an exploration into feminine terms in mystic sonnets of ḥāfeẓ-e shīrāzī

the present paper deals with examination of the terms listed in one hundred sonnets in hafez’s poetic collection (divan) where one may seemingly assume them as feminine terms in order to find their latent meanings and concepts and the point that whether the poet has intended to employ these terms only for their apparent concepts or he has had some concepts beyond their apparent meanings in mind. this study is of qualitative type, research and methodology of this study is of documentary type (library) and the content analysis has been also employed qualitatively to analyze poems of hafez. although he has not explicitly referred to female character in his sonnets (despite the fact that there are some critiques from society about some of his sonnets, hafez’s sonnet is perfectly mystic not social; in other words, they are some love poems totally concerned with glorification and praising of god), woman has very high and magnificent position in hafez’ paradigm wherever hafez intended to talk about his god he has described woman and her beauties for public perception and better conception and all of his lovely illustrations of female are allegory and allusion of the lord and refer exactly  to god.