The scent of the beloved’s hair in Divan poetry

Abstract

This thesis researches the subject of the scent of the beloved’s hair in Divan Poetry in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in terms of form and content. It explains the words and phrases that divan poets prefer to use in the context of the scent of the beloved’s hair. The other issues of the thesis are the impact of the beloved’s hair on the lover and the functions of sabâ (gentle breeze), which transfers the scent of the beloved’s hair to the lover. For this subject, at the beginning, 14 divan books and one nazire book were read in order to collect couplets which are related to the scent of the beloved’s hair. Around 1000 couplets have been found and categorized according to words related to the beloved’s hair and the materials and flowers for the scent of the beloved’s hair as a metaphor have been examined in terms of form. Additionally, this thesis addresses the impact of the scent of the beloved’s hair on the lover; and also the effects of sabâ, some materials and flowers which display the attributes of lover by way of personification. What is more, it also discusses the source of the scent of sabâ, the relationship of sabâ to the beloved’s hair and the places where sabâ creates good smell.