The Poetry of Hafiz

THE POETRY OF HAFIZ

‘Not all poets were men of God-realisation, however talented they were. Not all God-realized ones were poets, however high they were held in esteem and love. It was given to some of them to be God-realized and yet to have Nature’s gift to express their thoughts and experiences in poetry. Hafiz was one of them. Throughout the running thoughts of many of his compositions there is an underlying meaning which reveals his experiences belonging to specific states and stages of spirituality, the path of involution of consciousness from that of man to God. This he has done in the choicest of words, similes and metaphors in the everyday language of the time. He is looked on as the best poet of Iran to have balanced the most abstract with the most dense. Although Hafiz had his mind always soaring the heights of divinity, he was careful to have his feet well set on the surface of the world and its affairs.’ Adi K. Irani

While considering Hafiz the poet, one should never forget at all times Hafiz the man, and Hafiz the Perfect Master. One should remember Hafiz as a man: his weaknesses, his desires, his strengths, and his life as a husband and a father and his love for Nabat, his ‘Branch of Sugarcane;’ his various occupations as an assistant in a bakery, calligrapher and lecturer in Koranic studies and his work as a teacher; his friendship with the people of his time, be they beggars or kings, wise or foolish; his fame and his fortune and misfortune all have an influence on his poetry that should not be forgotten.

The same can be said to an even greater degree about his spirituality. One should always remember his love for, and dedication to his Master, Attar; and that from about the time Hafiz first began to write he was on the Path to God, which for the next forty years he traversed.

For the last ten years of his life he was a God-realized being, who was conscious of both God and mankind, of the Reality and the illusion, and for the last years of his life he was experiencing the Bliss, Knowledge and Power of God within himself; and at the same time the sufferings and happiness of others. All of this formed the basis of his poetry, and its influence cannot be overestimated.

The range of subjects covered by Hafiz in his ghazals and other poems includes human and Divine love, Fate and fortune, the beauty of the Creation and its existence as an illusion. Also included are the subjects of youth and old age, hypocrisy and sincerity, war and peace, hope and hopelessness, greed and generosity, fear and bravery, God-intoxication and ordinary drunkenness, envy and jealousy, friendship and faith, the law of man and God’s law, the worthlessness of material power and wealth, the power of God and the Perfect Masters and the Godman, the desperation caused by separation from the Beloved and the bliss of Union. He writes of the beauty and fragility of all life, the grief of losing loved ones; the need to make the most of every opportunity; the worthlessness of the intellect for discovering Truth and the worth of the heart; the wisdom of being able to laugh at oneself and to be honest with oneself and all others; the need to be serious about loving God; praise of God in all His aspects, as the Perfect Master and also His invisible aspect; the value of silence, prayer, wakefulness and constantly remembering the Beloved the traps of the externalities of formal religions, the unity of the essence of all religions; and many more subjects too numerous to mention.

Through the poetry of Hafiz marches many of history’s famous and infamous personalities. Some are dictators at whom Hafiz laughs for being so stupid as to believe in material power. And there are the Perfect Masters and the Godman and the saints who are praised by Hafiz for their wisdom, love and miraculous abilities. There are also the fools and the dreamers and the kings and the poets and the painters, soldiers, craftsmen, singers, thieves and magicians, the mad and the God-mad, the hypocrites and the sincere lovers of God.

Often he criticised the false Sufis who wore rags to draw attention to themselves, and those who wore fine blue robes and paraded their holiness in the market place. He also criticised and threw in their faces, the ravings of the hypocritical clergy in their pulpits, and the power hungry fanaticism of the false masters, the judges, police, cruel kings and their devious off-siders. He also recognised the worth of honest men in positions of power and wrote poems to them (and has been criticised by some people because of this). Very few poets of Persia (or the whole world) have equalled Hafiz in his revolt against the deceit and hypocrisy of people on all levels of society, wherever he saw it.

The sincerity of Hafiz, whether he is writing about love and wine, or hypocrisy and deceit, exists in every line that he ever wrote, and is one of the many reasons why his poetry was loved by so many people during the time that he lived, and has been loved ever since. It is obvious that each poem comes straight from the heart and each poem subtly divulges the deepest feelings and thoughts that he experienced.

In the poetry of Hafiz a new language was created, rich and colourful, simple and exact, beautiful and sparkling, fiery and profound. It seems as though all the great poetry of Persia and the rest of the world that preceded him, had culminated in his poetry; and he added to it an individuality that was sweet, sure, fluid and graceful, making it timeless enough to be still modern. If God had taken form as a Poet, it seems He would have been happy to have written as Hafiz wrote.

Not only did Hafiz have the great gift of being able to weave words together in a completely original way and express his ideas profoundly, but he also invented words and techniques which became a part of the common language and poetry of Persia. And in all this great tapestry of words and rhymes, of symbols and technical dexterity, the meaning or content which Hafiz wanted to convey always came through loud and clear, for he never allowed any form or word or technique to hinder the expression of the content; in fact, he used his great skills in all these areas to give clarity, beauty and power to the meaning which he wanted the reader to experience.

‘The work of Hafiz, from beginning to end, is one series of beautiful pictures, ever revealing and most inspiring. Once a person has studied Hafiz he has reached the top of the mountain, from whence he beholds the sublimity of the immanence of God.’ Inayat Khan.

THE GHAZAL

The form of poetry which Hafiz nearly always used and which he loved more than any other was the ghazal (pronounced ‘guz’el’). Hafiz perfected this form and revolutionized it to such an extent that it is said that most ghazals written in Persia afterwards were either poor copies or became so involved in the form that they lost meaning and originality. There is really no equivalent to the ghazal in English poetry, although as Masud Farzaad, the great Iranian authority on Hafiz says, the sonnet is probably the closest. As a matter of fact, the ghazal is a unique form and its origin has been argued about for many centuries.

Some say that the ghazal originated in songs that were composed in Persia to be sung at court before Persia was converted to Islam, but not one song has survived to prove this. It is also possible that originally the ghazals were songs of love that were sung by minstrels in the early days of Persian history and that this form passed into poetry down the ages. I find this explanation plausible for the following reasons: firstly, the word ghazal means ‘a conversation between lovers.’ Secondly, the ghazals of Hafiz, Sadi and others were often put to music and became songs, which have been popular in Persia from ancient times until now.

Whatever the origin, by the fourteenth century the ghazal had become a mature form of poetry. Among the great ghazal writers of the past were Nizami, Farid ad-Din Attar, Rumi, and Sadi; but with the ghazals of Hafiz this form reached its summit.

The form of the ghazal at first glance seems simple, but on a deeper inspection it will be found that there is more to it than one at first sees. It is usually between five and fifteen couplets (‘beyts’ or ‘houses’), but sometimes more. A ‘beyt’ is ‘a line of verse split into two equal parts scanning exactly alike.’ Each couplet has a fixed rhyme which appears at the end of the second line. In the first couplet which is called the ‘matla’ meaning ‘orient’ or ‘rising,’ the rhyme appears at the end of BOTH lines. This first couplet has the function of ‘setting the stage’ or stating the subject matter and feeling of the poem. It reminds me of the ‘Image’ in the ‘I Ching.’ The other couplets or beyts have other names depending on their positions and often remind me of the ‘changing lines’ in the hexagrams of the ‘I Ching.’ One could say that the opening couplet is the subject, the following couplets the actions: changing, viewed from different angles, progressing from one point to another, larger and deeper, until the objective of the poem is reached in the last couplet. The final couplet is known as the ‘maqta’ or ‘point of section.’ One could compare this to the ‘Judgement’ in the ‘I Ching.’ This couplet almost always contains the ‘takhallus’ or pen name of the poet, signifying that it was written by him and also allowing him the chance to detach himself from himself and comment on what effect the actions of the subject matter in the preceding couplets had on him. Often the poet uses a play on words when he uses his own pen name: (‘Hafiz’ or example means: a preserver, a guardian, rememberer, watchman, one who knows the Koran by heart).

