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The Rubaiyat of Hafiz book cover
The Rubaiyat of Hafiz
Hafez
2005
First Published
4.26
Average Rating
63
Number of Pages
Every flower its beauty bestows, Your lips the dearest gems dispose, May your lips nurture our souls, With the wine that every spirit knows.﷓From the Rubaiyat of HafizBetter known by his nom de plume, Hafiz, Khwaja Shamsuddin Mohammad (1319-1389) is the most popular of the Persian poets; he acquired his surname from memorizing the Koran at an early age. A teacher of the Koran who associated with mystics, his lyrical poetry is acclaimed as the finest ever written in the Persian language.Among his works are the first-known examples of literary styles﷓the long rhyming poem, the couplet, and the rubaiyat, or the epic poem told in quatrains﷓that survive to this day. Contemporary Muslim critics translate his passionate verse as profound and lyrical in nature, while critics in the West are inclined to interpret his poems as challenging invectives.Hafiz influenced and was translated by, among others, Goethe and Emerson; literary scholars believe that Goethe's West stlicher Diwan (1819) was inspired by Hafiz. The poet is buried in a splendid tomb near Shiraz, Iran.
Avg Rating
4.26
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Author

Hafez
Hafez
Author · 21 books

Hāfez (حافظ) (Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī) was a Persian poet whose collected works (The Divan) are regarded as a pinnacle of Persian literature and are to be found in the homes of most people in Iran, who learn his poems by heart and still use them as proverbs and sayings. His life and poems have been the subject of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, influencing post-14th century Persian writing more than any other author Themes of his ghazals are the beloved, faith, and exposing hypocrisy. His influence in the lives of Persian speakers can be found in "Hafez readings" (fāl-e hāfez, Persian: فال حافظ‎‎) and the frequent use of his poems in Persian traditional music, visual art, and Persian calligraphy. His tomb is visited often. Adaptations, imitations and translations of his poems exist in all major languages. Though Hafez is well known for his poetry, he is less commonly recognized for his intellectual and political contributions. A defining feature of Hafez' poetry is its ironic tone and the theme of hypocrisy, widely believed to be a critique of the religious and ruling establishments of the time. Persian satire developed during the 14th century, within the courts of the Mongol Period. In this period, Hafez and other notable early satirists, such as Ubayd Zakani, produced a body of work that has since become a template for the use of satire as a political device. Many of his critiques are believed to be targeted at the rule of Amir Mobarez Al-Din Mohammad, specifically, towards the disintegration of important public and private institutions. He was a Sufi Muslim. His work, particularly his imaginative references to monasteries, convents, Shahneh, and muhtasib, ignored the religious taboos of his period, and he found humor in some of his society's religious doctrines. Employing humor polemically has since become a common practice in Iranian public discourse and persian satire is now perhaps the de facto language of Iranian social commentary.

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