Ghazal by Mimi Khalvati

What’s the Point?

• A Ghazal is a form of Persian love poetry. Persia was one of the great ancient civilisations and is now Iran.
• Each stanza in this poem is called a sher. And the repeated rhyme is called a radeef.
• Poems were traditionally written by a man to a woman and contained imagery of unrequited (unreturned) love. 
• Khalvati is modernising the Ghazal by writing it from a woman's point of view and in English. She is playing with traditional ideas about love and how women are supposed to be treated by their lovers.
• This is both playful and romantic.

Where’s my Evidence?

"If mine is the venomous tongue, the serpent’s tail,
charmer, use your charm, weave a spell and subdue me. "

"Be heaven and earth to me and I’ll be twice the me
I am, if only half the world you are to me."

"If yours is the iron fist in the velvet glove
when the arrow flies, the heart is pierced, tattoo me."

How do I Analyse this?

Form: A Ghazal is a traditional form which follows strict conventions like a sonnet. The whole poem is written in shers which are couplets reflecting the unity of a couple in love. The repeated rhyme, called a radeef  is "me/me" which creates a slightly self-absorbed tone. This poem is all about what the speaker wants in a lover or what "Mimi" wants... (do you see what she's doing there?). Is she self-absorbed? Is she asserting a woman's right to be assertive in a relationship? You decide...

Imagery: There is a lot of natural imagery in this poem placing the speaker in a more submissive position. She uses metaphors to create the idea that he lover cam complete her, or fulfill her:
"If I am the grass and you are the wind, blow through me
If I am the rose and you are the bird, then woo me."
In this stanza she is passive and her lover will bring her to life. She is also using traditional images of romance.

Different aspects of love are revealed. For example this metaphor suggests that love is a violent and forceful experience:
"If yours is the iron fist in the velvet glove
when the arrow flies, the heart is pierced, tattoo me."
Note the violent imagery, the permanence of a tattoo and the forceful rhythm contained within the word tattoo.

Structure: The poem sounds like it is being tentative with the repetition of "if". It can sound like she is unsure of her lover's reaction. However, note the use of imperative verbs: "tattoo me" or "woo me". This is quite commanding and lends the voice strength.

The use of excalmatory phrases and the dramatic "Oh":
"Oh would that I were bark! So old and still in leaf.
And you, dropping in my shade, dew to bedew me!"
suggests that she is enjoying the drama of falling in love. Perhaps she is playing a role.

The use of long sentences in each sher leave the reader waiting for the end of the sentence, like a lover awaits a response. Each couplet contains a complete image, so we need to read the whole sentence to complete the image. This adds to the sense of anticipation in the poem, reflecting the tortuous and delicious anticipation of waiting for a lover to respond so you can feel completed.

What is the Reader supposed to feel?

This is a strange poem. At first I found it very irritating - her neediness and the overblown romantic imagery seemed exaggerated and unconvincing to me. However, as I explored further, I began to believe that she is playing a game with gender roles in a romantic relationship. At first glance, it seems like she is saying that she wants her lover to 'subdue' and dominate her which is a pretty old fashioned idea. However, her voice does not sound like someone who would be easily dominated. The use of imperative verbs and the repetition of what she expects, starts to make her sound like a woman who knows what she wants. I think that we are supposed to allow ourselves to get lost in her vision of romantic love and to submit to its old-fashioned ideas - hence the use of an old-fashioned and traditional form as a vehicle for these ideas.

How can I Link this to what the writer is saying?

So why did Khalvati write this poem? What is she saying?

I think that Khalvati is presenting a range of metaphors which define romantic love : love can be beautiful, soft, timeless, ageless, enduring, painful, returned, unrequited, renewing, sublime and earthy. You can find a metaphor in the poem for each of these adjectives (have fun).

However, I think that she is also adding a more modern take on the poem. She is suggesting that within a romantic relationship you can try on different roles: "Weave a spell, subdue me" and allow yourself to get lost and carried away "charmed" by your lover or even improved by your lover: "twice the me". Nonetheless, at the  centre of this Khalvati seems to suggest that it is important to retain a sense of yourself or "me" and this is a more modern and feminist view.

Mr Bruff thinks this is a religious poem and that it's about her relationship with God. I'm not sure but maybe...

How can I Link this to another poem?

The Manhunt - this is written in rhyming couplets, uses a lot of metaphors to try and define what love is and its relationship to your sense of self - Laura has lost her husband.

Hour- another modern poem in a traditional form, written by a woman attempting to define love. Also uses a lot of metaphor.

Sonnet 43 - Another woman trying to define love in a traditional form and also suggesting that she should submit herself to love.

BBC Bitesize
Mr Bruff