Exile, Love and Poetry: A Journey Through Persian Literature.

In this talk, Ms. Anvar will evoke the history of love poetry in Persian literature and show how the classical themes and images of profane love were gradually transmuted into a language that expressed mystical love and longing. An analysis of poems by Rudaki, Nezami, Rûmi and Hâfez will show us that poetry was the only possible answer to the feeling of exile, separation and longing, be it worldly or spiritual. It is only through poetic evocation that the gap of absence can be filled and the beauty of the Beloved can be described. The powers of the poetic language are the media through which the soul is awakened and made aware of its separation from the primordial Beauty.