The principal forms of Urdu poetry are: •
Ghazal (غزل): a set of two liner couplets, which strictly should end with the same rhyme and should be within one of the predefined meters of ghazals. There has to be a minimum of five couplets to form a ghazal. Couplets may or may not have the same thought. It is one of the most difficult forms of poetry as there are many strict parameters that one needs to abide by while writing ghazal. It is important to think about the topic as well as the theme of a ghazal before starting to write it. The first line of a ghazal must include a refrain, which is a word or a phrase that can be easily fitted into the other couplets. Each couplet of a ghazal is known as Sher (شعر ). The first Sher is called
Matla' (مطلع ). The last Sher is called
Maqta' (مقطع ), but only if the poet uses his "
Takhalus (تخلص )". •
Hamd (حمّد): a poem in praise of
God. The word "hamd" is derived from the
Qur'an, its
English translation is "Praise". •
Manqabat (منقبت): a
Sufi devotional poem, in praise of
Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law of
Muhammad, or of any Sufi saint. •
Marsiya (مرثیہ): an
elegy typically composed about the death of
Hasan,
Husayn, their relatives, and their companions. Each stanza has six lines, with the
rhyme scheme AAAABB. Azmatullah Khan (1887–1923) is believed to have introduced this format to Urdu Literature. The other renowned Urdu poets who wrote sonnets were Akhtar Junagarhi,
Akhtar Sheerani,
Noon Meem Rashid,
Zia Fatehabadi,
Salaam Machhalishahari and
Wazir Agha. •
Qasida (قصیدہ): usually an
ode to a benefactor, a
satire, or an account of an event. It uses the same rhyme system as the ghazal, but is usually longer. • '''
Ruba'i'
(رُباعی): a poetry style, the Arabic term for "quatrain". The plural form of the word, rubāʿiyāt
, often anglicised rubaiyat'', is used to describe a collection of such quatrains. •
Tazkira (تذکرہ): a
biographical anthology of
poetry.
Collection forms The principal collection forms of Urdu poetry are: •
Diwan: a collection of ghazals. •
Kulliyat: a complete collection of poems by one author. ==Formation==