From Sonnet to Ghazal: The Poetic Muse of Jeet Thayil

Abstract

The sonnet and the ghazal are two traditional forms of poetry that are grounded in thematic and musical structural unity. In contemporary times, both forms have undergone alterations to keep with the demands of the times, freeing themselves from the stringent generic norms, to expand the horizon, so to speak, both in subject matter and structure. For Jeet Thayil, poet, musician, performer-poet, novelist, the fascination for the sonnet and the ghazal seems to derive as much from the predominant musical aspects in these forms as from their strangely liberating rigidities. This paper analyses the style and content of select sonnets and ghazals from Jeet Thayil’s Collected Poems, to comment on the adaptability of the form to reinforce nuances of emotion.