Anvarī and the Ghazal: An Exploration

Summary

Advice to a little lover

In ʿOwfī's anthology entitled Lubāb al-alhāb a poetic fragment by Anvarī is recorded which provides an insight into his personal views about the value of poetry. He introduces an interrogator, whom he patronisingly calls “a little lover” (ʿāshiqī), referring to someone who has just taken the first steps on the thorny path of love but still has a lot to learn or, more likely, to a young and inexperienced poet. When Anvarī is asked: “Do you compose love poems?” (ghazal mīgū’ī), he declares that he has abandoned them just as he has turned away from other genres of court poetry such as panegyrics (madḥ) and satire (hijā). He has practised all three but he has come to realise that they are prompted by the three main vices lurking in the lower soul: lust (shahvat), greed (ḥirṣ) and anger (ghażab); this introduces a litany of the hardships he has suffered under the tyranny of these three “dirty dogs.” The obligation to produce a love poem on the next day, for instance, kept him awake many a night searching for words to describe sweet lips or curly locks. From all this he has been released now, thanks be to God, and he advises the little lover to turn from his ambition, go into a corner and heed the swift passing of his few earthly days.

In spite of the pious conclusion, it should be considered that this kind of poetry, the qiṭʿa, is usually connected with light verse. The reader (or the listener for that matter) might expect a playful treatment of the theme of the poem even if this is of a serious nature. Also in this poem the light tone appropriate for such incidental poetry is unmistakable. The question is: how seriously is Anvarī's statement to be taken? Some of his biographers tell us that towards the end of his life the celebrated poet gave up his career as a professional encomiast at the court of the Seljuq sultans and retreated into a contemplative life. Whatever the truth of this may be, the genre of this poem should warn us not to read too much into this piece of topical poetry.