Spiritual journey in Seyid Azim Shirvani’s ghazals

Abstract

 Seyid Azim Shirvani, who created the most perfect examples of the ghazal genre in Azerbaijani poetry of the XIX century, was one of the followers of Fuzuli literary school, along with skillful use of Fuzuli heritage, comprehended his creativity to the subtleties, continued the poet's poetry traditions with love Sometimes the specific address of the works written in lirlk type is not known, they are devoid of concreteness. The glorification of the beautiful, their comparison with the divine being, their love for divine Love form a common category. All this feature changes in the poetry of Seyid Azim. The beauty in his ghazal with a radif  “This is your face” is a woman whose address is fully known, whom the poet meets in reality every day. One of the main signs that distinguish Seyid Azim from his predecessors is the presence of addressed beauties and real persons in his ghazals. In the ghazals of Seyid Azim, a loving lover and suffering beloved are united in one pole. And in the center of these poles is the poet's lyrical “I”. One of the characters in the lyrical ghazals is a lover who drinks love wine and enters into love, and the other is a mistress who is tormented by love pains. “I am back again” is one of the beautiful ghazals of the poet, which manifests the ideas of Sufism in terms of content. The poet created a beautiful poetic work in this ghazal using the teachings of Sufism in stages and moments. The Sufi encounters various difficulties in order to annihilation in God, and to be enlightened with true faith, and  in order to overcome them, they go through certain stages and moments, and achieve closeness to the divine in this life. At the last moment, he attains the death and reaches the truth faith, thereby leaving his former state and becoming a traveler on another path.