Devotional Mysticism: An Analogical Study of Hafez-e Shirazi and William Blake

Abstract

Mysticism is a method of thinking not wildly shared by the majority of the people around the entire world whereas unique individuals sap at the roots of this concept. Less a coherent movement than a way of thinking, the concept of mysticism is not systematically defined as a firm set of ideas but is more tended to be shaped by the individuals dealing with this concept. In this respect, each person carries this notion in his further exploration on his own accord since the concept is highly individualistic. As such, William Blake directed the concept toward a sort of devotional mysticism emphasizing on the individual's hard effort in achieving unity with God. In a similar manner, Hafez-e Shirazi, a classical Persian poet, undertook more or less the same method in signifying the notion of mysticism to his further investigations in his poems. Hence, through this paper, an attempt is made to explore the poems of these two poets regardless of their different cultural and geographical backgrounds to prove that each poet more or less has applied the same method called devotional mysticism in achieving unification with God. Moreover, the aforementioned research is based on the theoretical framework of comparative literature propounded by Francoise Jost and developed and expanded by Shunqing Cao in their seminal works on comparative literature.