The following short video introduces Hafiz's poetry and the Islamic Sufi tradition. Be sure to watch to the end, since there's a question to respond to as a comment below.
ALSO: I have a link the dances of the Whirling Dervishes which I mention on the video. If interested in seeing them in action, click here (the dancing starts around the 1:50 minute mark if you want to skip ahead): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gG8YAUqVIs
NOTE: These poems are all pretty short, and I don't even care if you read every one. However, in each section, skim through them and try to read at least a few that really speak to you. If one seems too confusing or abstract, go to the next one, but do try to read a few more than once, since as with most poems, repetition helps the metaphors sink in and the music come out.
Answer 2 of the following:
Q1: Like the Tao te Ching's use of the word "Tao" (or "the way"), Hafiz uses "God" and "Love" as the two key concepts to his spiritual philosophy. In these poems, how does he define one or both of these terms? Just as we can translate "Tao" in many different ways, how else might we translate "God" or "Love" based on the way Hafiz uses them in his poems?
Q2: Hafiz, like Lao Tzu, is against the idea of definitions and naming. We see this explicitly in a poem like "I Have Learned So Much" (32), when he writes, "I have learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew." Why might he reject these religious titles? What has God taught him that makes him wary of defining himself by a religious doctrine or creed?
Q3: Daniel Ladinsky writes in his Introduction that "To some readers a few expressions in this book may appear too contemporary for this work. To that I say--nothing doing" (5). Which poem or poems seem to use really contemporary ideas or language that makes it hard to believe this poem was written in the 14th century? Why do you think he chooses these words? Do they take you out of the poem, or bring you closer inside it?
Q4: Which poem reminds you the most of a poem from the Tao te Ching? What makes them similar? Is it an idea, a metaphor, or an actual line from the poem? Be as specific as possible.
Q1: Poem 47 is one of the most profound of all the poems in capturing the true power of the "Tao" and its philosophy. It claims that "Without stirring abroad/One can know the whole world;/Without looking out of the window/One can see the way of heaven." What do you think this means? How can one travel without traveling, and see without looking?
Q2: In Poem 53, the poet writes that "The great way is easy, yet people prefer by-paths." Why would it claim the Way is easy, when all of the poems tell us how difficult it is to find? And if it is easy, why wouldn't people choose to follow it? Why according to these poems do most people choose the difficult path? (you might consider how this relates to the English phrase, "to reinvent the wheel").
Q3: Here are three translations of a very interesting phrase in Poem 71:
* D.C. Lau (ours): To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.
* Jonathan Star: Knowing what cannot be known--what a lofty aim! Now knowing what needs to be known--what a terrible result!
* William Scott Wilson: Knowing that you do not know rests above the high-water mark. Thinking that you know when you don't know, you are sick enough to be confined in bed.
What do you think these lines mean, and which translation best helped you understand them?
Q4: If you had to summarize the Tao te Ching in a single sentence, what would that sentence be? List three poems which seem to support this summary.
Here's a short video that talks about how much translation matters, especially in an old and mysterious work like the Tao te Ching. Watch this when you get a chance and respond with a comment sometime next week. The poems that are part of the video, and the comment, are pasted below. Our version of the poem is on page 13.
ALSO: Be sure to respond to the questions in the post below by your class day. MANY people are forgetting to do the questions and are losing points (I'll let you miss a set of questions without penalty, but after that you lose points--see the syllabus for details). So be careful!
Answer 2 of the following:
Q1: Many of these poems seem to share the same basic ideas and metaphors, just re-stated in slightly different ways. Discuss two poems (one from 1-20, one from 21-41) that seem to complement each other, where one explains the other more than either one would alone.
Q2: According to these poems, what qualities should the ideal sage possess? Why might these ideals be hard to achieve, given human nature? Consider for example the lines, "He who tiptoes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk" (Poem XXIV).
Q3: Some of these poems also seem to be addressed to a ruler or warlord, and give advice about maintaining his kingdom. What advice do they offer? Can a sage also be a good leader--or are they two different paths? Consider Poem XXIX, which states, "The empire is a sacred vessel and nothing should be done to it. Whoever does anything to it will ruin it; whoever lays hold of it will lose it."
Q4: Poem XLI (41) talks about students and the classroom, so is very appropriate to our class. It claims that when the best student hears about the way, they study it carefully; when the average student heard about it, it's "one moment there and gone the next," and when the worst student hears about it they laugh out loud. This is natural, because "if he did not laugh/It would be unworthy of being the way" (48). Why should the way (or any knowledge) be capable of inspiring wonder, indifference, and laughter at the same time? Why does this make it "the way"?
For next week, read through the first twenty poems in the Tao te Ching slowly...don't read them the way you would a novel or short story. In fact, I care less that you read them all then you read a few of them carefully and more than once. Remember to think about metaphors and how a metaphor can transform a common experience into something unique and complex--and help you experience it from the poet's point of view.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Discuss an important metaphor in one of the poems: what do you think this metaphor is trying to compare--what experience/idea to what experience/idea? Why is this useful? For example, Poem XII (12) says, "the sage is/For the belly/Not for the eye." What does it mean that the sage/teacher is meant to be "eaten" and not "seen"?
Q2: Many of these poems play with the idea of paradox--two ideas that would normally cancel each other out (like "burning ice" or "kind cruelty"). Discuss one such paradox and why this paradox is not only possible, but enlightening to consider. For example, "use will never drain it." How is this possible?