The Stylistic Comparison of Saeb,s Imitation of Hafiz

Saeb Tabrizi is one of the well-known Persian poets of (Indian Style). One of his distinctive features lies in his imitation of other poets. In his Diwan, a collection of poetry entitled Boundaries; he has referred to the works of almost eighty poets directly or indirectly. He is second to Molavi, another outstanding Persian Poet, in sampling and imitating Hafiz; the greatest sonneteer of entire Persian world. At least in a number of 29 sonnets, Saeb has directly taken Hafiz as his model with an explicit reference to his name at the end of each sonnet. Besides, in his other 160 sonnets he has followed Hafiz in manner and matter especially in concerning rhyme and rhythm -perhaps in repeated last words of each line too- without ending up with Hafiz’s name. In his collection of poems, sometimes, several sonnets may match with and correspond to one specific sonnet of Hafiz. In this paper an attempt has been made to portrait how Saeb has composed 29 sonnets in a direct imitation of Hafiz’s style in terms of artistic form and content. Generally, one may say, Hafiz,s literary style encompassing his application of specific devices like internal rhyme, pun, repetition, antithesis, equivoque, and allusion makes him appear superior than Saeb. Saeb, however, is judged by the experts to be more prominent than Hafiz in mastering devices such as equivocal appropriateness and borrowing. In the case of “expression” as well, Saeb has employed more metaphors and similes, yet in other aspects they are somehow equal. Off course, it is worth noting to say that Hafiz’s language is a little bit more powerful than that of Saeb. The most remarkable point, by the way, regarding the two great poets is that Saeb is usually said to be a poet of connotation and imagery, while Hafiz is the god of sublime meanings.