Hafez and Irony

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(10 16 26 1)>Hafez's poem is the guardian of a 'secret' a secret that implies closed speech yet simultaneously conveys openness. It embodies both totality and dispersion presenting a complexity that is also inherently simple comprehensible to anyone who reads it. Often Hafez's poetry communicates something beyond its literal meaning creating a contradiction in both expression and poetic attitude which is interpreted as irony in this book. Here irony serves not only as a rhetorical device but also as a conceptual framework for understanding Hafez's poetry considering its literary and theoretical implications. The aim of this analysis is to explore the historical necessity that led to this rhetorical (ironic) aspect in Hafez's poetic discourse. Farokhfal is a graduate of Pahlavi University (Shiraz) and Concordia University (Montreal). He has taught Persian at McGill University (Montreal) and in the United States at Wisconsin State University in Madison and Colorado State University in Boulder. His works including two university-level Persian language teaching course are currently taught in several prestigious American universities.</span></p>