Emotional Intoxication

After an initial read, it’s obvious that Hafiz uses an interesting series of imagery and metaphors to craft his poem, “Ode 44”. Upon further examination, we see that he toys heavily with themes of love and sex, explaining them artistically through a medium of a very original, and well developed metaphor. In his poem “Ode 44”, Hafiz aims to illustrate that love- as well as words spoken with true love- is a wine, and the intimacy of sex which follows is the drunkneness achieved as a result of “drinking” just a little bit too much.  

Hafiz builds his narrative slowly, giving you the important bits of his metaphor little by little, as he describes the beauty he finds in his presences. Starting off, he gives his the initial building blocks of his artistic interpretation in line 3, “With tilted glass, and verses on her lips” and line 5, “Filled full of frolic to her wine red lips”. “Tilted glass” obviously referencing a wine glass, but also “verses on her lips” pointing to words, or phrases. Not only mere phrases, mind you, but verses. Excerpts of poetry or music. There is beauty in this choice of vocabulary, intending that the content of her words sends music through his mind and his heart. “Wine-red lips” then ties the two together, establishing the connection with wine and words, that being them both bestowed upon the lips. The first half of the metaphor is then finalized on line 12, where Hafiz explains he “drank whatever wine she poured for me”, after his lover calls for his attention in the middle of the night. She confides in him with whatever is burdening her, whether that be anger, fear, stress, or simply her overwhelming love for him, and he listens to her and accepts everything she is saying to him as if it were a fine wine. After engaging in excessive consumption of the wine that is the love shared between these two people, the narrator describes a sort of inebriation achieved as a result. On line 19, Hafiz explains his narrator and their partner as, “Drunkards we are by a divine decree”. Based on the seductive tone of the poem and connection to sexual behavior involved with nudity, it’s easy to assume that overconsumption of this wine has resulted in the intoxication of sexual desire. However this is no ordinary drunkenness, oh no. They’re not getting drunk off cheap liquor and 91% rubbing alcohol, they’re drinking fine wine. This is drunkenness to a divine decree. He’s pointing towards the kind of inebriation conjured not only by the simple the act of sex, but by something more meaningful, more spiritual, something more divine. An emotional intoxication only achievable through the consumption of the verses of love. 

One might say that this would be an anti religious way of viewing love and sex; through the medium of inebriation and substance abuse. And upon first glance I interpreted it this way as well, however I recognized some important things as I persisted dissecting the idea. As stated previously, the imagery of alcohol here takes the shape of fine wine, not hard spirits or foaming beers. Most religious texts which hold faith in Christ (referred to as Īsā in the Islamic faith) believe that regulated consumption of fine red wine is righteous and holy, and brings one closer to the spirit through the consumption of his holy blood, symbolized by such wine. Similarly, the depictions of sex here do not include adulatory or similar unholy sexual acts, and are instead meaningful and intimate, reflecting the love shared between two people. Any fair creator would smile upon this act of passion. 

That is, given I’m correct! The final stanza kind of threw me. Let me know if there’s anything I missed or might need further elaboration on.  I also think the rhyme scheme between “divine” and (fine)”wine” are cute, but they aren’t canon unless these phrases also rhyme in Farsi. It was worth mentioning in my opinion, but since this poem wasn’t translated by Hafiz himself in no way has right to act as evidence in my argument.

Hayden Namgostar

As Natural, As Nude

Female Gestures by Lau Hoe In

Jojo C. Chukwueloka

Art and beauty are often intrinsically linked. Many of the most famous poems, art pieces, and general great media are often encased around the idea of what it means to be beautiful, to look beautiful, and to feel beautiful.  It is only expected, then, that both Ben Johnson and Robert Hedrick would put the symbols of their poems to be the most familiar and citedly beautiful creatures humanity has ever known: women.   However, while their subjects and opinions are the same, neither man goes about representing their regard for art the same way or how they view the women they choose to symbolize it. 

In Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder”, the reader is presented with a woman in a state of dishevelment.   Specifically, she’s referred to as a “sweet disorder in a dress” with “erring lace which here and there” and “in clothes a wantonness” (lines 1 to 5).”   Most would consider this a criticism, but the poet doesn’t present it as such.  He can see notions of “wild civility” (line 12) meaning that though ungainly to most it is still beautiful.  To him, her messiness is natural and realistic, something that enthralls him.  He uses this as an argument against the notion that art needs to be polished or aesthetically pleasing to be moving and intimate.  Hedrick emphasizes his belief that art should be allowed to be imperfect and sloppy in line 4.  Unlike the rest of the poem that is set in iambic tetrameter, line 4 is spondaic and throws the reader off (being a literal distraction).  It makes the poem “imperfect”, making the reader actually have to pause and consider the message presented rather than follow a rigid system of thoroughly repeated patterns.  Lines 13 and 14 reinforce this viewpoint in a self-aware moment presented by the poet.  The lines state that inconsistency and inaccuracy is far more bewitching and interesting to view than a perfect piece.  Having non-linear lines, blemishes, or mistakes in art adds to the piece, spellbinding the viewer more so than without. 

