A primer on Urdu prosody
Arooz
Pick a topic to start. Each card opens a focused page on that piece of the form — the ghazal itself, the meter that holds it together, the rhymes and refrains, the special couplets, and the rhetorical devices that turn correct verse into living poetry.
- 1What is Arooz?The classical science of poetic meter — where it comes from, what it measures, and why Urdu inherited it from Arabic.علمِ عروض
- 2The GhazalPearls on a string — a poem of independent couplets bound by a single meter and a single rhyme. The form itself, its sheʿr unit, its misras.غزل
- 3RabtThe unwritten rule that a sheʿr's two misras must together complete one thought. The hidden law that turns rhyme into meaning.ربط
- 4Bahr — the meterKhalil's Five Circles, the 16 base meters, and how 100+ named variants descend from them. The full history of the science.بحر
- 5Qafia & RadifThe rhyming word that changes from sheʿr to sheʿr — and the refrain that doesn't. The two engines of the ghazal's sound.قافیہ و ردیف
- 6Matla, Maqta & TakhallusThe opening sheʿr that declares the rhyme. The closing sheʿr that names the poet. The pen-name itself, and what it does.مطلع، مقطع و تخلص
- 7Azad NazmFree in line length, not in meter. One rukn repeated a variable number of times per line, with no qafia or radif required.آزاد نظم
- 8Nazm vs GhazalThe ghazal's great cousin — a poem with a unified subject and freer form. What it shares with the ghazal, and what it does not.نظم اور غزل
- 9What makes a ghazal greatThe six rhetorical devices — Tashbih, Istiara, Talmih, Kinaya, Iham, Alamat — that turn correct verse into living poetry. With a worked example for each.غزل کی عظمت
- 10GlossaryEvery technical term used across these pages, with a one-line definition. A quick reference whenever you need to look something up.لغت
Try it now
Drop any couplet into the scanner and see its bahr, its taqti, and the words that fit — or break — the meter.
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