Hafez
Hafez | |
---|---|
Influenced | Subsequent Persian lyric poets, Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mihály Csokonai |
Tradition or genre | Mystic poetry (Ghazal, Irfan) |
Major works | The Divān of Hafez |
Khājeh Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī (Persian: خواجه شمسالدین محمد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (حافظ, Ḥāfeẓ, 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz,[1] was a Persian lyric poet[2][3] whose collected works are regarded by many Iranians as one of the highest pinnacles of Persian literature. His works are often found in the homes of Persian speakers, who learn his poems by heart and use them as everyday proverbs and sayings. His life and poems have become the subjects of much analysis, commentary, and interpretation, influencing post-14th century Persian writing more than any other Persian author.[4][5]
Hafez is best known for his
Themes of his ghazals include the beloved, faith and exposing hypocrisy. In his ghazals he deals with love, wine and taverns, all presenting
Life
Hafez was born in
Modern scholars generally agree that he was born either in 1315 or 1317. According to an account by
Twenty years after his death, a tomb, the Hafezieh, was erected to honor Hafez in the Musalla Gardens in Shiraz. The current mausoleum was designed by André Godard, a French archeologist and architect, in the late 1930s, and the tomb is raised up on a dais amidst rose gardens, water channels, and orange trees. Inside, Hafez's alabaster sarcophagus bears the inscription of two of his poems.[citation needed]
Legends
Many semi-miraculous mythical tales were woven around Hafez after his death. It is said that by listening to his father's recitations, Hafez had accomplished the task of learning the
According to one tradition, before meeting his self-chosen
At 60, he is said to have begun a
In one tale,
'agar 'ān Tork-e Šīrāzī * be dast ārad del-ē mā-rā
|
If that Shirazi Turk accepts my heart in their hand,
|
Hafez, the tale goes, bowed deeply and replied, "Alas, O Prince, it is this prodigality which is the cause of the misery in which you find me". So surprised and pleased was Timur with this response that he dismissed Hafez with handsome gifts.[15]
Influence
Intellectual and artistic legacy
Hafez was acclaimed throughout the
His work was first translated into English in 1771 by
There is no definitive version of his collected works (or Dīvān); editions vary from 573 to 994 poems. Only since the 1940s has a sustained scholarly attempt (by Mas'ud Farzad, Qasim Ghani and others in Iran) been made to authenticate his work and to remove errors introduced by later copyists and censors. However, the reliability of such work has been questioned,[26] and in the words of Hāfez scholar Iraj Bashiri, "there remains little hope from there (i.e.: Iran) for an authenticated diwan".[27]
In contemporary Iranian culture
Hafez is the most popular poet in Iran, and his works can be found in almost every Iranian home.[28] In fact, October 12 is celebrated as Hafez Day in Iran.[29]
His tomb is "crowded with devotees" who visit the site and the atmosphere is "festive" with visitors singing and reciting their favorite Hafez poems.[28]
Many Iranians use Divan of Hafez for
In Iranian music
In the genre of Persian classical music Hafez along with Sa'di have been the most popular poets in the art of āvāz, non-metered form of singing. Also the form 'Sāqi-Nāmeh' in the radif of Persian music is based on the same title by Hafez. A number of contemporary composers such as Parviz Meshkatian (Sheydaie), Hossein Alizadeh (Ahu-ye Vahshi), Mohammad Reza Lotfi (Golestān), and Siamak Aghaie (Yād Bād) have composed metric songs (tasnif) based on ghazals of Hafez which have become very popular in the genre of classical music. Hayedeh performed the song "Padeshah-e Khooban", with music by Farid Zoland. The Ottoman composer Buhurizade Mustafa Itri composed his magnum opus Neva Kâr based upon one of Hafez's poems. The Polish composer Karol Szymanowski composed The Love Songs of Hafiz based upon a German translation of Hafez poems.[citation needed]
In Afghan music
Many Afghan singers, including
Interpretation
The question of whether his work is to be interpreted literally, mystically, or both has been a source of contention among western scholars.[32] On the one hand, some of his early readers such as William Jones saw in him a conventional lyricist similar to European love poets such as Petrarch.[33] Others scholars such as Henry Wilberforce Clarke saw him as purely a poet of didactic, ecstatic mysticism in the manner of Rumi, a view that a minority of twentieth century critics and literary historians have come to challenge.[34] Ralph Waldo Emerson rejected the Sufistic view of wine in Hafez's poems.[35]
This confusion stems from the fact that, early in Persian literary history, the poetic vocabulary was usurped by mystics, who believed that the ineffable could be better approached in poetry than in prose. In composing poems of mystic content, they imbued every word and image with mystical undertones, causing mysticism and lyricism to converge into a single tradition. As a result, no fourteenth-century Persian poet could write a lyrical poem without having a flavor of mysticism forced on it by the poetic vocabulary itself.[36][37] While some poets, such as Ubayd Zakani, attempted to distance themselves from this fused mystical-lyrical tradition by writing satires, Hafez embraced the fusion and thrived on it. Wheeler Thackston has said of this that Hafez "sang a rare blend of human and mystic love so balanced... that it is impossible to separate one from the other".[38]
For reasons such as that, the history of the translation of Hāfez is fraught with complications, and few translations into western languages have been wholly successful.
