Hafez and the other Self: A linguistics account of polyphony in signature verse Ghazals of Hafez

Although Ghazals of Hafez have been researched on in different poetic and linguistic approaches، there is always a new finding when diving in this endless ocean. In this paper discourse of signature verses (Takhallus) of Hafez are analyzed using one of the most authorized and referred theories today but ignored for some times that of Bakhtin. The Russian philosopher who claims that the author is not the only speaker but along with “other voices” in an active interaction take part in the creation of the truth. Considering this view point، it was found that in spite of the fact that in most verses Hafez addresses himself، there is no “one” speaker. In other words he takes different varieties of viewpoints. In this way he sometimes agrees with Hafez، sometimes praises him، sometimes takes care of him، and still in other cases he opposes him، blames him، disagrees with him، or even outrages against him. Hafez is not alone، there are other voices in different layers of the discourse in a dialogic interaction. What makes this signature verses distinct is that here Hafez explicitly says that “I is an other”، “I must become the other of myself”، “I am my other self”. In this research، characteristics of polyphonic discourse are proposed as practical Models in three patterns for structural polyphony and three patterns for content or viewpoint polyphony with all the related sub-patterns.