which each reader is able to supply for each of these indispensable dialogical
components, embedded in the intensely condensed internal dramatic speech of
each line of theghazal. Perhaps the most immediate way for modern, non-expert
readers of Ḥāfiẓ in translation to begin to appreciate all that is potentially going
on within these shortghazals – indeed, often within a single line – is to encounter
some of the extraordinarily dramatic, richly evocative miniature paintings, which
werelaterinspiredbyanddevotedtomirroringandelucidatingtheseuniquepoetic
masterpieces.^3
Theparticulardemandsofthisuniquelypolyvalent,multi-dimensionaldramatic
dialogicalstructureofeachlineoftheghazalontheproperlypreparedandseriously
engaged reader can perhaps best be appreciated by students approaching Ḥāfiẓ’s
ghazalswithlittleornopriorculturalpreparation,byanalogytothesimilardegree
of active intellectual and affective participation (and preparation) required by
Plato’sdramaticdialogues,orbythehexagramsoftheIChing,whichitselfsoclosely
mirrorsthetraditionaldivinatoryritualsandexpectationssurroundingtheDīvānof
Ḥāfiẓ. Perhaps an even closer analogy, for some readers, may be suggested by the
familiar features of complex role-playing computer games; or by recent cinematic
thinkers fascinated with depicting the complex interplay between each human
actor’s outward destiny, character and inner history, fateful decisions, and the
revealingconsequencesofourinnerandoutwardactsoffreewill.^4 Forwithineach
distinctivelymulti-facetedlineofḤāfiẓ,theactivelyengagedreaderisunavoidably
challengedto‘writeout’–andsimultaneouslytoactout,sinceitisourownselfand
innerpersonalhistoryandimaginationthatissopointedlymirroredinourpartic-
ular hypothetical understandings of the possible speakers, audiences and speech-
situations at issue – several plausible, but necessarily contrasting, mini-dramas,
alongwiththefurtherconsiderationoftheireventualoutcomes.
Next, in the following line or two, Ḥāfiẓ typically moves on to evoke a radically
differentperspective(bothmetaphysicalandpractical)that–justaswiththeinter-
playofdifferentcharactersandpersonalitiesinPlato’sdialoguesorothergreatdra-
mas–immediatelytendstocastaverydifferentlightontheissuesandalternatives
raised by the immediately preceding lines. Thus each reader’s simultaneous active
innercreationandsubsequentreflectivere-considerationofeachofthesealternat-
ingmini-dramas–onlyfurtherenrichedbytheirinteractionswiththefurtherdra-
mas and perspectives of each succeeding line – precisely mirrors the familiar
existential processes by which participants in therapy gradually become more
awareof–andeventuallyresponsibleforandrelativelydetachedfrom–thelargely
unconscious, non-reflective, and painfully one-dimensional dramas and dilemmas
that originally brought them into the therapeutic quest. This is also why, just as
with the study of Plato and other great dramatists, teachers quickly discover that
the best practical initiation into these typically individualized and unavoidably
interactivepsychospiritualcomplexitiesofḤāfiẓ’spoetryisthroughcarefullyatten-
tivegroupreading and study. For such shared discussion quickly reveals and high-
lights the dramatic alternative perspectives and resulting dialogues (together with
Ḥāfiẓ’sRomanticImageryandLanguageofLove 233