Old Age and Greed in Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī’s Ghazals

Abstract

Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī is one of the most well-known figures of 17th century Persian poetry. His poems are considered typical examples of Indian Style, a poetry movement that was marked with the use of imagery that deviated from established norms of the past centu- ries. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Ṣāʾib’s imagery and show its differences and similarities with traditional imagery of classical Persian poetry. To this end, Ṣāʾib’s ghazal couplets that focus a particular subject, that is, greed in old age, are scrutinized. Elderliness was one of the recurring themes in Persian poetry even before Ṣāʾib so this topic is suitable for comparing his imagery with that of his predecessors. The review of Ṣāʾib’s couplets show that novel and surprising ideas do permeate his poetry and are a distinguishing feature of his style but in most cases his ideas are not entirely original. His innovation is based on taking metaphors from tradition and giving those metaphors new meanings that is not entirely detached from its former meaning. Ṣāʾib also uses unique imagery that is not seen in the works of any other poets but this happens very rarely. Hence, Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī’s poetry retains its connection with tradition and achieves freshness through this connection rather than representing a style that is completely cut off from past.

Keywords

• Saeb Tabrizi
• Indian Style
• Sabk-e Hindi
• Persian poetry
• metaphors
• im- agery
• old age
• greed.

Kaynakça

1. Al-Bukhārī, M. I. (1997). The Translation of the Meanings of Sahîh Al- Bukhâri (Vol. 8) (M. M. Khan, Trans.). Riyadh: Darussalam.
2. Al-G̲h̲azālī, A. (1356). Iḥyāʾ Ulūm al-Dīn. Cairo: Nashr al-Thaḳāfat.
3. Anvarī (1340). Dīvān-i Anvarī, (M. T. M. Raḍavī Ed., Vol. 2: Muqaṭṭaʿāt-Ghazaliyyât-Rubāʿiyyāt). Bungāh-i Tarjuma va Nashr-i Ketāb.
4. Aṭṭār (1388). Elāhīnāma (M. R. Sh. Kadkanī, Ed., 5nd Ed.). Tehran: Intishārāt-i Soḥan.
5. Bausani, A. (1958). Contributo a una Definizione dello Stile Indiano della Poesia Persiana. Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli Nuova Serie, 7, 167-178.
6. De Brujin, J.T.P. (1995). SABK-I HINDĪ. In C. E. Bosworth et al. (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Islam New Edition (Vol. VIII, pp. 683-685). Leiden: Brill.
7. Dehlavī, A. Kh. (1361). Dīvān-i Kāmil-i Amīr Khusraw Dehlavī (S. Nafīsī, Ed., 2nd Ed.). Tehran: Sāzmān-i Intis̲h̲ārāt-i Jāvīdān.
8. Ganjavī N. (1335). Kulliyyāt-i Dīvān-i Ḥakīm Niẓāmī Ganjavī (V. Dastgardī, Ed.). Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.

