Radif
Quick answer: Radif is the word or phrase repeated unchanged at the end of every ghazal couplet, right after the rhyme. Learn how radif works, with tips and examples.
Radif is the word or phrase that repeats, exactly and without change, at the end of every couplet in a ghazal, arriving directly after the rhyming word. If a ghazal closes its couplets with 'lost at sea', 'crossed at sea' and 'tossed at sea', the radif is 'at sea', and the changing rhyme before it (lost, crossed, tossed) is the qafiya. In the opening couplet, called the matla, both lines end with the radif; in every couplet after that, only the second line does.
The radif gives a ghazal its heartbeat. Because each couplet must land on the same words, the poem keeps returning to one fixed point while everything around that point shifts. A good poet makes the repetition feel inevitable in one couplet and startling in the next. When an audience at a mushaira finishes the radif aloud with the poet, the device is doing exactly what it was built to do.
How Radif Works
Think of the radif as a destination and the qafiya as the road, rebuilt each time you travel it. Here is an invented opening couplet in English so you can see both parts in place:
I taught my shadow how to wait for you, at last; / the door has learned the shape of late for you, at last.
The radif is 'for you, at last'. The qafiya is the rhyming pair 'wait' and 'late'. Every later couplet in this ghazal would end its second line with a new qafiya word (gate, freight, eight) followed by the same radif, word for word.
Where You Will Meet It
Radif has anchored Persian ghazals since Hafiz and Rumi, and Urdu ghazals since Mir Taqi Mir and Ghalib, whose radifs range from a single syllable to whole clauses. In English, Agha Shahid Ali campaigned for the true ghazal and kept strict radifs in his own poems, including a celebrated one built on the word 'tonight'. He teased American poets, Adrienne Rich among them, for writing 'ghazals' that dropped the radif entirely, arguing that without it the form loses its spine.
Choosing a Radif for Your Own Ghazal
Pick a radif that can change temperature: literal in one couplet, ironic in another, tender in a third. Short radifs are easier to sustain; a phrase of four or five words demands real stamina. Before drafting, list every qafiya rhyme you can find. If you cannot gather at least ten, choose a different sound. Contest judges, including the panel that scores structure and language at Writory's monthly contest, notice immediately when a refrain earns its repetitions rather than merely performing them.
What poets can take from this
- Choose a radif that can shift meaning with context, not one that says the same thing every time.
- List your qafiya rhymes before you draft; a thin rhyme pool will strangle the poem by couplet three.
- Keep the radif short while you are learning; one or two words are far easier to land than a clause.
- Read each couplet on its own; in a true ghazal every couplet should survive outside the poem.
- Never explain the repetition inside the poem; let the returning words do their own work.
Try it yourself
Write a five-couplet ghazal in English with the radif 'in this house'. Fix your qafiya sound before you begin, and make at least one couplet use the radif ironically.
Questions
What is the difference between radif and qafiya?
The radif is the identical word or phrase repeated at the end of each couplet, while the qafiya is the rhyming word that changes just before it. A ghazal can exist without a radif, but never without a qafiya.
Does every ghazal need a radif?
No. A ghazal that uses only qafiya, with no repeated radif, is called ghair-muraddaf and is fully legitimate in the classical tradition. Most famous ghazals do carry a radif, though, because of the music it creates.
Can a radif be a whole phrase?
Yes. Radifs run from one syllable to several words, and Urdu masters loved long ones. The longer the radif, the harder it is to make each return feel fresh, so build up to it gradually.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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