Poetry of Love What is love? How is it articulated? Is love devotion? Is love passion? What are the different forms of love? The object of desire may be human, divine, abstract or ambiguous; its defining trait is its inaccessibility. We will answer some of these questions by turning to the ghazal, a poetic form that has been central to Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish and Urdu traditions since the twelfth century. This course builds on creative and cross-disciplinary knowledge from South Asia and beyond. Knowledge, musicality and performance will be the cornerstones of this aesthetic engagement. We will read some of the best classical Urdu and Persian ghazals in English translation and watch them in performance. We will experience the space between poetry and performance. We may discover ghazals in English. We will explore the different possibilities of interpretation, cultural biases, and worldview that impact ghazal poetry.