Sher - Definition and Overview

A sher is a couplet in Urdu, it is form of poetry. Sher is also sometimes referred as Ashaar. Though this definition is deceptively simple but essentially it is the definition, because a sher is not bound by any rules. The only rule is that every sher has to be a poem in itself in the sense that it does not need anything around it to convey the message; it conveys a complete thought. A ghazal is necessarily a collection of couplets, sher. The following is an example of Sher, the poet here is Mirza Ghalib: nahii.n ki mujhako qayaamat kaa etiqaad nahii.n

shab-e-firaaq se roz-e-jazaa ziyaad nahii.n It is not that I do not have faith in the day of judgement

But the night of speration is not less than the day of judgement. What the poet is trying to say is that, he trusts that the day of judgement would be very painful as it has been described in Quran and Hadith, however this night of seperation from my beloved is not less painful than the day of judgement.