Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Vineforvinebeantidote,

Andthegraperequitethelote!

Hastetocuretheolddespair,–

ReasoninNature’slotusdrenched,

Thememoryofagesquenched;

Givethemagaintoshine;

Letwinerepairwhatthisundid;

Andwhereinfectionslid,

Adazzlingmemoryrevive;

Refreshthefadedtints,

Recuttheagedprints,

Andwritemyoldadventureswiththepen

Whichonthefirstdaydrew,

Uponthetabletsblue,

ThedancingPleaidesandeternalman.^53

Emerson is obviously aware of the mystical symbolism of ‘wine’, though we have
theGreekgodofwinereplacingḤāfiẓ’sSāqī.Herethewinedoesnotgrowonatree,
but is a ‘true’ wine ‘[w]hose ample leaves and tendrils curled / Among the silver
hillsofheaven’,and,likethewineofḤāfiẓ,itrefreshesandrejuvenatesthespirit–
it is a ‘Universal Wine’. In this poem, as in many of his other poems, Emerson also
succeeds in incorporating his theory of Nature – essentially that of the Romantics
onbothsidesoftheAtlantic.^54
Ḥāfiẓ’s popularity did not diminish later on in the nineteenth century. His
influencecanbeseeninTennyson’spoetrymostforcefully.Tennyson,whotriedto
learn Persian in order to read Ḥāfiẓ, had two very well-known teachers – Edward
Fitzgerald and Professor E.B. Cowell. The three were firm friends, and I have else-
whereestablishedtheliteraryrelationsbetweenthem.^55 Unfortunatelythelimitsof
thischapterwillnotallowanyextensivediscussionofḤāfiẓ’sinfluenceonthemost
notable poet of the Victorian era, but some aspects of the way in which Ḥāfiẓ is
reflectedinhispoetrymustbediscussedbriefly.Fromanearlyage,Tennysonwas
interestedinEasternmysticism.HallamTennysonwrites:

ThephilosophersoftheEasthadagreatfascinationformyfather,andhefelt

thattheWesternreligionmightlearnfromthemmuchofspirituality.Hewas

sure too that Western civilization had even in his time developed Eastern

thoughtandmorality...^56

It was, once again, through Sir William Jones’ works that Tennyson first became
familiar with Ḥāfiẓ, and he learned some Persian under the tutelage of Fitzgerald.
TennysonwasalmostcertainlyawareofTholuck’sSsufismus,sivetheosophiapersarum
pantheistica(Berlin 1821), and more than likely read it as well, since Fitzgerald had
acquiredacopywhenpreparingtotranslateJāmī’sSalamanandAbsal.Tennysonwas

Ḥāfiẓ’s Romantic Imagery and Language of Love 289