Johnson’s “Still To Be Neat”, delivers a situation of the complete opposite to Herrick’s.  Here the woman is in a state of what Johnson decides is overdressed.  He laments, stating that she is “still to be powdered, still perfumed” (line 3) and how he wishes for “a face that makes simplicity a grace” (lines 7 and 8).  The use of over abundant makeup on a woman is a common comparison to over-touched art that lacks noticeable features like messy brush strokes, muddy colors, or unrealistic proportions.  Johnson argues that both, while pleasing to look at, do not invoke any emotion in him.  They are pretty, yes, but there is no human/natural element to them via the scarcity of imperfections.  His use of repetition in lines 1, 3, and 6 further this idea.  They represent the boredom through the uninteresting nature “perfect” art has.  That it comes off as feeling wrong and unsound, truly unnatural.  Johnson furthers this disillusionment with art in line 11.  He describes art as a series of adulteries, secondary to candid life.  It is only an imitation and, therefore, it’s something incapable of making him feel like a real, genuine, and bare person would.   This is also the line where he goes off the usual iambic tetrameter and pulls a spondaic pentameter to emphasize his point. 

In terms of which is most effective in representing the nature of art, my hand goes for Herrick’s.  Both are reaching for the same goal, but “Delight in Disorder” is far less restrained than “Still to be Neat”.  Rather than just stating he wants simplicity, Herrick entices the reader’s senses and puts us in the scene. This decision to describe the unkempt nature makes the poem feel more intimate and less artificial.  Neither are love poems (per se), but they are honest.  Disorder is far more valuable than perfection.  Without it, life would be tedious and boring. So, whether it be in women, art, or poetry, inconsistency makes the ride a whole lot more compelling.  

Oh, I like it this way

In “Like This” by Rumi, it reads kind of like a friend giving advice to another. It also feels like the middle of a conversation between two lovers figuring out how they want to be intimate with each other and why before doing an intimate deed. In particularly the lines about “…the old poetic image about clouds gradually uncovering the moon, slowly loosen knot by knot the strings of your robe.” its making reference to the pale skin under the robes being revealed slowly and comparing that to the beauty known by all that is the moon. That feels like a very intimate moment in time when a lover sees the whole naked body for the first time, because being naked could also be construed as emotional nakedness, not just the physical and it takes time and is a slow process. Almost like the author is saying, let’s take things slow to get to the emotional state of naked with one another first to figure out what love is for between them.

 It is where he believes the soul is, in that request for initamancy and if it is denied then it would return to themselves and closed up, “The soul sometimes….walk back into my house.” The soul almost reaches out to the lovers soul but if the lover isn’t forthcoming then they recede back in on themselves. 

In my opinion my interpretation would be no different if composed by a non-Muslim and non-Iranian poet, that is if we can trust the translations and that’s a difficult thing to just assume is correct. The reason for knowing it would be no different is that Muslim and Iranian individuals have the concept of love and caring for each other as lovers. It is a tragedy that English tends to write out the Muslim portion of the poetry, because to have it in its original context it would probably be even more beautiful.

After all of this, I could not stop comparing this poem to the song “I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys (the url is included to the music video in case you wish to listen to it). The major difference between the two is that the Backstreet Boys is more about the heartache of the possible ending to a relationship. They are similar in their desire of telling their lover the way in which what they want something to be for their worlds and attempting to (re)connect on a deeper level than just staying on the surface. 

Lauren Hamilton

Dissidium

Head (Sketch) by Gerhard Richter

by Andrew Perez

Ben Jonson and Robert Herrick both agree that perfection in art doesn’t necessarily equate to beauty or the sublime, but is found in the imperfections in both the work and the artist. They both use the image of a woman onto which Herrick and Jonson project their views on poetry and art. The approach that these two poets take to illustrate their points is the separating feature.

Herrick, in “Delight in Disorder”, writes about a more chaotic description of his subject’s beauty. The woman is disheveled in appearance, having an “erring lace” and “ribbons…flow[ing] confusedly”, but still retains her “wild civility”. The poet’s intent seems to emphasize the raw energy over “precise” beauty seen in contemporary art and beyond. Because Herrick describes himself as a “crimson stomacher”, this poem may describe the aftermath of a violent and passionate encounter that is sexual in nature. Despite this poem’s messy subject matter, it still maintains order and rigidity in its use of dactylic tetrameter and couplet rhymes.

Jonson captures his interpretation of beauty before his subject readies herself for public entrance in “Still to Be Neat”. Though this poem finds its subject in the same bare state as Herrick’s, there appears to be a larger contextual argument from the mention of a “feast”. Jonson appears to argue that the harsh, contemporary standards for dress and behavior can restrain wilder and unrefined beauties. Jonson identifies the woman as a “Lady, to be presumed” despite her “Robes loosely flowing, hair as free”, which nobody besides Jonson can see in this condition. This suppression of intimacy and perceived indecency outside of domestic spaces is what Jonson argues most fervently against. His use of anapestic tetrameter reflects forces the reader to rush towards the last word, almost as if rising to the pedestal Jonson’s elevates this kind of beauty to.