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glanceatNaturethanbelongstoanyoftheseotherpoets.’^49 Inoneofhisjournals,

EmersonwritesthatḤāfiẓis

characterised by a perfect intellectual emancipation which he also provokes

in the reader; Nothing stops him. He makes the daregod & daredevil experi-

ment.Heisnottobescaredbyaname,orareligion.Hefearsnothing.Hesees

toofar;hesees...throughout;suchistheonlymanIwishtoseeandtobe.^50

Ḥāfiẓ, it appears, is his touchstone; his is that poetry which is most capable of
‘inoculating the reader with poetic madness’.^51 It was this ‘poetic madness’ which
stimulated Emerson to the translation of Ḥāfiẓ and to the employment of the
Persianpoet’sallegoricalimageryinhisownpoetry.Emerson’sfirstfulltranslation
ofapoemofḤāfiẓwastheSāqī-nāma.Intheprocessoftranslating,hebecamefasci-
natedwiththeimageryofwineandtheSāqī(Wine-bearer),whichintheSufitradi-
tion are respectively symbols for ecstatic spiritual intoxication and for the
Primordial Cup-bearer or spiritual master. These images and their implications
werelaterreflectedintwopoems,bothcalled‘Bacchus’.Oneiscomplete,theother
fragmentary. In both, the influence of Ḥāfiẓ’s poem is obvious. Yohannan has
offered an elucidation of the fragmentary ‘Bacchus’.^52 Here the complete ‘Bacchus’
isdiscussedbriefly(thoughquotedinabridgedform):

Bringmewine,butwinewhichnevergrew

Inthebellyofthegrape,

Orgrewonvinewhosetap-roots,reachingthrough

UndertheAndestotheCape,

Suffernosaveroftheearthtoscape.[...]

Webuyashesforbread;

Webuydilutedwine;

Givemeofthetrue,–

Whoseampleleavesandtendrilscurled

Amongthesilverhillsofheaven

Draweverlastingdew;

Bloodoftheworld,

Formofforms,andmouldofstatures,

ThatIintoxicated,

Andbythedraughtassimilated,

Mayfloatatpleasurethroughallnatures;

Thebird-languagerightlyspell,

Andthatwhichrosessaysowell.[...]

Pour,Bacchus!Therememberingwine;

Retrievethelossofmeandmine!

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry