Ghazal Cosmopolitan: Ghazals and Essays On the Culture and Craft Of the Ghazal

“A marvelous interweaving of poetry, scholarship, literary criticism and memoir: it is wise, welcoming, and a delight to read. There are poems here that are memorable in any context: Qasida of 700,000 Years of Love one among those for me. I wish Agha Shahid Ali were still with us to read Shadab Zeest Hashmi’s work.” – Marilyn Hacker

“Written with a poet’s grace and “love of the turning word,” Shadab Zeest Hashmi’s Ghazal Cosmopolitan is a gift that enriches our literature with her elegant and intimate knowledge of the Ghazal, Qasida, and the riches of Urdu, a polygenetic language that grew from centuries of migrations, trade routes, conquests, empires. With a literary heritage of cultural exchange that naturally “empowers and praises the plural,” hers is a much-needed cosmopolitan poetics generous, generative and timely.” – Eleanor Wilner

“Reminiscent of Bly’s Leaping Poetry, this book, Ghazal Cosmopolitan, is a celebration of, and a love letter to, the language of the world and its “polygenetics.” With an amalgam of lyric essay, poetry, and clear-eyed literary criticism, Shadab Zeest Hashmi writes a primer on the Ghazal and Qasida poetic forms that should enter every classroom. Hers are a mind and a spirit that disarm monolithic attitudes. She opens us onto the heterogeneous origins of the word.” – Fady Joudah

“In Ghazal Cosmopolitan, a smorgasbord of aesthetic pleasures viewed through the prism of the majestic Ghazal, Shadab Zeest Hashmi has launched a compelling argument for the cosmopolitan appeal of a beautiful poetic form, one that is unique in its economy and lyrical sweep, its reach of the mysteries of the Universe, the Israr e Azal-all in the space of two lines.” – Azra Raza

“An evocative tribute to the nesse and beauty of Urdu, this book introduces the contemporary American manifestations of the Ghazal form, acting as a bridge between the eastern and western traditions of literature. Hashmi keeps the reader engaged and wonderstruck by delving into the complexities of Urdu poetry without turning didactic. Above all, this collection is a celebration of how fine writing can overcome boundaries and expand the scope of human experience.” – Raza Rumi