Meter

All good verses are written from the point of view of narration. A text could be read with uneven syntaxes but poetry is something that must have regular syntaxes.

Humse aaya na gaya (Galib)

Tumse bulaya na gaya

The list of word used are Tumse, humse, bulaya, aaya, gaya.  This is simplest example of how a simplistic approach could still create an attention. But short meter will need not a couple but a quadruplet to make it deliver the content.

Fasla pyar mein

Dono se mitaya na gaya

Another example

Taqat-e-insaan ko zid

Gurur bahot hai

Sunte hai apnihi

Ashyar bahot hai

Shorter the meter lesser the dramatics & longer the meter the scope for dramatics becomes exponential.

Meer ke dino majhab ko aab puchte kya ho inne to

Kashka khencha dair mein baitha kabka tarq islam kiya

Or

Roz peshani-e-hayat-e-bal durust karun; apni taqdeer sawaroo,

Yeh kainat ashiqee hai teri to muzhe tasavvur ki zaroorat kya hai

Or

Insa gar mukhlisi insa bane rahe to insaniyat ki alag zarrorat kya hai

Sang-e-marmar aur kam aayenge numaish-e-but ki zarrorat kya hai

In the rhythmic form Gazals become a challenge for the intellect. Shorter behers is simple to understand’

Wo na aayenge paltakar;

unke lakho hum bhulaye

Meri hasratonse jekdo,

key eh khwab bhul jaaye

Setting up longer meters in tune is generally avoided because the gazal may be misunderstood. It is normal for a singer to do a selective intonation and many nouns and verbs have to be handled very carefully and dedicatedly. More expressive poetries have also an adjective, a reinforced noun and an adverb too. Handling five expressions in the musical rhythm is an extreme challenge. A reinforced noun is used few times in other languages too but it is hall mark of urdu poetry.

vo taqadeer-talab aaye to i.nsaan ko jagaane aaye

Khud muztarib jaan-e-Zid nibhaane dostaane aaye

Mark the expressions: taqdeer-talab, jaan-ae-Zid here.

Or

aagaah keejiye aise ki adeebo.n-qismat badalee jaayegee

tabaah keejiye asar  gaah-e-mahanat badalee jaayegee

Mark the expressions; adib-o kismet and asar gaah-ae-mehnat

Often in the longer meter the Gazal has more than one subject, more than one noun and more than one adjective that qualify two different nouns. A textual work follows more close knit grammar patterns whereas grammar is not a necessary thing in gazals. Less objective the gazal is the more freedom a poetry displays to defy grammar. Many times even the link with the gender is missing because the kafiya has a better tune with the requirement than otherwise.

One from the classic poetry of Meer-taq-Meer always intrigues me;

Meer ke dino-mazhab ko ab puchtekya ho inne to

Meer is anoun and mazhab is noum. Who do we ask the mazhab or Meer? The noun mazhab is alos decorated with din-o-mazhab that adds to the weight of the noun. Although din means much the same as the Mazhab, the jointers make the effect poetically and musically more lasting.

Kashka khencha dair me baitha kab ka tark islaam kiya

Kashka, dair and islaam are nouns. Khencha, baitha, kiya are the verbs. Tarq is a adverb. The extent of complexities could be imagined.