One of the figurative gestures for which he is most famous (and which is among the most difficult to translate) is īhām or artful punning. Thus, a word such as gowhar, which could mean both "essence, truth" and "pearl", would take on both meanings at once as in a phrase such as "a pearl/essential truth outside the shell of superficial existence".
Hafez often took advantage of the aforementioned lack of distinction between lyrical, mystical, and panegyric writing by using highly intellectualized, elaborate metaphors and images to suggest multiple possible meanings. For example, a couplet from one of Hafez's poems reads:[citation needed]
Last night, from the cypress branch, the nightingale sang,
In Old Persian tones, the lesson of spiritual stations.
The cypress tree is a symbol both of the beloved and of a regal presence; the nightingale and birdsong evoke the traditional setting for human love. The "lessons of spiritual stations" suggest, obviously, a mystical undertone as well (though the word for "spiritual" could also be translated as "intrinsically meaningful"). Therefore, the words could signify at once a prince addressing his devoted followers, a lover courting a beloved, and the reception of spiritual wisdom.[39]
Satire, religion, and politics
Though Hafez is well known for his poetry, he is less commonly recognized for his intellectual and political contributions.[40] 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.[41][42] Persian satire developed during the 14th century, within the courts of the Mongol Empire. 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 Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, specifically, towards the disintegration of important public and private institutions.[41][42][43]
His work, particularly his imaginative references to
Modern English editions
A standard modern English edition of Hafez is Faces of Love (2012) translated by
Peter Avery translated a complete edition of Hafez in English, The Collected Lyrics of Hafiz of Shiraz, published in 2007.[46] It was awarded Iran's Farabi prize.[47] Avery's translations are published with notes explaining allusions in the text and filling in what the poets would have expected their readers to know.[47] An abridged version exists, titled Hafiz of Shiraz: Thirty Poems: An Introduction to the Sufi Master.
Divan-e-Hafez
Divan Hafez is a book containing all the remaining poems of Hafez. Most of these poems are in Persian and the most crucial part of this Divan is ghazals. There are poems in other poetic formats such as piece, ode, Masnavi and quatrain in this Divan.
There is no evidence that most of Hafez's poems were destroyed. In addition, Hafez was very famous during his lifetime; Therefore, the small number of poetry in the court indicates that he was not a prolific poet.
Hafez's Divan was probably compiled for the first time by Mohammad Glendam after his death. Of course, some unconfirmed reports indicate that Hafez published his court in AH 770 (1368). that is, edited more than twenty years before his death.[39]
Death and the tomb
The year of Hafez's death is AH 791 (1389). Hafez was buried in the prayer hall of Shiraz called hafezieh. In AH 855 (1451), after the conquest of Shiraz by Abolghasem Babar Teymouri, they built a tomb under the command of his minister, Maulana Mohammad Mamaei.[8]
Poems by Hafez
The number in the edition by Muhammad Qazvini and Qasem Ghani (1941) is given, as well as that of Parviz Nātel-Khānlari (2nd ed. 1983):
- Alā yā ayyoha-s-sāqī – QG 1; PNK 1
- Dūš dīdam ke malā'ek– QG 184; PNK 179
- Goftā borūn šodī – QG 406; PNK 398
- Mazra'-ē sabz-e falak – QG 407; PNK 399
- Naqdhā rā bovad āyā – QG 185; PNK 180
- Sālhā del talab-ē jām– QG 142 (Ganjoor 143); PNK 136
- Shirazi Turk – QG 3; PNK 3
- Sīne mālāmāl– QG 470; PNK 461
- Zolf-'āšofte – QG 26; PNK 22
See also
- Diwan (poetry)
- List of Persian poets and authors
- Persian metres
- Persian mysticism
- Rumi, Persian poet
- Persian literature
- The Love Songs of Hafiz
- West-östlicher Diwan
References
- ^ a b c "Ḥāfeẓ | Persian author", Encyclopedia Britannica, retrieved 2018-08-06
- ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica. "HAFEZ". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
HAFEZ (Ḥāfeẓ), Šams-al-Din Moḥammad, of Shiraz (ca. 715-792/1315-1390), celebrated Persian lyric poet.
