Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

seriesofpersistentgeometricdesigns.Thearabesquepatternbehindtheimageryof

thepoetryseemstoemanatefromthesameobsessionwithgeometricsymbols.This

isanobsessionthatcanberelatedtotheconstantlongingonthepartofIranians–

andindeedotherMiddleEasterners,ifnotallhumanbeings–fororderinplaceof

chaos;inthecaseoftheIranians,forthetrimpathways,canalsandflowerbedsof

gardens in place of the harshness, emptiness and tumbled rocks of the deserts

beyondthegardenwalls.

Recognitionofarabesquethematicpatternsinpoetryisofcoursegermanetothe

problems facing those who would endeavour to reconstruct the texts of Persian

poetry of former times, correcting the inadvertences of omission or inclusion of

false verses, and other errors attributable to the scribes who have copied the

poemsthroughthecenturies.Theorderandgenuinenessofversesmightbemore

easily established if attention is paid to the thematic recurrence of associated

imagessuchasJohnHeath-Stubbsnoticedandothercolleagueshavesubsequently

studiedindetail.

ButImustventurenofurtherintotheintricaciesoftextualcriticism.Instead,I

would just like to conclude with a plea that it should be remembered that Sir

William Jones was at least right in calling his version of a famous Ḥāfiẓ poemA

Persian Song.We must not, in dissecting and analysing the poetry of Ḥāfiẓ, forget

that,whateverelsehewas,hewasasinger.Inhisroleasapoethebelongedtothe

classofminstrels:tousethatwordwhichissodifficulttotranslate,rind,inhisguise

asapoet,Ḥāfiẓwasofthetypeofroguesorscallywags.Wearegratefultohim,and

tothetroubadours,foritisthroughthepowerofsong,ofmusic,thatgreatlibera-

torofthesoulfromthebody,thattheypreservedgraceinaneverdarkeningworld;

grace,andasenseofhumour,withfifesanddrums.

Cambridge,July

Notes

(^1) MargaretSmith,Al-Ghazālī:TheMystic,p.109.
(^2) SeeA.J.Arberry’sadmirableFiftyPoemsofHāfiz,PoemXLVIII,butalsoDīvān-iḤāfiẓ,ed.Khānlarī,II,p.
1057,PoemIV,wherehegivesadifferentreadinginaquintuplet,mukhammas.
(^3) Paris1873,pp.66–70.
(^4) It has been argued that the titleLisān al-ghayballudes not to Ḥāfiẓ in person, but to his words.
However this may be, it is interesting that the historian Khwāndamīr also accords Ḥāfiẓ the title
Tarjumānal-asrār(‘TheInterpreteroftheSecrets’)inhisHabībal-siyar,IV,pp.314–15.
(^5) Boswell,TheLifeofSamuelJohnson,pp.36–7.
(^6) Drydenhasthecomment,‘Mr.Cowley’sPraiseofaCountryLifeisexcellent,butisratheranimita-
tionofVergilthanaversion.’InW.P.Ker(ed.),EssaysofJohnDryden,II,p.244.Itwillbenotedthat
hereDrydendrawsadistinctionbetween‘imitation’and‘version’or‘translation’.
(^7) AGrammarofthePersianLanguage,p.168.
(^8) Hāfiz,MasterofPersianPoetry:ACriticalBibliography–EnglishTranslationsSincetheEighteenthCentury,
pp.60–4.
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