136
AswithBeauty’svariegatedmanifestations,poetryisalsobothmanifoldandone,
bothdarkandluminous,anexpressionofnotonlyjoyanddelight,butalsopainand
grief.Bycrossingoutallmeansofworldlydelightandself-fulfilment(148,v.7),the
poetatlastdiscoversthat‘thesourceofalljoyliesinpiningingriefforthebeloved
[gham-i nigār]’,ashesaysinoneverse.^72 Yetthemelancholicgriefoflove(gham)is
bynomeanstheendofthestory.Suchgriefisinfactonlyameanstoattaina
higherformofjoy.ForcomposingthebookortaleofLove’sJoyharboursasecret
thatcannotbedisclosed,aparadoximpossibletograsp,whosevisionisbeyond
articulation,yetwhichisallusivelyencapsulatedinthisversehere.
The‘bookofThe Joy of Love’isbothḤāfiẓ’sghazalandhisDīvān,whichconstantly
mirroreachotherinthesamewayasthecupreflectsthefaceoftheBeloved,who
reflectsthelightofepiphany.Andifpolishedandattentiveenoughtothesecret
musicofḤāfiẓ,everyheartmayreadthatbookandbeholdtheradianceofthat
epiphanyofBeautyinhispoetryhereandnow.
Notes
(^1) On Poetry and Poets,p.57.
(^2) Theword‘monad’ishereusedinthesensedevelopedinLeibniz’sMonadologie:anindependententity,
closed on itself but reflecting in its perfect sphere the whole universe. See Leibniz, La
Monadologie,ed.Boutroux,pp.141–4(n.167),173–7.
(^3) ThisessaywillnotaddressthecontroversialquestionofwhetherḤāfiẓisamysticalpoetornot.The
ghazalthatisanalysedhere,definitelyhavingaspiritualtoneandcontent,willbeanalysedfroma
mysticalperspective.OntheproblematicnatureofḤāfiẓ’spoetry,seetheinterestingremarksofCarl
ErnstinhisShambhala Guide to Sufism,pp.158–66.
(^4) OntheimportanceofthisconceptioninthesymbolicexpressionofSufipoets,seePūrnāmdāriyān,
Ramz va dāstānhā-yi ramzī dar adab-i fārsi,pp.12–14.
(^5) Onthemirrorqualityoflyricpoetry,seeNaṣru’llāhPurjavādī,‘Bāda-yi‘ishq(2):paydāyish-ima‘nā-
yimajāzī-yibadadarshi‘r-ifārsī’,Nashr-i dānish,XII/1(1370/1991),pp.4–18.
(^6) TheopeningverseoftheDīvāntestifiestothiskeytheme:‘Come,Sāqī,passthecuproundandpres-
entit/Forloveseemedsosimpleatfirst,butsomanydifficultieshavearisen!’Thedifficulties
(mushkilhā)hereofcoursearetheunforeseencomplicationsthatawaiteverywandereronthePathof
Love.SeetheilluminatingcommentaryonthisandotherthemesinthisghazalbyPūrnāmdāriyān,
Gumshuda-yi lab-i daryā: ta‘ammulī dar shi‘r-i Ḥāfiẓ,whereawholechapter(4,pp.344–71)isdedicated
tocommentingontheerotictheologyofthisfirstghazal.
(^7) Forabiographyandpresentationofthelife,thought,worksandbasicconceptsofAḥmadGhazāli,see
Lewisohn,‘Sawanih’,inGreenberg(ed.),Encyclopaedia of Love in World Religions,II,pp.535–8;idem.,
‘Al-Ghazali,Ahmad’,inThe Encyclopedia of Philosophy,2ndedn,I,pp.117–18.
(^8) See N. Purjavādī’s introduction to his edition of Ghazālī’sSavāniḥ; also see his ‘Bāda-yi ‘ishq’,
p.16.
(^9) Savāniḥ,p.1.
(^10) Actually,theimportanceofvisionaryexperienceiscommontoalllyricpoetry,asNorthropFrye
states:‘Understandingapoemliterallymeansunderstandingthewholeofit,asapoem,andasit
stands.Suchunderstandingbeginsinacompletesurrenderofthemindandsensestotheimpactof
theworkasawhole,andproceedsthroughtheefforttounitthesymbolstowardasimultaneousper-
ceptionoftheunityofthestructure.’Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays,p.77.
ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry