Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی
Author
Associate Member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Despite the simplicity and clarity of most of the verses, the texture of expression in Hafiz’s poetry is based on a complex and generally hidden semantic network, which sometimes the deep and precise meanings hidden in it do not appear at the first glance. For this reason, several verses of his poem collection are exposed to understanding only with repeated reflections and re-readings. Among these verses is this famous one: عشق دُردانه است و من غواص و دریا میکده/ سر فروبردم در آنجا تا کجا سر برکنم “Love is a unique pearl and I am a diver and the sea is a winehouse/ there, my head, I plunged without knowing where I would come out”. The meaning of this verse has been considered clear and straightforward by commentators and connoisseurs, as evidenced by their works. In spite of this general opinion, the author of the present essay, relying on a more detailed reading and reflection on the complex and interwoven semantic network of the parts and words of the verse, tries to present his own inferred meaning of the verse to the readers while criticizing the aforementioned opinion. The genealogy of the poetic interpretations and Sufi concepts of the said verse shows a connection between Hafiz’s mystical school and Ahmad Qazzâli’s thoughts and his book “Sawâneh”.
Highlights
The Unique Pearl of Love (Description of a Verse by Hafez)[1]
Introduction
Despite the simplicity and clarity of most of the verses, the texture of expression in Hafiz’s poetry is based on a complex and generally hidden semantic network, which sometimes the deep and precise meanings hidden in it do not appear at the first glance. For this reason, several verses of his poem collection are exposed to understanding only with repeated reflections and re-readings. Among these verses is this famous one: Ešq dor-dânast o man qavvâs o daryâ maykade/ sar foru bordam dar ânjâ tâ kojâ sar bar konam “Love is a unique pearl and I am a diver and the sea is a winehouse/ there, my head, I plunged without knowing where I would come out”. The meaning of this verse has been considered clear and straightforward by commentators and connoisseurs, as evidenced by their works. In spite of this general opinion, the author of the present essay, relying on a more detailed reading and reflection on the complex and interwoven semantic network of the parts and words of the verse, tries to present his own inferred meaning of the verse to the readers while criticizing the aforementioned opinion. The genealogy of the poetic interpretations and Sufi concepts of the said verse shows a connection between Hafiz’s mystical school and Ahmad Qazzâli’s thoughts and his book “Sawâneh”.
Discussion and Review
The famous verse Ešq dor-dânast o man qavvâs o daryâ maykade/ sar foru bordam dar ânjâ tâ kojâ sar bar konam is apparently one of the verses without problems in Hafez' Divan and researchers of Hafez did not see a special and complicated point in it and it seems that the meaning of this verse was clear to everyone. In this verse, Hafez considered love as a pearl that is hidden in the depths of the sea, and he introduced himself at the beginning of the ghazal as Rend who never leaves beloved one and glass of wine, that is, he never stops seeking love through watching the beloved one and drinking of wine. This time he considered himself as a diver who plunged into the sea to find a hidden pearl. But these similes and references can raise questions for the reader in a deeper view.
One of these questions is about the meaning of “pearl of love”. Why did the poet consider love as a pearl? The second question is about the diver. Hafez mentions another point, which is that he is diving because he has not yet reached the oyster and has not grabbed it. So when he says that “I am a diver”, he means that he is looking for the pearl of love, but he has not yet reached it.
Another question that arises is about the symbol of “Sea”, which Hafez himself explained and said that it refers to the tavern. But this explanation itself raises a problem. Why did Hafez call the tavern a sea? What is the relationship between the tavern and oysters and pearl?
Asking the above thought-provoking questions is because it guides us towards the metaphysical meanings that are preserved in the mystic school of Hafez. The mysticism, the principles of which can be found in the book Savâneh of Ahmad Qazzâli. I have to admit that I raised these questions considering the discussions that Ahmad Qazzâli made and the references he made to “pearl of Love” and “oyster” and "Sea" and "Divers". Of course, it does not seem that Hafez directly has used the Book Savâneh, but he got acquainted with the mystical meanings of Qazzâli’s book through the deep study of “Ešqhnâme” or "Konuz al-Asrâr", which is a poetic form of Savâneh. Qazzâli says: "Minds are closed from understanding the nature and truth of the soul, and the soul is the oyster of love. So, since there is no way to know the oyster, how is there a way to the hidden gem that is in the oyster?”
Here, as can be seen, Qazzâli has called love “pearl”. Of course, he is not referring to the value of this gem, but to its hiddenness and unrecognizability. The hidden gem is a covered gem. Elsewhere, Qazzâli explains why reason cannot get ahead of the shore: “The ultimate scope of knowledge is the shore of love. If it was on the beach, he would have received a something; And if he steps forward, he drowns. When will it help to inform? There is no knowledge with the drowned?" (Qazzâli 1368: 7). Perhaps Hafez has also mentioned the same meaning in the second stanza of the above verse when he says: sar foru bordam dar ânjâ tâ kojâ sar bar konam. That is, it is not known what happens under the water. Does it remain any head at all and if it remains, will it come out or not?
Although Qazzâli considers love as a hidden pearl that is hidden in the shell of the soul and therefore is not known, nevertheless, with these similes, he points out points worthy of reflection about love and the soul. In fact, the fact that he calls love like a pearl and the soul like an oyster, he points out that love is a true gem; In other words, love is an essence. The soul is also eternal. So these two establish a relationship with each other from the very beginning of creation and one is horse and the other is rider. Qazzâli expresses this relationship in another way in the same chapter. It says that the soul becomes a house or a place where love is placed, like a shell where a pearl is placed. They separate the pearl and oyster as soon as they are taken out of the sea; But the destiny of love and soul is such that when they got together in the very beginning, in eternity, they will not be separated.
The above verse is actually related to the stage when love and the soul came to this world; if not, in the world of spirits or the world of the soul, in eternity, the pearl of love is in the shell of the soul’s eye.
There, the lover and the beloved are the same because of the purity and purity of the soul;But then, love and the soul come to this world and the soul is caught in turbidity, so it must try to clear itself from the turbidity of “self” so that it can become a mirror for love. This is the allegory that Hafez also uses in the same sense.
Hafez emphasizes that everything else that a person’s soul has may be separated from him, but that love that was mixed with the soul in eternity cannot be separated. Ahmad Qazzâli has expressed the same theme in this verse: az to naboram tâ naborad buy ze ʾud/ ruz o šab o sâl o mah alA-raqm-e hasud
The last point that is worthy of consideration regarding the “pearl of love”and its search at the depth of the sea is the identity of the diver. Of course, Hafez himself stated the identity of the diver and said that “I am the diver”, and this “I” is the Rend who does not leave the beloved and the glass of wine, or he is the one who is connected with love in eternity and will be with him forever. Hafez has spoken about this matter in another sonnet: gowhari kaz sadaf-e kown p makân birun bud/ talab az gom-šodegân-e lab-e daryâ mi-kard
Conclusion
In this verse, Hafez has mentioned not only the pearl of love but also the oyster, an oyster that has two shells, one piece of the universe or being, which refers to time and the other is the place. The essence of love is beyond time and space; In other words, it is from the world beyond material world, a world that is spiritual and is called by different names such as “World of Souls” or “World of Spirits” or "World of Particles" or "timeless and spaceless". In poetic terms, this world is the tavern which is considered as the sea here.
Keywords: Hafez, Divan, Explanation of Verse, Love, Pearl, Diver.
References
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[1] Nasrollâh Purjâvâdi: Associate Member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature.
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