Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

The Book ofTheJoyofLove

Notwithstandingappearances,oneofthemajorthemesofthepoemisthestatusof
poetryintheprocessofremembrance.Aswehavealreadyhinted,asisusuallythe
caseinghazalpoetry,theevocationofbeautyisessentiallyvisual.Beauty’s‘ray’and
love’s‘fire’cannotbydefinitionbedirectlygraspedbyreasonorexpressedinadis-
courseconstructedaccordingtotherulesoflogic.Anysuchattemptisdoomedto
bedeconstructedbythepowerfulforceofemotion.Inmattersoflove,notonlyare
reasonandlogicnotteachers,butas‘Aṭṭārsays,^66 followingthemleadstochaos.In
ordertocontaintheemotionaltumultevokedbythisexperienceandreflectthe
radianceofepiphany,anotherlanguagemustbefound.Ifthepurposeoftheghazal
istoreflectandrecreatethetumultraisedbytheexperienceoflove,^67 itisbutnat-
uralthatitsexpressionshouldbehighlyvisualbecausethesourceoftheemotionof
loveis,fromthebeginning,adazzlingvision.Itisthennotsurprisingthatoneof
theunderlyingprinciplesofanylyricpoetryisthevisualizationofreality,however
abstract.AccordingtoFrye:

Allpoeticimageryseemstobefoundedonmetaphor,butinthelyric,where

theassociativeprocessisstrongestandtheready-madedescriptivephrasesof

ordinaryprosefurthestaway,theunexpectedorviolentmetaphorthatis

calledcatachresishaspeculiarimportance.Muchmorefrequentlythanany

othergenredoesthelyricdependforitsmaineffectonthefreshorsurpris-

ingimage,afactwhichoftengivesrisetotheillusionthatsuchimageryis

radicallyneworunconventional.^68

TheimportanceofcatachresisintheghazalsofḤāfiẓingeneral,andinthisghazalin
particular,seemstoberelatedtotheviolenceoftheexperienceoflove.Actually,it
isnotjustawayofputtingthings:thecatachresisisheresupposedtoproducea
visionandarouseacommotionthatshouldprovideaglimpseofwhatreallyhap-
penedonthedayofalastand,thus,toliberatethememoryofthesoul.Andyet,for
allthevividnessoftheimage,italwaysremainsbutanallusion.^69 Eachdetailof
beautycontributestoliftaveil,but,atthesametime,theveilisneverreallylifted
becausethesecretitconcealsmustnotbetoldexceptbyallusion.^70 Images,visions
andthewordsthatrelatethemareusedherewithaspecificsenseasinnerimages
mirroredinthepoem,intheheart,inthesoul.Theyareimaginalrepresentations
ofarealitywhichcanonlybeconfiguredwithintheformandmusicoflanguage.
Thisiswhythestatusofpoetryissoparadoxical:itrevealsandconceals,showsand
hidesatthesametime:

Thisworldandthenextonetoo,areboth

AsingleblazeoflightfromhisFace.

I’vetoldyoubothwhat’smanifestandwhatishid.^71

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