- ^ de Fouchécour, Charles-Henri (2018-07-01). "Ḥāfiẓ". Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE.
Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ was a Persian lyric poet who lived in Shiraz from about 715/1315 to 792/1390.
- ^ Yarshater. Accessed 25 July 2010.
- ^ Aga Khan III, "Hafiz and the Place of Iranian Culture in the World", November 9, 1936 London.
- ^ "Hafez's Poetic Art". Encyclopaedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hafez-iii Accessed August 23, 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-4653-7091-4. Accessed 2016-08-23.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4653-7091-4. Retrieved 2016-08-23.[self-published source]
- ^ Lit. Hist. Persia III, pp. 271-73
- ISBN 0-300-09422-1. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
- ^ a b Khorramshahi. Accessed 25 July 2010
- ^ Lewisohn, p. 69.
- ^ Gray, pp. 11-12. Gray notes that Ghazvini's and Gani's compilation in 1941 relied on the earliest texts known at that time and that none of the four texts they used were related to each other. Since then, she adds, more than 14 earlier texts have been found, but their relationships to each other have not been studied.
- ^ Lewisohn, p. 67
- ^ a b c d Gray, pp. 2-4.
- OL 30677644M. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ Haider, MH (3 July 2015). "The Persian candy". The Daily Star (Bangladesh).
- ^ Jafri, Sardar. “Hafiz Shirazi (1312-1387-89).” Social Scientist, vol. 28, no. 1/2, 2000, pp. 12–31. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3518055. Accessed 31 Jan. 2021.
- ^ Rabindranath Tagore (1932). Journey to Persia and Iraq. p. 47.
- ^ Discoveries
- ^ The autobiography of Maharshi Devendranath Tagore
- ^ RABINDRANATH TAGORE
- ^ Kane, Paul (Spring 2009). "EMERSON AND HAFIZ: THE FIGURE OF THE RELIGIOUS POET". Religion & Literature. 41 (1): 111–139.; "that Emerson claims for the domain of poetry Hafiz may turn out to be a poet's poet"
- ISBN 978-1786562104.
- ^ "Letters: Marx-Engels correspondence". Retrieved 15 January 2012.
- ^ Michael Hillmann in Rahnema-ye Ketab, 13 (1971), "Kusheshha-ye Jadid dar Shenakht-e Divan-e Sahih-e Hafez"
- ^ "Hafiz' Shirazi Turk: A Structuralist's Point of View". Archived from the original on 2014-03-01. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
- ^ a b Darke, Diana (1 November 2014). "The book in every Iranian home". BBC.
- ^ Hossein Kaji, "Hafez’s incomparable position in Iranian culture: October 12 is Hafez Day in Iran" Archived 2007-10-15 at the Wayback Machine, Mehrnews. Tehran Times Opinion Column, October 12, 2006.
- Massoud Khalili#September 9, 2001Massoud Khalili speaking to BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet
- ^ fa:حافظ
- ^ Schroeder, Eric, "The Wild Deer Mathnavi" in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 11, No. 2, Special Issue on Oriental Art and Aesthetics (December 1952), p.118
- ^ Jones, William (1772) "Preface" in Poems, Consisting Chiefly of Translations from the Asiatick Tongues p. iv
- ^ Dick Davis: Hafez Faces of Love and the Poets of Shiraz, introduction
- ^ "EMERSON, RALPH WALDO – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
- ^ Thackston, Wheeler: A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry, Ibex Publishers Inc. 1994, p. ix in "Introduction"
- ^ Davis, Dick, "On Not Translating Hafez" in the New England Review 25:1-2 [2004]: 310-18
- ^ Thackston, Wheeler, A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry, Ibex Publishers Inc.' 1994, p.64
- ^ a b Meisami, Julie Scott. "Allegorical Gardens in the Persian Poetic Tradition: Nezami, Rumi, Hafez." International Journal of Middle East Studies 17(2) (May 1985), 229-260
- ^ Hafez, singing love Mahmood Soree, Golbarg magazine, mehr 1382, number 43
- ^ ISBN 9780231509367– via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d "طنز حافظ". Aftabir.com.
- ^ a b "مائده جان رسید ( بخش سوم)".
