Hafez Opens a New Chapter in the Persian Language

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said that Persian before and after Hafez differs fundamentally, adding: "Through his innovations in vocabulary, compound-word formation, the art of double meaning, the music of poetry, and his transformation of the Persian ghazal, Hafez opened a new chapter in the history of this language and helped expand and deepen the reach of Persian across the world."

According to the reporter of Arya Heritage, Seyyed Abbas Salehi, on the evening of Monday, October 20, in the commemoration ceremony of Hafez's anniversary near the tomb of Khwaja Ahl Raz in Shiraz, referring to the place of Hafez in the cultural and linguistic identity of Iranians, said: For Iranians, the Persian language is not only a part of identity, but the main pillar of Iranian identity. Throughout its history, from ancient Persian and Middle Persian to post-Islamic Persian, this language has played an essential role in the formation of Iran's identity, and various ethnicities and languages ​​have also contributed to its reaching this position.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance stated that Persian speakers of Iran and those interested in this language all over the world should be proud of Hafez's presence in the history of the Persian language, adding: To prove the point of view that the Persian language is different before and after Hafez and that Hafez has a special right to this language, we can point out several important features in his poetry and language.

Salehi considered the first characteristic of Hafez's poetry to be his generative role in the central vocabulary of the Persian language and said: the words used in Hafez's diwan are not the same as those of the diwans before him. Among the 56 key words in Hafez's court, 267 of which are repeated more than eight times, Hafez has created new meanings in some of the words.

Referring to the word "rand" as an example of this linguistic innovation, he stated: this word had a different meaning in Persian prose before Hafez; As in the history of Beyhaqi, a group of people is mentioned with the same interpretation. In mystical literature, the meaning of rand has moved away from the concept of thugs, but it is still different from the meaning that Hafez presents.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance continued: "Randy in Hafez's poetry is a combination of cheerfulness, simplicity, avoiding expediency, love and mania, avoiding hypocrisy and possessing a pure inner self along with a sometimes discordant appearance. Hafez continuously created new meanings in his vocabulary and from this point of view, the core vocabulary of his poetry has serious differences with the period before him.

Salehi listed the second characteristic of Hafez's language as the extensive use of the compositional capacity in the Persian language and said: Persian language is a composite language and Hafez has used this ability to create a new effect in the language. One of the remarkable fields in this field is the combination of Persian and Arabic words.

Referring to Allameh Dehkhoda's point of view in the introduction of Dehkhoda's dictionary, he added: Dehkhoda points to Hafez in his criticism of those who wanted to purify the Persian language from Arabic words, and considers his innovation and creativity to be part of his Persian and Arabic combinations. In this field, Hafez had significant initiatives in word formation.

To explain this feature, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance pointed to a verse by Hafez, in which Arabic words are used in the first stanza and Persian words are used in the second stanza: "The inhabitants of the sacred sanctuary of the chastity of the kingdom / with me the wayfarer of the drunken wind."

Salehi considered the combination of Arabic and Persian words, the use of prefixes and suffixes, and the creation of various combinations as manifestations of Hafez's linguistic creativity and emphasized: these capacities have added to the richness of the Persian language.

Pointing to the place of iham art in Persian poetry, he said: Iham existed in Persian poetry before Hafez, but Hafez gave new life and meaning to the polysemy of the text by innovating in the methods and methods of using it.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance explained: Hafez uses ambiguity to create layers of meaning and take the audience to the depth of the text and creates an atmosphere of attractive ambiguity; Ambiguity is different from doubt. Hafez brought this literary industry to its peak and in this way, opened new ways for Persian language and poetry.

Salehi stated that there is no opportunity to deal in detail with Hafez's methods of using iham in this area, and said: The purpose of these examples is to explain the point that Hafez played a special role in the formation of the new capabilities of the Persian language, and Persian speakers are indebted to him for this.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance considered the music of poetry as one of the other prominent features of Hafez's works, and referring to the division of poetry music in Mohammadreza Shafi'i Kodkani's view, he stated: Poetry music includes external music, that is, weight and prosody; background music, including rows and rhymes; inner music, related to phonemes and consonants and vowels; And spiritual music includes harmony, repetition and contrast.

Salehi added: Hafez turned his poetry into music, and this feature distinguishes his poetry from many poems that only have a musical tone. Hafez's ghazal has long been known both as a ghazal and in connection with singing and qawwali. It is not an easy task to transform language into melody and melody, but Hafez displayed this capacity in Persian poetry.

To explain the connection between external music and spiritual music in Hafez's poetry, he pointed to the sonnet "Seru Chaman Man Kera Mill Chaman Nahi Kande" and said: In this sonnet, the combination of prosaic weight with spiritual music creates a pleasant and effective atmosphere. Weight and theme are placed together and give the poem a force that plays a role in conveying feelings and meaning.

Further, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, referring to the Martyr of the Revolution's views on the features of Hafez's ghazal at the Hafez Congress in November 1367 in Shiraz, said: In that speech, several important features of Hafez's poetry were mentioned, which showed that he was the initiator of a new path in Persian ghazal in some fields.

Salehi considered the first mentioned feature to be the link between the lexical strength of the ode and the delicacy of the ghazal and stated: The ode usually had strong and dignified vocabulary, while the ghazal rarely had such a feature. Even similes and lyric introductions of poems are not as popular as Latif ghazals due to their rich vocabulary. But Hafez combined these two features and created lyrical poems that are soft and have strong vocabulary.

Salehi named the second feature as Hafez's ability to depict images in the form of sonnets and said: in the Masnavi, due to the structure of weight and the possibility of continuing the narrative, imagery has a greater capacity; Its examples can be seen in the works of Molavi and Khamsa Nizami. In Ghazal, due to the limitations of the format, imagery is more difficult, and poets before Hafez were less capable in this field.

Pointing to the verses "I saw that the angels danced in the tavern / Adam's flower grew and hit the cup" and "The inhabitants of the sacred sanctuary of the chastity of the kingdom / They danced with me as a wayfarer of the drunken wind" he added: In these verses, Hafez presents an image of an intuitive revelation and conveys the concepts in a tangible and close to the audience's mind; A feature that was rarely seen in Persian poetry before him.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance considered the third feature to create passion and movement in the ghazal and stated: ghazal was usually associated with a kind of peace and quiet, but Hafez expanded the exciting ghazal; A lyric that can bring the audience closer to movement and excitement and even have an epic mood. In this way, Hafez revealed a new capacity of the Persian language and the form of Ghazal.

In the final part of his speech, Salehi listed the expansion of the Persian language as one of the other aspects of Hafez's influence and said: Iran may have lost a part of its empire's geographical territory in periods, but its linguistic empire has continued in an area that includes Turkestan, Anatolia, the subcontinent and other regions.

He stated that the expansion of the Persian language existed before Hafez, and added: With Hafez, a new thing happened and this linguistic realm expanded and gained more depth. In different regions of the Persian language, from the Ottoman Empire and the subcontinent to Central Asia, signs of the presence and influence of this language can be seen. Examining the role of Hafez in the expansion and deepening of this field is a broad topic, about which many points and narratives can be raised.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance emphasized the position of the Persian language in the cultural and historical foundation of Iran and stated: ancient history, powerful religion, epic elements and the Persian language are the foundations of this nation. Hafez also has a special place in this heritage and has a great right to the Persian language and culture of this land.

In the end, Salehi expressed his hope that with the blessing of the Holy Spirit of Hafez, the world, Iran and Shiraz will become a world mixed with justice, freedom and peace; The values ​​that Hafez also wanted.