ely Platen has
mastered this difficult form. The _radif_ or refrain, so familiar to
readers of Hafid, he reproduces with complete success, as may be seen,
for instance, in 8, where the words "du liebst mich nicht" are repeated
at the end of each couplet, preceded successively by _zerrissen_,
_wissen_, _beflissen_, _gewissen_, _vermissen_, _Narzissen_, exactly in
the style of such an ode as H. 100. In those odes called _Spiegel des
Hafis_ the name _Hafis_ is even regularly introduced into the last
couplet, in accordance with the invariable rule of the Persian _gazal_
that the author's name must appear in the final couplet.

Besides the _gazal_ Platen has also attempted the _ruba'i_ or quatrain,
in which form he wrote twelve poems (_Werke_, ii. pp. 62-64), and the
_qasidah_. Of this there is only one specimen, a panegyric (for such in
most cases is the Persian _qasidah_) on Napoleon, and, as may therefore
be imagined, of purely Occidental content.[141]

* * * * *

Of Platen's translations from Hafid we need not speak here. But we must
call attention to the attempt which he made to translate from Nidami's
_Iskandar Namah_ in the original _mutaqarib_-metre. The first eight
couplets of the invocation are thus rendered, and in spite of the great
difficulty attending the use of this metre in a European language, the
rendering must be pronounced fairly successful. It is also faithful, as
a comparison with the original shows. We cite the first two couplets
from the Persian:

[Arabic]
[Arabic]

"O God, world-sovereignty is Thine! From us comes service, Godhead
is Thine. The Protection of high and low Thou art! Everything is
nonexistent; whatever is, Thou art."[142]

Of other Oriental poems, not translations, we notice "Parsenlied,"
dating from the year 1819, when Goethe's _Divan_ appeared, and it is
quite possible that the _Parsi Nameh_ of that work suggested to Platen
the composition of his poem.[143] His best known ballad, "Harmosan,"
written in 1830, has a Persian warrior for its hero. The source for the
poem is probably Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ (chap.
li.)[144]

FOOTNOTES:

[132] We might say into European literature. The only previous attempts,
as far as we know, to reproduce this form were made by Jones, who
translated a ghazal of Jami (Works, vol. ii. p. 501) into English, and
by a certain Tommaso Chabert, who translated several gha