Matla'

"Matla" redirects here. For other uses, see Matla (disambiguation).

In Persian, Turkic and Urdu poetry, the matla' (from Arabic مطلع maṭlaʿ; Persian: مطلع; Azerbaijani: mətlə; Turkish: matla; Uzbek: matla; Urdu: مطلع) is the first bayt, or couplet, of a ghazal. In this sense, it is the opposite of the maqta'. It is possible, although extremely rare, for there to be more than one matla' in a ghazal; in this case the second is referred to as matla'-e-sani, literally 'the second matla''. It is important part because it establishes the overall form and mood of the entire ghazal.

The defining feature of the matla' is that both verses of the couplet rhyme, or expressed in technical terminology, both verses end with the qafiya and radif of the ghazal. In fact, the purpose of the matla' is to define the qafiya and radif for the rest of the ghazal.