In the ghazal, Hafiz found the ideal instrument to express the great tension between the opposites that exist in this world. Having the strict rhyming structure of the same rhyme at the end of the second line of each couplet (after the first couplet) the mind must continually come back to the world and the poem and the rhyme. But by being allowed to use any word at the end of the first line of each couplet, one can be as spontaneous as possible and give the heart its full rein. This of course happens also in the first line of the first couplet, for whatever word (or rhyme sound) that comes out in the first line sets the rhyme for the rest of the ghazal. So the ‘feeling’ created by the rhyme is one that comes spontaneously from the heart, and this spontaneity is allowed to be expanded from then on in the non-rhyming lines, and to contract in those lines that rhyme, when the mind must function as an ‘orderer’ of the poem. This expansion and contraction, feeling and thinking, heart and mind, combine to produce great tension and power that spirals inward and outward and creates an atmosphere that I would define as ‘deep nostalgia.’ This deep nostalgia is a primal moving force that flows through all life, art and song, and produces within whoever comes into contact with it when it is consciously expressed, an irresistible yearning to unite the opposites that it contains. So, the subject matter of Hafiz’s ghazals is the movement of the opposites towards unity: grief and bliss, lover and Beloved, fear and bravery, desire and patience, separation and union, madness and sanity, youth and old age, drunkenness and sobriety, life and death, slave and king, the outcast true lover of God and the hypocritical laws of the Church, friendship and loneliness, rose and nightingale, the church and the winehouse, the world that is passing and God Who never dies, the Perfect Master of Knowledge and the ignorant disciple, and so on in every ghazal.

Hafiz, however, not only points out and explains these opposites, but also shows the invisible connection between the two; and this connection is there in all of his poetry, in every line and couplet; and this connection is connected to a point of Unity which flows through all the opposites and makes one yearn even more to be united with that Unity.

This optimism in Hafiz’s poetry can only be the result of one who has loved, and it is this love which is the unifying thread running through all his poems (even the ones criticising the hypocrites, who Hafiz feels for because they are the furthest from this Unity). This takes us along with him, for we ourselves recognise in his feelings, feelings that we have also experienced; and the same ‘deep nostalgia’ which he expresses is an expression of an area existing in everyone’s soul, for it is the soul itself which is longing to be united with Itself, and the humour of this predicament has an irony which is not missed by Hafiz, and which is there in his poems all the time. Like a screwdriver, Hafiz screws his ghazals into the mind and the heart, and not content with that he goes further, he aims for the soul: the essence of everyone and everything. It is no wonder that people say: ‘Read Hafiz and go mad,’ for Hafiz creates in the reader such a longing to be drunk with the wine of Unity, that one becomes mad for God; and like Hafiz, will not be content until this Union takes place.

A fine example of Hafiz’s ghazals is the one that always appears at the beginning of his Divan and it is said that within this poem is the whole of his Divan.

Hey, here Winebringer, circulate, offer the cup this way;
for love at first seemed easy, now problems come to stay.

Finally breeze sent musk pod’s scent from that forehead:
its twist of musky hair makes blood clot our hearts today.

Can wayfarers stay happy and secure in Beloved’s house,
when suddenly the bell clangs to: ‘Lift your load! Away.’

With wine dye your prayer-mat if the Master commands;
this experienced traveller has understanding of the way.

The dark night and terrifying wave and fierce whirlpool:
do those light of burden on shore know where we stay?

By acting upon my own desires I ruined my reputation:
can the secret stay that way when crowds tell it all day?

Hafiz, if you desire the Divine Presence, do not be absent:
when you visit your Beloved: ‘Farewell’ to the world say.

An example of a ghazal with the radif or refrain (‘is pleasant’) at the end of the rhyme-word is the following.

The garden’s courtyard gives joy and friends’ company is pleasant;
rose’s time is pleasant, so drinkers of wine’s festivity is pleasant.

