Glossary
Hafez uses a small set of images again and again. Knowing them makes every ghazal clearer. In the poems, tap an underlined word to see its note.
- Rend
- A free spirit who looks disreputable but is honest within; the opposite of the hypocrite. Hafez's hero and his name for himself.
- East wind (saba)
- The soft morning breeze from the beloved's side. It is the lovers' messenger and carries the beloved's scent.
- Magian elder
- The keeper of the tavern: a wise guide who stands outside official religion and shows the way.
- Cupbearer (saqi)
- The one who pours the wine: sometimes the beloved, sometimes the guide, sometimes divine grace that fills the soul.
- Tavern
- A place outside hypocrisy where everyone is equal; set against the cloister and the dervish lodge.
- Cup of Jamshid
- The legendary king Jamshid had a cup in which the whole world could be seen. It stands for the clear heart.
- Khizr
- The immortal guide who drank the water of life and leads lost travellers.
- Water of life
- A spring hidden in the land of darkness that gives eternal life. Alexander sought it and did not find it.
- Censor (muhtasib)
- The official who policed public morals and closed the taverns. Hafez often means the strict ruler Mubariz al-Din.
- Sufi
- A member of a mystical order. Hafez usually mocks the Sufi who only wears the costume, not true mysticism.
- Cloak (khirqa)
- The patched woollen robe of the Sufi. For Hafez it is outward piety, fit to be pawned for wine.
- Ascetic (zahid)
- The dry, self-satisfied man of piety who judges others; the opposite of the rend.
- Simurgh / Anqa
- The mythical bird that lives on Mount Qaf and is never seen; an image of what cannot be reached.
- Huma
- The bird of good fortune: whoever its shadow falls on becomes fortunate, even a king.
- Asaf
- Solomon's wise minister. Hafez uses the name to praise the viziers of his own day.
- Solomon and his seal
- The prophet-king who ruled demons, birds and the wind by his seal ring. A demon once stole the ring.
- Farhad, Shirin and Khosrow
- Farhad the stonecutter carved through a mountain for love of Shirin, wife of King Khosrow, and died for her.
- Layla and Majnun
- Qays loved Layla so much that he wandered the desert and was called Majnun, "the mad one": the model of selfless love.
- Joseph
- The ideal of beauty. Thrown into a well by his brothers, he rose to power in Egypt and was at last reunited with his old father in Canaan.
- Nightingale and rose
- The nightingale is the lover who sings and laments; the rose is the beautiful, indifferent beloved, whose season is short.
- Cypress
- The image of the beloved's tall, graceful figure. The cypress is called "free" because it bears no fruit and is always green.
- Narcissus
- The image of the beloved's eye: languid, half-closed, as if drunk.
- Tress
- The beloved's dark, fragrant hair, which chains the heart. It stands for attachment, and for the tangle of the world.
- Prayer niche (mihrab)
- The arched niche in a mosque that shows the direction of prayer. Hafez compares the beloved's curved eyebrow to it.
- Kawsar and Tuba
- Kawsar is the river or pool of paradise, and Tuba is the tree of paradise.
- Korah (Qarun)
- The rich man who gloried in his treasure and was swallowed by the earth with all of it.
- Alexander
- In legend Alexander owned a mirror that showed the world, and went into the darkness for the water of life but came back without it.
- Dervish
- The poor man who needs nothing. In Hafez his poverty outranks kingship.
- Hatim Tai
- A pre-Islamic Arab whose name is the proverb for generosity.
- Ahriman
- The spirit of evil in ancient Iranian religion; in Hafez, the demon or the enemy.
- Elixir (alchemy)
- The substance that turns copper into gold. For Hafez, love and the glance of a guide are the elixir that transforms a person.
- Mount Qaf
- The legendary mountain that rings the world, where the Simurgh has its nest.