Usages for a Conceit: A Comparative Study of Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" and Hāfez's Sonnet 193

Abstract

Hāfez and John Donne are both outstanding love poets. The multilayered implications of the universal theme of love and its relation to the two poets' historical, cultural as well as political contexts have encouraged the present comparative study of Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" and Hāfez's "Sonnet 193". The study is based on the hypothesis that the most dominant features of Donne's love poems are the unity of sense and sensibility as well as congruity of reason and passion, whereas in the poems of Hāfez one can witness disjunction and incongruity between love and reason. In addition to explaining the concept of love, both poets have wittily reflected upon the political conflicts of their time, too. This research, therefore, aims at investigating how Hāfez and Donne have used the mathematical tool, the compass, as a conceit, not only to concretize their notion of love but also to express the symbolic significance of the circular movement of that instrument to comment on the meaning of love in opposition to reason and to criticize the political issues of their time.