The Influence of Ḥāfiẓ on Muḥammad Taqī Bahār

Looking through the eyes of Persian culture, we see that man is not all noetic; he is not driven by intellect or consistent in his use of reason. On the contrary, he is most moved by emotion. A perfect example: Persian philosophy is most commonly uttered in both poetry and prose. This is, I believe, where the brilliance of Persians rests, in the beauty of its language and the expression of its culture. The endurance of Iranian literature and language over two and a half millennia is remarkable and thus deserving of both thorough research and an in-depth study. Here, I attempt to demonstrate the influence of Ḥāfiẓ, one of the greatest classical poets of Persia who ever lived, on the thoughts, poetic language, and philosophy of the gifted nineteenth-century Persian poet Muḥammad Taqī Bahār, otherwise known as Malik al-Shu‘arā. I will accomplish this feat through close readings of the parts of Ḥāfiẓ’s poems and juxtapose them with Bahār’s poems. My contention here, is to demonstrate any direct or indirect influence Ḥāfiẓ had on Bahār, and to also measure the extent of Ḥāfiẓ’s reception during Bahār’s period. With some modifications, the translations of Ḥāfiẓ’s ghazals used herein follow those of Peter Avery, while other translations throughout the book are my own, unless otherwise stated. Keywords: Persian literature, languages, Persian contemporary and classical poetry, Hafiz, Styles and manners