By morning breeze our soul is pleasantly perfumed each moment;
yes, perfume of the spirit having true desire, truthfully is pleasant.

See, the rose with the veil not lifted, gets ready for the departure:
Nightingale, moan, for heartsick lovers’ sorrowful plea is pleasant.

To the bird that sings at night comes good news that to the Friend,
to be in Love’s path, awake nightly, crying constantly is pleasant.

From tongue of the free lily to my ear came these special words:
‘In closed world of ours, a work of those burden-free, is pleasant.’

There is no contentment for the heart in the market of the world;
if there is, the way of drunkenness and of vagrancy is pleasant.

Hafiz, path of a contented heart is in renouncement of the world,
if you don’t keep thinking a world-possessor’s security is pleasant.

THE RUBA’I

The ruba’i is a form already known in the West because of the Ruba’iyat of Omar Khayyam that incidentally contains many ruba’is of Hafiz and Attar and other Persian poets, including Omar Khayyam, for it was an anthology of poems down the ages named after Omar. Persians consider the ruba’iyat (collection of ruba’i) of Omar to be greatly inferior to Hafiz and others such as Hafiz, Abu Said, Rumi, Sadi and Nizami.

The ruba’i is a poem of four lines in which usually the first, second and fourth lines rhyme (occasionally all lines rhyme) and sometimes like the ghazal has a radif or refrain after the rhyme words. Each ruba’i is a separate poem in itself and should not be regarded as a part of a long poem as was created by FitzGerald when he translated those he attributed to Omar Khayyam. Here are two examples of ruba’i by Hafiz. The second contains a radif or refrain (‘but grief’).

It was Your Almighty Infinite Power that created me;
I’ve been nourished by Your Love and help, given free:
if I am put on trial for a hundred years and still I sin,
which will be the greater, my sin or Your great Mercy?

I have had nothing from the life I have had, but grief:
I have had nothing from love, good and bad, but grief:
I’ve never for a moment had a sympathetic companion;
I have no one ... no consoler when I am sad ... but grief.

THE MASNAVI

The masnavi is the form in Persian poetry used compose epic ballads or romances or long poems that tell stories. Each couplet has a different rhyme with both lines rhyming with the same rhyme at the end of each line. This is to allow the poet greater freedom to go into a longer description of the subject he has chosen to present. All of the longer narrative poems of Persia were composed in this form that is a Persian invention and is not known in classical Arabic poetry. The most famous poems written in this form are Firdowsi’s Shahnama (Kings book) of over 60,000 couplets, Nizami’s five books including Layla & Majnun and The Secret of the Mysteries and Rumi’s Masnavi of 33,000 couplets. In the Book of the Winebringer Hafiz also uses what appears to be a device that he invented in relation to this form. At the beginning of many couplets he uses the refrain ‘Winebringer, come’ or the word ‘give’, and produces a kind of chant. Many scholars have hailed Hafiz’s The Wild Deer as his masterpiece masnavi, but the same can be said of his Book of the Winebringer and Book of the Minstrel. Here are the five opening couplets from The Wild Deer.

Hello, O wild deer of the desert, where are you?
Receiving the most of my love and care, are you.

Two lone travellers, perplexed, a friendless pair;
wild beasts, whispered curses lurk here and there.

Come, so of each other’s condition we can inquire;
if we can, we will seek what both of us desire.

For I can see that in this desert is only confusion,
having no oasis of joy, no happy green profusion.

Companions, who will be the companions to loners?
Explain, who will be the friend of the strangers?

DIVAN OF HAFIZ. English Version by Paul Smith. New Humanity Books 1986.

HAFIZ: Tongue of the Hidden. Ghazals from the Divan. Versions by Paul Smith. New Humanity Books. 1988, 1990.

LOVE’S PERFECT GIFT: Rubaiyat of Hafiz. Versions of Paul Smith. New Humanity Books. 1988, 1990.

BOOK OF THE WINEBRINGER: Masnavi of Hafiz. Versions by Paul Smith. New Humanity Books. 1988, 1990.

click here to return to top of page ...

Home