Hafiz Poetry

Hafiz is a Persian poet of the year 1300. He was inspired by religion of love and wrote a couple of poems. His style is different compared to other poets. The metaphors he uses about life and living can be interpreted in different ways. Other than the philosophy of love, the poet reveals theological and mystical bases of his erotic spirituality. Influenced by Islamic philosophy, Sufism, the poet has a unique style in describing the life itself. The poem which made the most impression in me is “No more Leaving”.

At

Some point

Your relationship

With God

Will

Become like this:

Next time you meet Him in the forest

Or on a crowded city street

There won't be anymore

"Leaving."

That is,

God will climb into

Your pocket.

You will simply just take

Yourself

Along!

It shows his beliefs and his views about God. Sooner or later we all come to embrace to love of God.

“Love Story” – Movie vs. Book

I found very interesting the fact that we first read the book and then watched the actual movie. It was the first time that I’ve done something like this. If I would be asked on whether I would have liked it vice versa (first to watch the movie and then read the book) in a strange way I would have answered, no. And surely this wouldn’t be the case back two months ago where I did not find that interesting reading books, novels or poems. However, after taking Golbal Literature class, I’ve completely changed my view on the literature stuff.

I loved the book more than the movie! I imagined different characters, places, and events in my imagination when reading, and found it very strange when watching the movie. Ex. I expected Oliver Barret to be a more charming guy, with great body… (Not like in the movie).  I also hated the same music that it kept repeating scene after scene – the theme of Love Story by Francis Lai.

The movie also fails to imply some key points in that are shown in the book, but rather skips them just to finish the story quicker.  The main points which I thought would have fitted very well in the movie are: After Ollie kisses Jenny; she says she doesn’t like it. And then she says she doesn’t like the fact that she likes it. That was a great line that I really expected it to be on the movie. Another scene that is not shown on the movie is in the end. In the book Oliver ends up crying in his father's arms and learns to let go, but in the movie he sort of resists and goes to a bench in a park and just stays and remembers memories.

“Love Story” – Chapters VII – XXII

After Ollie proposes marriage to Jenny, the next step is visiting of the parents. First they go to visit Ollie’s parents. When Jenny enters the mansion she is very surprised because she didn’t know that Ollie would be that rich. Once they enter the house all the trophies and different pictures of almost every hall in Harvard hanging on wall amaze Jenny. The visit goes well, but Ollie’s parents didn’t seem so pleased that the girl was not on the same social status as Ollie and that her father was a baker from Rhode Island.

Oliver Barret III invites Ollie for lunch and tells him his impressions about the girl. He seemed to admire her, and her achievement considering her background…But Ollie misunderstands that and that’s when he decides to walk away from that life and begin his own.  

The story continues with a visit to Jenny’s father, Phil. The visit was O.K. according to Jenny but what the father didn’t like is that they were not that religious and didn’t want a priest on their wedding or even the wedding to take place on a catholic church.  Finally they get married. They write their own vowels and the school’s chaplain marries them.

They move to a new house, Jenny gets a job, and Ollie graduates. Things start to get better for them, but when they receive an invitation for Oliver Barret IV 60^th birthday, they argue and Jenny ‘leaves’. When Jenny comes back, she says a powerful sentence: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” and they’re back on track. Ollie finishes 3^rd on Harvard Law School and gets a job with a very high salary. While it appeared that everything is getting better and better, a visit to a doctor tells Ollie that Jenny is very sick and will die soon. At this point the story connects with the beginning paragraph, the tragic paragraph revealing the actual death of a girl that loved Mozart, Bach, Beatles, and Ollie.  

Ollie tries everything in his power to get her better, he even asks for more money from his father, but none of this helps. Approaching the last hours of her life, Jenny tries to make Ollie feel better by telling him that he was the only thing she needed, and not Paris or music. Her last wish for her husband was to be strong and take care of her father. She dies after saying “Thanks, Ollie”.  The story ends with Ollie repeating Jenny’s powerful words on the first argument that they had, when he says to his father “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” and bursts into tears on his father’s arms.

“Love Story ” – Chapters I - VI

A tragic love story, yet very interesting and engaged with real life examples. The main character is a big jock rich hokey player studying in Harvard, Oliver Barret IV; and a beautiful, smart but poor young lady from Rhode Island, studying in Radcliffe, Jennifer Cavalleri.  They meet at Radcliffe library, where Jenny makes her first move and tricks Ollie into buying her coffee. The first date goes well and they now proceed to the second stage where Ollie invites Jenny to his hockey game.

By this time, Jenny knows more about Oliver. She knows that he has a hall in Harvard by his family name, his aspiration is law school, his father is a banker and was a famous athlete, Ollie’s relationship with his father is very tense and formal etc. On the other hand it conflicts with Jenny, whose father (Phil) is a baker from Rhode Island, her mother died in a car accident, she works at the library and studies music, dreams of going to Paris…

So, we can conclude that we have different conflicts about the two personalities.  They differ in classes, rich vs. poor; conflict of parents occupations, baker vs. banker. We also have ethnicity conflicts. However, those conflicts don’t stop them and gradually they fall in love with each other. A funny thing about the first six chapters is that Ollie was always used of being on top, but when he’s with Jenny she seems like she’s in control and he somehow feels insecure. Jenny really crossed boundaries with her connection with Ollie, because many people might get the wrong idea that she’s in it for the money. As the story goes along, Jenny tells Ollie that she got a scholarship for Paris and she’s thinking about going there. Ollie quickly reacts and proposes her marriage by giving her a very strange answer. “Why do you wanna marry me? Because”!

“somewhere i have never travelled” by e.e cummings

This one is a very strange love poem by E. E. Cummings. The entire poem is written with small letter. Even the author’s name and the title are in small letters. The only capital letter in the poem is ‘S’ in “Spring”. The title of the poem is “somewhere I have never travelled” and indicates the poet’s inexperience with respect to his feelings towards his muse. It uses different metaphors to imply love as for instance roses. As the poem goes on Cummings questions her emotions as in and out, and hot and cold... Because her love towards him is a mystery, she clarifies that he could never explain the woman’s effect on him. No matter how hard he tries to understand and compare the woman, his feelings and the situation to the world’s mysteries and beauty still won’t make him understand more. The last and final line talks about how the girl that can penetrate his deepest feelings, and yet not let the rain to go through the core of a rose bloom.  

By using different metaphors, smiles, and personifications Cummings manages to explain the weakness of love. Simple words are used to convey complex meanings. By far the most interesting line that gave me food for thought on this poem was “nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands”.

"A Large Number" by Wislawa Szymborska

This is a very nice poem written by Wislawa Szymborksa that talks about ‘big numbers’ as she’s imagining all the things in the earth. The poem’s main point is how far an imagination can go, questioning the space… The author starts the poem by complaining about her imagination. Even though there are four billion people on this earth her imagination still remains restricted in some form. Subsequently, author comes to the point of considering the choices. Usually when you reach a certain age in life you start questioning yourself what you would have done differently. What would the outcome be if I selected that way, instead of this…”I select by rejecting, for there’s no other way”.

Dreams are also mentioned in the poem. We all feel the dreams and all the dreams have meanings. But what’s the meaning when “Sometimes someone long dead will drop by for a bit”!? I guess the author really misses someone that died long ago and sees that person on the dream.

My favorite line of the poem is: “I reply with a whisper to a thunderous calling”. It shows she’s not ready to accept something; she’s not ready for a change…