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desire,thepathandprocedurethatwilljoinustothebeloved.^41 Thisthenisthe
sacredvalueofthedawn,themomentofdivinegrace,inresponsetosupplication
andthesufferingofthenightofseparationandliminality.Thepoetisrejoinedto
hiswakingsocietyandtotheworldasitis,nothavingbetteredthingsmuch,but
havingbeenconsoledbyGodforthesufferingshehasendured.Ghazal189,inone
verse(5),tellsuswhatweshoulddoaboutthisdiscovery:

Sirishk-igūsha-gīrānrāchudaryāband,durryāband

rukh-imihrazsaḥar-khīzānnagardānandagardānand

Thetearsofthosewhoretreattosolitude:

When[you]^42 findthose,you’llfindpearls

ifyouknowanything,youwon’tturnthesunnyfaceofaffection

fromthosewhoriseatdawn

Notes

(^1) AugustvonPlaten,from‘Ghaselen,X’,asquotedinel-Shabrawy,‘GermanGhazals:AnExperimentin
CrossCulturalLiterarySynthesis’,p.62.
(^2) PaulValéry,Cahiers,II:1261,asquotedinFranklin,TheRhetoricofValéry’sProseAubades,p.3.
(^3) Theideaforthisessaycamefrommystudentdays,inclassesItookwithProfessorsHeshmat
MoayyadandJaroslavStetkevych.IamgratefultoProfessorsLeonardLewisohnandJamesMorrisfor
organizing,withtheIranHeritageFoundation,theconferenceon‘ḤāfiẓandtheSchoolofLovein
ClassicalPersianPoetry’atExeterUniversityinthespringof2007,whichprovidedtheopportunity
tofleshouttheseideasmorefully.
(^4) SeeHeinen,‘ThwartedExpectations:MedievalandModernViewsofGenreinGermany’,pp.334–46.
OnthequestionoftheAlbagenre,aswellasothergenresofthisandsomewhatlaterperiods,see
Dronke,TheMedievalLyric,esp.,fortheAlba,pp.167–85.
(^5) Woledge,‘OldProvençalandOldFrench’,pp.343and346–8fortheperformancecontext.
(^6) Atopical,oftenpolitical,poemwithprecisecontemporaryreferences,perhapsmostakininthePersian
traditiontotheqiṭ‘a.ThemostprosodicallycomplexanddignifiedgenreoftheTroubadoursisproba-
blythecanso,typicallyalovepoem.Thesecirculatedwiththepoets’vida,orwitharazo,similartothe
aṣbābal-nuzūlofQur’anicexegesis,orthecircumstancesofcompositionoftenprovidedinmedieval
Persianliteraryanthologies,orhagiographies(e.g.Shamsal-DīnAflākī’sManāqibal-‘ārifīn,aboutthelife
andpoetryofRūmī).PoemsoftheAlbagenre,becausetheycontaindialogue,areseenbyWoledgeas
dramaticpoems,incontrasttomostProvençallyrics,whicharemonologuesofthepoetspeakingabout
hislove.
(^7) Saintsbury,TheFlourishingofRomanceandtheRiseofChivalry,p.366.
(^8) Jeanroy,LaPoésielyriquedesTroubadours,p.339.
(^9) Kay,‘Alba’inTheOxfordCompaniontoLiteratureinFrench,p.17.
(^10) Woledge,‘OldProvençalandOldFrench’,p.346.
(^11) Ibid.,pp.345–6andp.346,n.7.
(^12) Chambers,‘Alba’,inThePrincetonEncyclopediaofPoetryandPoetics,p.8.
(^13) Hatto,Eos:AnInquiry,pp.76–7.
(^14) AccordingtoHatto,Eos: An Inquiry,p.87,whogivesinstancesoftheAlbatoposinterferingin
EuropeantranslationsoftheBiblicalSongofSongs(Shirha-shirim).Thereisaparticularcruxatverse
ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry