Throughout the _Divan_ Persian similes and metaphors are copiously
employed and help to create a genuine Oriental atmosphere. The adoration
of the dust on the path of the beloved, p. 23 (cf. H̱. 497. 10); the
image of the candle that is consumed by the flame as the lover is by
yearning, p. 54 (cf. H̱. 414. 4); the love of the nightingale for the
rose, p. 125 (cf. H̱. 318. 1); the lover captive in the maiden's
tresses, p. 46 (cf. H̱. 338. 1); the arrows of the eye lashes, p. 129
(cf. H̱. 173. 2); the verses strung together like pearls, p. 193 (cf.
H̱. 499. 11), are some of the peculiarly Persian metaphors that occur.
Allusions to the loves of Yūsuf and Zalīχā, of Laīlā and Majnūn and of
other Oriental couples are repeatedly brought in. Moreover, a whole book
is devoted to the _sāqī_ so familiar to students of H̱āfiḍ, and Goethe
does not shrink from alluding to the subject of boy-love, p. 181.

A great many of the poems, however, do not owe their inspiration to the
Orient, and many are completely unoriental. Such are, for instance,
those of the _Randsch Namah_, expressing, as they do, Goethe's opinions
on contemporary literary and aesthetic matters. Again, many are inspired
by personal experiences, and, as is now well known, the whole _Buch
Suleika_ owes its origin to the poet's love for Marianne von Willemer;
some of its finest poems have been proved to have been written by this
gifted lady. Such poems, written under the impressions of some actual
occurrence, were sometimes subsequently orientalized. Some striking
illustrations of this are given by Burdach in the essay which we cited
before and to which we refer.

As the _Divan_ was an original work, though inspired by Oriental
sources, Goethe did not feel the necessity of imitating the extremely
artificial forms of his Oriental models. Besides, he knew of these forms