Hampshire Poet blog - February 2026
- Damian Kelly-Basher
- Feb 3
- 2 min read
During his two year tenure, your Hampshire Poet - Damian Kelly-Basher - will be writing a series of blog posts for us sharing what he has been up to, telling us his poetic plans for the future, and inviting you to get involved in poetry in Hampshire. Read on to find out what's happening in Damian's world!
For February, Damian's Hampshire Poet blog discusses The Ghazal
(pronounced ‘huzzl’ - with a throaty ‘h’ to showcase its Arabic roots).
The ghazal is an ancient, well travelled form of poetry. It came from the Middle East (7th Century) through India (12th Century) and to Europe (19th Century).
In the 1970s, the famous Kashmiri poet, Agha Shahid Ali promoted the form, writing ghazals in English and other languages.
Ghazals were traditionally ‘love’ poems (earthly or divine) sung by musicians. Now, poets of all backgrounds use the form to explore emotions as well as cultural and social themes.
The traditional ghazal has more complex rules and the form has been adapted over time. But the basic form is flexible and useful to new writers.
A ghazal is made up of 5 or more couplets that don’t have to form a single narrative.
So, you can express different thoughts or ideas around a theme within the same poem.
It has a basic rhyme scheme of AA BA CA DA EA...
The rhyme at the end of the 2nd line in each couplet is the same phrase repeated.
This phrase is preceded by a word with the same rhyme across all couplets.
The first couplet is different as both lines end with the same rhyme word + phrase.
Listening Exercise:
Here’s a ghazal recorded in Urdu (written by Mirza Ghalib) - listen to it here
Even if you don’t understand the words you can get a feel of the poem’s musicality.
Damian Kelly-Basher is Hampshire Poet Laureate 2024-26. The appointment of the Hampshire Poet takes place every two years and is jointly led by Winchester Poetry Festival and Hampshire Cultural Trust. The position of Hampshire Poet provides the opportunity for a Hampshire-based poet to undertake commissions, lead workshops and give readings and talks throughout the county, as well as acting as an advocate for poetry and poets.
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