Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Foreword:ḤāfiẓofShīrāz xi

firstlineofaShakespearesonnet.Itisunlikelythathewouldreplywiththerestof

the poem. The last three of these episodes speak of the universal feeling for and

acquaintancewiththeworksofḤāfiẓthroughoutIranandalllevelsofitspeople.

ThusitisthatḤāfiẓisalivingentityinIrantoday.Afactwhichbringsustothe

useofhistextforbibliomancy:takingafāl,omen,fromtheverseswheretheDīvān

fallsopen;sortesHafizianae.Butsoallembracingarehisverses,andonsomanylev-

elscantheyberead,thatofcoursetheaugurytobederivedfromthemisgenerally

whattheseekerexpectsorwants.Suchisapttobethecasewithscripturalwritings

ingeneral;itistoberecalledthattheworksofḤāfiẓ,orhehimself,havebeenknown

since his own time as theLisān al-ghayb, ‘The Tongue of the Unseen’.^4 And here

touched upon is one of the most discussed aspects of Ḥāfiẓ’s compositions and a

majorprobleminattemptstotranslatethemintoanotherlanguage:thesubtleambi-

guities,themarvellouswordplay,theseverallevelsonwhichhecanbeinterpreted.

Samuel Johnson said that while science books might be translated exactly, in

translatinghistorybooksprecisionispossibleexceptwhereoratoricalpassagesare

concerned,becausetheyare‘poetical’.Hegoesontosaythatpoetrycannotbetrans-

lated,aconsequenceofwhichisthatpoets‘preservelanguages;forwewouldnotbe

atthetroubletolearnalanguage,ifwecouldhaveallthatiswritteninitjustaswell

inatranslation.Butasthebeautiesofpoetrycannotbepreservedinanylanguage

except that in which it was originally written, we learn the language.’^5 But in

Johnson’stimeanothergenrewascultivated,bypoetssuchasDrydenandPopeand

himself: poets did not translate but composed what were known as ‘imitations’.

EdwardFitzgerald,who,incidentally,wasaloverofDryden’spoetry,didnotsetout

totranslatethequatrainsofOmarKhayyam.Inaletterheremarks‘GodForbid’that

heshouldbethoughttobetranslating.Hewas,infact,workinginthenowalmost

forgottentraditionoftheImitation.^6 Sincehewaspossessedofthegeniusofapoet,

hisimitationisoneofthemostsuccessfulpoemsintheEnglishlanguage,butitisnot

intendedtobeatranslation.OfitFitzgeraldusedthecoinage‘transmogrification’.

Ifthetranslatorisnotapoetbutisanxioustoconveyinhisownlanguagewhatthe

poetsaidinhis,thenproseisthebestchoice.Sometimes,asintheinstanceofthe

AuthorizedVersionofthePsalms,theprosetranslationtakesonaspeciallyexalted

qualityfromthepoweroftheoriginal.GertrudeBell’sverserenderingsofḤāfiẓarea

pleasuretoread,andSirWilliamJones’APersianSongamusedByron.Itgoes:

Sweetmaid,ifthouwouldstcharmmysight

Andbidthesearmsthyneckinfold;

Thatrosycheek,thatlilyhand

Wouldgivethypoetmoredelight

ThanallBocara’svauntedgold,

ThanallthegemsofSamarcand.^7

Byron’scoarseparodyofitwasnotpublishedinhiscompletepoeticalworksuntil

1980.DrLoloidescribesitas‘awittyexerciseinburlesquewhichmeritsdetailed

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