33 pages • 1 hour read
Farid ud-Din AttarThe Conference of the Birds
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | AdultA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
The Hoopoe
The hoopoe is the leader of the conference of birds and guides them on their journey to the Simorgh. He was a confident of the biblical King Solomon and carried messages between him and the Queen of Sheba (29). The majority of the poem is structured by the other birds asking the hoopoe questions, and the hoopoe replying with advice, admonishments, and stories that illustrate his point.
The hoopoe is the equivalent of a sheikh guiding his religious pupils along the path of God. The hoopoe also emulates the relationship the poet has to his audience. Throughout the poem, it is often unclear whether the hoopoe or the author is speaking; frequently, the two seem to merge into a singular voice. The hoopoe often admonishes the birds in ways that are addressed to humanity. Attar’s relationship to his human audience, the reader, is thinly veiled behind the hoopoe’s relationship to the group of birds.
The Simorgh
A mythical bird that lives on Mount Qaf. The hoopoe tells the conference of birds that the Simorgh is their sovereign leader, and the birds eventually recognize him as such. When the final thirty birds arrive at the Simorgh’s palace, they discover that their king is merely their own reflection. The name Simorgh is a pun on this final realization. Si means ‘thirty’ and morgh means ‘birds,’ so the si morgh are on a quest to find the Simorgh, representing that the journey to enlightenment is within oneself.
The Birds
At the beginning of the poem, the birds are identified by their species, which indicate different human characteristics. The nightingale, for example, represents the lover, the finch represents the coward, the hawk represents the loyal protector, and so on. The birds make excuses to not take the journey to the Simorgh; these excuses correspond to the respective bird’s personality type. Their narratives are allegories of human struggles, characteristics, and failings. As the poem continues, the species of the birds are stripped away, just as the characteristics of the Self are stripped away, and the birds become more analogous to pupils on a spiritual path.