- ^ "Beloved | Bloodaxe Books".
- ISBN 1-901383-09-1pb
- ^ a b "Obituary: Peter Avery", The Daily Telegraph, (14 October 2008), page 29, (not online 19 October 2008)
Sources
- Bashiri, Iraj (1979). ""Hafiz' Shirazi Turk": A Structuralist's Point of View". Bashiri's Working Papers: Central Asia and Iran. Archived from the original on 2014-03-01. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
- AH/1983-4).
- Loloi, Parvin, Hafiz, Master of Persian Poetry: A Critical Bibliography - English Translations Since the Eighteenth Century (2004. I.B. Tauris)
- Browne, E. G., Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing with a new introduction by J.T.P De Bruijn). 1997. ISBN 978-0-936347-66-0
- Will Durant, The Reformation. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1957
- Erkinov, A., “Manuscripts of the works by classical Persian authors (Hāfiz, Jāmī, Bīdil): Quantitative Analysis of 17th-19th c. Central Asian Copies”. Iran: Questions et connaissances. Actes du IVe Congrès Européen des études iraniennes organisé par la Societas Iranologica Europaea, Paris, 6-10 Septembre 1999. vol. II: Périodes médiévale et moderne. [Cahiers de Studia Iranica. 26], M.Szuppe (ed.). Association pour l`avancement des études iraniennes-Peeters Press. Paris-Leiden, 2002, pp. 213–228.
- Hafez, The Poems of Hafez. Trans. Reza Ordoubadian. Ibex Publishers, 2006 ISBN 978-1-58814-019-7
- Hafez, The Green Sea of Heaven: Fifty ghazals from the Diwan of Hafiz. Trans. Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. White Cloud Press, 1995 ISBN 1-883991-06-4
- Hafez, The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door: Thirty Poems of Hafez. Trans. Robert Bly and Leonard Lewisohn. HarperCollins, 2008, p. 69. ISBN 978-0-06-113883-6
- Hafez, Divan-i-Hafiz, translated by Henry Wilberforce-Clarke, Ibex Publishers, Inc., 2007. ISBN 0-936347-80-5
- Khorramshahi, Bahaʾ-al-Din (2002). "Hafez II: Life and Times". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- Yarshater, Ehsan (2002). "Hafez I: An Overview". Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 ISBN 90-277-0143-1
- Chopra, R. M., "Great Poets of Classical Persian", June 2014, Sparrow Publication, Kolkata, ISBN 978-81-89140-99-1.
- Khorramshahi, Bahaʾ-al-Din (2012). "HAFEZ ii. HAFEZ'S LIFE AND TIMES". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XI, Fasc. 5. pp. 465–469.
- Perry, John R. (2011). "Karim Khan Zand". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XV, Fasc. 6. pp. 561–564.
- Limbert, John W. (2011). Shiraz in the Age of Hafez: The Glory of a Medieval Persian City. University of Washington Press. pp. 1–192. ISBN 9780295802886.
- Loloi, Parvin (2004). Hafiz, Master of Persian Poetry: A Critical Bibliography. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–392. ISBN 9781860649233.
External links
English translations of Poetry by Hafez
- Hafiz Selections of his poetry on Allspirit
- Hafez in English from Poems Found in Translation website
- Poems by Hafez from Blackcat Poems website
- Life and Poetry of Hafez from "Hafiz on Love" website
- Hafez Poems translated G. Bell
Persian texts and resources
- Hafez Divan with readings in Persian
- Scan of 1560 Dīwān Hāfiz manuscript on archive.org
- Fall-e Hafez An online Flash application of his poems in Persian.
- Text-Based Fal e Hafez A light-weight website ranked 1 on search engines for Fal e Hafez.
- Fale Hafez iPhone App an iPhone application for reading poems and taking 'faal'.
- Radio Programs on Hafez's life and poetry'
English language resources
- Works by Hafez at Project Gutenberg
- "The Collected Lyrics of Hafiz of Shiraz", a translation of the Divan-i Hafiz by ISBN 1-901383-09-1pb
- "Hafez' Shirazi Turk": A Structuralist's Point of View by Iraj Bashiri, University of Minnesota.
- Hafiz, Shams al-Din Muhammad, A Biography by Iraj Bashiri
- Hafiz and the Sufic Ghazal, 1979, by Iraj Bashiri
- Comprehensive set of scholarly entries about Hafez, on the Encyclopædia Iranica (Columbia University).
- HAFEZ – Encyclopaedia Iranica
- Works by or about Hafez at Internet Archive
- Works by Hafez at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Other