9. Jāmī, N. ʿA. (1378). Dīvān-i Jāmī (A. Afṣaḥzād, Ed., Vol. 2: Vāsiṭat al-ʿAqd, Khātimat al-Ḥayāt). Tehran: Markaz-i Muṭālaʿāt-i Īrānī.
10. Kāshānī, K. M. (1380). Haft Dīvān-i Muḥtasham Kāshānī (A. Navāyī & M. Ṣadrî, Eds., Vol. 2), Mīrāth-i Maktūb.
11. Losensky P.E. (2003). ṢĀʾEB TABRIZI. In Encyclopædia Iranica online edition, retrieved on 6 July 2020 from iranicaonline.org/articles/saeb-tabrizi .
12. Masʿūd Saʿd, (1364). Dīvān-i Masʿūd Saʿd (M. Nūriyān, Ed., Vol. 1). Iṣfahān: Ketābfurūshī-i Kemāl.
13. Mevlânâ Celâleddîn Muhammed. (2007). Mesnevî-i Ma̒nevî (A. Karaismailoğlu & D. Örs, Eds., Vol. 1-2). Ankara: Akçağ.
14. Muʿizzī, (1318). Dīvān-i Amīr al-Shuʿarā Muḥammad b. Abd al-Malek Nīshābūrī Mutakhallaṣ ba Muʿizzī (A. Eqbāl, Ed.). Tehran: Ketābfurūshī-i Islāmiyya.
15. Nafīsī, S. (1341). Muḥīṭ-i Zindegī va Aḥvāl va Ashʿār-i Rūdakī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ketābkhāna-i Ibn Sīnā.
16. Naẓīrī, M. Ḥ. (1379). Dīvān-i Naẓīrī Nīshābūrī, (M. R. Ṭāhirī, Ed.). Tehran: Negāh.
17. Rahman M. (1995). ṢĀʾIB. In C. E. Bosworth et al. (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Islam New Edition (Vol. VIII, pp. 851-852). Leiden: Brill.
18. Saʿdī M. A. (1385). Kulliyyāt-i Saʿdī (M. A. Furūghī, Ed.). Tehran: Intis̲h̲ārāt-i Hermes.
19. Ṣafā D̲h. (1392). Tārīk̲h̲-i Adabiyyāt Dar Īrān (12nd Ed., Vol. 5/2). Tehran: Intishārāt-i Firdaws.
20. Ṣāʾib, M. A. (1381). Ghazaliyyāt va Abyāt-i Barguzīda-i Mavlānā Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī (M. Ḳahramān, Ed.). Isfahan: Intishārāt-i Shāhnāma Pezhūhī.
21. Sāvajī S. (1348). Jamshīd ū Khūrshīd (J. P. Asmussen & F. Vahman, Eds.). Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarjuma va Nashr-i Ketāb.
22. Sīstānī F. (1335). Dīvān-i Ḥakīm Farrukhī Sīstānī (M. Dabīrseyāqī, Ed.). Tehran: Eqbāl.
23. Tabrīzī, M. A. Ṣ (1364). Dīvān-i Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī (M. Ḳahramān, Ed., Vol. 1). Tehran: Sherkat-i Intishārāt-i Elmī va Farhangī.
24. Tabrīzī, M. A. Ṣ (1365). Dīvān-i Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī (M. Ḳahramān, Ed., Vol. 2). Tehran: Sherkat-i Intishārāt-i Elmī va Farhangī.
25. Tabrīzī, M. A. Ṣ (1366). Dīvān-i Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī (M. Ḳahramān, Ed., Vol. 3). Tehran: Sherkat-i Intishārāt-i Elmī va Farhangī.
26. Tabrīzī, M. A. Ṣ (1367). Dīvān-i Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī (M. Ḳahramān, Ed., Vol. 4). Tehran: Sherkat-i Intishārāt-i Elmī va Farhangī.
27. Tabrīzī, M. A. Ṣ (1368). Dīvān-i Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī (M. Ḳahramān, Ed., Vol. 5). Tehran: Sherkat-i Intishārāt-i Elmī va Farhangī.
28. Tabrīzī, M. A. Ṣ (1370). Dīvān-i Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī (M. Ḳahramān, Ed., Vol. 6). Tehran: Sherkat-i Intishārāt-i Elmī va Farhangī.
29. The Holy Qur’ān and Its Meaning (2018). (A. Y. Ali Trans.). Ankara: Publications of the Presidency of Religious Affairs.
30. Yakut, E. (2020). Hint Üslubu Şairlerinin Yeni Mazmun İcadında Gelenekten İstifadesi. In M. Yılmaz & A. Aksu (Eds.), Cemal Aksu Armağanı. (pp. 347-385). İstanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Yayınları.
31. Yarshater, E. (1974). Safavid Literature: Progress or Decline. Iranian Studies, 7 (1/2), 217-270.
32. Yarshater, E. (2006). Persian Poetry in the Timurid and Safavid Periods. In P. Jackson & L. Lockhart (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods) (pp. 965-994). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.