Sher: The Single Couplet That Anchors a Ghazal
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Within a ghazal, each individual two line unit is called a शेर (sher), a self contained couplet capable of standing entirely on its own, even when read apart from the rest of the poem it belongs to. This independence is a defining feature of the form: a listener can appreciate a single sher fully without needing the surrounding couplets for context.
Which is part of why individual shers are so often quoted and remembered separately. Learners studying ghazals should approach each sher as its own small poem first, before considering how it relates to the radif and rhyme scheme that ties the wider ghazal together as a whole.
A useful exercise is reading a handful of shers from different ghazals without their surrounding poems, appreciating each purely as its own small, complete verse. This kind of focused, isolated reading builds real comfort with the couplet form before attempting to follow a longer ghazal's fuller structure.