Word Meaning
शेर
sher
Meaning
A couplet; a two-line verse in Urdu or Persian poetry.
Detailed Meaning
In classical Urdu prosody, a 'sher' is an autonomous two-line verse composed of two balanced hemistichs (misras) adhering to a uniform meter. In this couplet, the poet refers self-deprecatingly to his own poetic verses, lamenting that his sophisticated artistic craft has been reduced to mere idle amusement for an unappreciative audience. It encapsulates the poet's disillusionment with the societal recognition of genuine poetic intellect.
Etymology
Arabic origin from 'shi'r' (شعر), derived from the triconsonantal root sh-'-r (ش-ع-ر), meaning to perceive, sense, or know.
Usage
In a classical Urdu ghazal, each sher is conceptually autonomous, possessing its own independent meaning, mood, and rhetorical structure.
Examples
A profound couplet recited to a silent assembly
Each couplet of the ghazal carried a distinct emotional world