In exemplification of these observations, I shall notice the same thoughts expressed by a Western and Persian author. Deedum uz anja ki juhan beenee'st Afuti zumboor zu shureenee'st. "I discover, by a review of the world, that the afflictions of the bee proceed from its honey." Nizamee.* ، Know you not, master, to some kind of men, As You Like It. Buhar ust dur an kosh ki khoosh dil bashee, Enjoy the spring that you may be happy; for the roses will blow when you are no more.” Hafiz. Dughega ki pyi ma buse rozgar Beroyud gool o bishegoofud nou buhar. افتاب عاشقاني ماهتاب بيدلان أي بگرد روخ جانا کشیده خ و ط قبله ازاده گاني اي صنم باروخ درد مندم مستمندم تن گرفته ت و پ داروي دردم تو داري در ميان ل وب ت و پ آمد نگارا در تنم از عشق تو م وي در پيش باشد بسته باشد دور ل وب برل وب بنهاده باشم تاسحر میوه خواهم از لبانت ب ووس واه اي نگارا گرشبي مارا تو مهماني كني کس نگفته شعر همچون س وع ودوي شاعران بسیار گفتند شعرهاي بانمک Cowley gives the best translation of Sadee's wit: "Here buds an L, and there a B. "Here spouts a V. and there a T." &c. This is certainly the intended meaning, although Sir William Jones translates it otherwise. "Alas! for ages after me the roses will blow, and the spring will bloom." Sadee. "Whence is it that the flourets of the field doth fade, And lieth buried long in winter's shade? Yet soon as spring his mantle hath displayed "Man cometh forth as a flower, and is cut down. There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease; but man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? He lieth down, and he riseth not! the heavens be no more." Chooneen purwureedush ki badi huwa Buro bur goozushtun nu deedee ruwa. Job. "He took such care of her, that he did not permit the winds to blow upon her bosom." Firdousee. « The sun and the moon put us in mind of it (death); "Immortalia ne speres monet annus, et almum Frigora mitescunt Zephyris; ver proterit æstas Pomifer autumnus fruges effuderit; et mox Damna tamen celeres reparant cœlestia Lunæ : Nos ubi decidimus, Quo pius Æneas, quo Tullus dives, et Ancus, Pulvis et umbra sumus." Firdousee. Hor. Lib. iv. Ode 7. Perhaps we may think the conciseness of the following couplet from Hafiz, superior to the same image worked up by Dr. Young: Binusheen bulubi joo o goozri omr bibeen W'een isharuti juhan goozran mara bus. "Seat yourself near the margin of a stream, and see how life glides away; this intimation how life passes is enough for me." "Life glides away, Lorenzo, like a brook; In the same brook none ever bathed him twice, To the same life none ever twice awoke. We call the brook the same, the same we think Our life, though still more rapid in its flow; And mingled with the sea." Night 5. Musnud bubagh bur ki bu khidmut choo bundegan Istadu ust survo kumr bustuust ny. и h "Send seats to the garden, for the cypress and cane are standing like slaves to perform their duty.” "The plants acknowlege this, and her admire, Hafiz. If she sets down, with tops all towards her bowed, Or, if she walk in even ranks, they stand Like some well marshall'd and obsequious band.” Waller. Before we conclude our remarks on the Persian Ghuzl, it may not be improper to notice, that the same images used by European and Asiatic poets are very differently applied; and that what is thought solemn or disagreeable by one, is considered by the other as gay and delightful. Thus the cypress is considered by European authors as expressive of every thing that is solemn and gloomy.* Suffolk, imprecating curses on his enemies, adds, amongst others: "Poison be their drink! Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste! 66 Neque harum, quas colis, arborum Te, præter invisas cupressos, Ulla brevem dominum sequetur. Hor. Lib. ii. 14. In Persia, a beautiful woman is compared to this tree; and it is not spoken of by a single poet but in terms of the highest rapture. * In a few it is the reverse: Αως αν έλλοισα καλον διέφαινε προσωπον Ποτνια νυξ άτε, λευκον χειμενος ανέντος" Virg. Ecl. 7th. Ecl. 1st. This dissimilarity must occur between every language, and I should not have observed upon it, but to reprobate the violent prejudices of many persons, who judge of the merits of a language by the affinity it bears to their own. Hafiz has a thornless rose, as well as Milton, which would have convinced Dr. Hurd, that it was not only an Italian, but also an Asiatic refinement.* It must have struck every Persian scholar, that, in the Ghuzls of the Persians, he meets with the same thoughts and metaphors in almost every ode; and that after he has perused twenty, he finds nothing new to admire, and little or any thing to learn. If, according to Dr. Johnson, and there is no reason to dispute his authority, a simile, "to be perfect, must both illustrate and ennoble the subject; must shew it to the understanding in a clearer point of view, and display it to the fancy with greater dignity." The Persian poets, in all their similes or comparisons, fall infinitely below mediocrity. There is no beauty in a poet's affirming, "that his mistress's form resembles the peacock's or the pheasant's; that her mouth resembles the pistacho nut; her waist so slender that it appears but a hair, or that at a distance it is invisible; that her perspiration is sweeter than rose-water; or that her dimples are like a well." Yet notwithstanding all these defects, if the end of poetry be to please, the Persian poets are eminently successful; nor will I believe that any person, who really understood Hafiz, ever put his book aside without having received much satisfaction from a perusal of his odes. The Ghuzls of Hafiz, Moohtushim, and Ruqeeb, are considered to be superior to any other poets; and that I may not shew an unjust preference to their merits, I extract an ode from each of their works. فرصي زين به کجا باشد بده جام شراب صبح دولت میدهد کو جام همچون افتاب * Chaucer also-" O rodie rosier without spine." |