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thirsts after its likeness ... We dimly see within our intellectual nature a

miniatureasitwereofourentireself,yetdeprivedofallthatwecondemnor

despise, the ideal prototype of everything excellent or lovely that we are

capableofconceivingasbelongingtothenatureofman...theportraitofour

external being ... [is] a mirror whose surface reflects only the forms of purity

andbrightness;asoulwithinoursoulthatdescribesacirclearounditsproper

paradise ... the invisible and unattainable point to which Love tends; and to

attainwhich,iturgesforththepowersofmantoarrestthefaintestshadowof

that, without which there is no rest and respite to the heart over which it

rules. Hence in solitude ... we love the flowers, the grass, and the waters, and

thesky.Themotionoftheveryleavesofspring,intheblueair,thereisthen

found a secret correspondence with our heart. There is eloquence in the

tongueless wind, and a melody in the flowing brooks and the rustling of the

reeds beside the soul, awaken the spirits to a dance of breathless rapture ...

likethevoiceofthebelovedsingingtoyoualone.^40

Shelley’sphilosophyofLoveisofcoursestronglyinfluencedbyneo-Platonism,and
isessentiallyanexplanationofthedoctrineofemanationwhichissharedbetween
Sufism and Platonic ideals. Shelley, like Emerson, sought Ideal Beauty and the
UniversalSoul,andmanyofhispoemsreflectandrecordsuchasearch.Thisiscen-
traltopoemssuchasAlastor,PrometheusUnbound,Adonisandthelocusclassicusofhis
poetryofDivineLove,Epipyschidion(andtomanyotherpoemstoo).‘Ialwaysseek’,
hesays,‘inwhatIseethemanifestationofsomethingbeyondthepresentandtan-
gible object’.^41 Shelley’s doctrines have much in common with Sufism, in part
because both have their roots in Greek philosophy. As we have seen, Jones com-
paresḤāfiẓ’spoetrytoSpenser’sneo-PlatonicpoemAn Hymn in Honour of Love;like-
wise,Shelley’sHymn to Intellectual BeautyhasbeencomparedtoSpenser’sHymn:

If Shelley had not read Plato at all, he could have got the quintessence of

Platonism from Spenser’s Hymns [Four Hymns]. An Hymn in Honour of Love

contains many direct references to doctrines of theSymposium: that Eros was

‘begotofPlentieandPenurie,’thatLovetemperstheelementsoftheuniverse,

thatmortals‘multipythelikenessoftheirKynd,’thatman

Breathesamoreimmortalmynd,

Notforlustssake,butforeternitie,

Seekestoenlargehislastingprogenie.^42

InordertocomparefurthertheclosenessofimageryemployedbothbyShelleyand

Ḥāfiẓ, it is useful to look briefly at the image of ‘the veil’ in the two poets. In

Prometheus Unbound, the image of the fallen veil is used in order to reveal ‘pristine

purity’43:

ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry