Khusrau. I am greatly indebted to those immortal poets. It is the outcome of my humble effort to strike a golden mean between using easily understandable language, drawing from the depths of literature and maintaining originality.

The finest ghazals of Mir Taqi Mir, the most accomplished of Urdu poets. The prolific Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810), widely regarded as the most accomplished poet in Urdu, composed his ghazals—a poetic form of rhyming couplets—in a distinctive Indian style arising from the Persian ghazal tradition. Here, the lover and beloved live in a world of extremes: the outsider is the hero, prosperity is poverty, and death would be preferable to the indifference of the beloved. Ghazals offers a comprehensive collection of Mir’s finest work, translated by a renowned expert on Urdu poetry.

"Gardinier is above all a poet whose language and images are completely integrated so that, in Keats's words, every rift is laden with ore." --Adrienne Rich Praise for Suzanne Gardinier's previous work: "A great poem of this end of our century. It is masterfully structured in recurring themes and voices which build on and off each other. Gardinier is above all a poet whose language and images are completely integrated so that in Keats's words, every rift is laden with ore. I found this a thrilling poem to read." --Adrienne Rich