Abstract

Mapping the trajectory of Shakespeare and Hafiz’s taking pride in their own poetry as the epitomes of the evolution of sonnet and ghazal in England and Iran, this article thus examines that there is a kind of give and take relationship between power and poetry; in other words, power creates poets who create poetry of pride, and thus that poetry reflects the hegemony of that power and poets diffuse it in their lines and pave the way for the popularity of the language of power. This is a complex relationship which exists between poetry and power. Poetry has never been independent from political and ideological power, which has never given poetry total freedom. Thus, some special poets becoming cultural authorities in their countries endorses and lends credence to this claim.