Senses of Love in Nezami Ganjavi’s Romantic Epics

Persian romantic poets employ various strategies to depict the sharpening of the senses when they fall in love. In this paper, I will concentrate on the lovers in Nezami Ganjavi's (d. c. 1209) romances, investigating how the poet deals with sensory organs such as sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. The lovers’ perception of the world usually changes when they fall in love, which has far-reaching consequences for their relationship with the beloved and other protagonists in the story. In the loving context, the poet contrives sensory metaphors, imagery and similes to depict the emotions and perceptions of the lovers.