batch.motif.sufi-hafiz-divan-bell-gutenberg-l66-l125
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-hafiz-divan-bell-gutenberg-l66-l125
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/poems-from-divan-of-hafiz-bell.md
passage_locator:
label: TRANSLATED BY / GERTRUDE LOWTHIAN BELL / LONDON / WILLIAM HEINEMANN; lines
66-125
start: '66'
end: '125'
translation: Poems from the Divan of Hafiz
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage is the title and dedication opening of Bell's translation,
including a dedication to Hafiz of Shiraz. A poem says Death closes the ears,
eyes, and lips in silence, yet Hafiz's songs remain audible. The poem recalls
songs of laughter, love, wine, rose, nightingale, and graver music, names Hafiz
as a seeker of the keys of Life and Death, says his voice was carried by wind
and stream across places, and ends with praise, longing, grief, wisdom, wreaths,
and his grave.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage presents a title page, translator attribution, publication place
and date, and a dedication to Hafiz of Shiraz.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The verse says that when Death comes, he places fingers on a person's ears,
eyes, and lips and whispers for silence.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The verse says that although Hafiz's ear is deaf and his eye suffers Time's
eclipse, his songs can still be heard by all men.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The songs are described through images of dead laughter, former love, a wine-cup,
a forgotten rose, a nightingale, and graver music beneath tender love notes.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Hafiz is addressed as a seeker of the keys of Life and Death.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The soft summer wind, Mosalla's garden, and the stream of Ruknabad are said
to have carried Hafiz's voice farther than he dreamed, toward several named regions
and cities.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: A collective speaker says that they laugh, warm themselves at Love's fire,
thirst for wine, and lift voices in Grief's dark-robed choir.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: The speaker asks Hafiz to sing the wisdom given by joy and sorrow and says
that fresh wreaths would be laid upon his grave if the speaker's rhymes had heart-lore.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Hafiz of Shiraz
description: Named dedicatee, addressed as Hafiz, Master, Poet, and seeker of the
keys of Life and Death.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Death
description: Personified as one who comes to people, places fingers on ears, eyes,
and lips, and whispers silence.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Collective speaker
description: A speaking group identified by 'we' and 'my' addresses Hafiz, describes
shared laughter, thirst, grief, and praise, and imagines wreaths for his grave.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: dedicatee and master poet
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage is dedicated to Hafiz of Shiraz and ends by calling him Master
and Poet.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: silencer at death
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Death is described as closing ears, eyes, and lips and commanding silence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: praising speaker or chorus
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The speaker uses collective 'we' language and directly praises and petitions
Hafiz.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: seeker of life-and-death knowledge
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Hafiz is addressed as 'Seeker of the keys of Life and Death.'
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: five fingers closing the senses
literal_form: Death's fingers on ears, eyes, and lips
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: hour-glass and life-sand
literal_form: life-sand slipping through an hour-glass
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: enduring songs
literal_form: songs that all men may hear after Hafiz's bodily silence
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: wine-cup
literal_form: a cup once rose-red with wine
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: rose and nightingale
literal_form: a forgotten rose and a nightingale that piped hushed lays
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:6
label: keys of Life and Death
literal_form: keys of Life and Death
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:7
label: wind and stream carrying voice
literal_form: soft summer wind and the stream of Ruknabad carrying Hafiz's voice
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:8
label: Love's fire
literal_form: fire of Love at which the speakers warm themselves
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:9
label: wreaths on the grave
literal_form: fresh wreaths to lay upon Hafiz's grave
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Dedication and deathly silence
summary: The passage opens with dedication materials and a verse in which Death
closes human senses and commands silence.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Songs outlasting the poet's bodily silence
summary: Hafiz's senses are described as eclipsed or deaf, but his songs continue
to be heard and are characterized through love, wine, rose, nightingale, and graver
music.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Voice carried across landscapes
summary: Wind, garden, and stream carry Hafiz's voice beyond Mosalla and Ruknabad
toward named cities, wastes, seas, and distant lands.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Present praise, longing, grief, and memorial offering
summary: The collective speaker describes laughing, warming at Love's fire, craving
wine, singing in Grief's choir, asking for wisdom, and wishing to lay wreaths
on Hafiz's grave.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Death silences the senses
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Death is personified as closing ears, eyes, and lips and commanding silence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The passage uses a poetic personification rather than a narrative episode
of death in action.
- id: motif:2
label: Poetic song survives death
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The poem contrasts Hafiz's deafened ear and eclipsed eye with songs that
all men may still hear.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: This is a literary immortality motif rather than an explicit resurrection
or return motif.
- id: motif:3
label: Quest for keys of Life and Death
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
- wisdom
basis: Hafiz is addressed as the seeker of the keys of Life and Death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives the title-like image but does not narrate an actual
quest.
- id: motif:4
label: Wisdom born from joy and sorrow
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The speaker asks Hafiz to sing the wisdom that joy and sorrow gave.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is stated as praise and petition, not developed as a full teaching
scene.
- id: motif:5
label: Love as fire and longing as thirst for wine
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The collective speaker warms at Love's fire and thirsts for wine.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage does not explicitly define whether the love and wine are literal,
poetic, or mystical.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 66-80
quote_or_summary: Title and publication material identify Poems from the Divan of
Hafiz, translated by Gertrude Lowthian Bell, London, 1897, followed by a dedication
to Hafiz of Shiraz.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/poems-from-divan-of-hafiz-bell.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; concise summary.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: lines 81-88
quote_or_summary: '"When Death comes to you" he lays fingers on ears, eyes, and
lips, whispering "Silence"; Hafiz''s songs may still be heard.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/poems-from-divan-of-hafiz-bell.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short excerpt.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 89-96
quote_or_summary: The passage names songs of dead laughter, love, a rose-red wine-cup,
a forgotten rose, a nightingale, graver music, and addresses Hafiz as seeker of
the keys of Life and Death.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/poems-from-divan-of-hafiz-bell.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; concise summary.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 97-104
quote_or_summary: Summer wind over Mosalla's garden and the stream of Ruknabad are
said to have carried Hafiz's voice farther than expected, to Isfahan, Baghdad,
Yezd, Ind, and westward.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/poems-from-divan-of-hafiz-bell.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; concise summary.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 105-112
quote_or_summary: The speaker says 'we' laugh, warm at Love's fire, thirst for wine,
sing in Grief's choir, asks Hafiz to sing wisdom from joy and sorrow, and imagines
wreaths upon his grave.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/poems-from-divan-of-hafiz-bell.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; concise summary.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is strong for the supplied passage. Motif labels are cautious
because the passage is a dedication poem with symbolic language rather than a
narrative myth. No comparison claims were generated because the passage itself
does not explicitly support a cross-textual comparison.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. Taxonomy references were limited to available entries and only applied where directly supported by wording in the passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-hafiz-divan-bell-gutenberg__l66-l125
passage_sha256=22d72d8d13b82efbf6d7d42475cf89f2be4460cf65d5e9291d2ae834950109e6