Wine Poems of Hafez (Khamriyyat)

WINE POEMS OF HAFEZ (Khamriyyat) Translation, Introduction, Appendixes... Paul Smith. The Persian Sufi poet Hafez of Shiraz (1320-1392) is considered by many to be the greatest poet who has ever lived. In the vast majority of his ghazals and other forms of poetry he has used the symbol of wine as Jesus did, representing love, truth and beauty and at times just wine in the physical sense. He was influenced by many of the Sufi poets who came before him but none composed as many 'wine poems' as he did. He was also influenced by the first 'master' of the Khamriyyat or collection of 'wine' poems, the wonderful liberated early Arabic poet Abu Nuwas whose poems were only occasionally of a mystical nature. It is in the 'wine poems' of Hafez that this genre reached its perfection as it did with Hafez and the 'Winebringer' genre of poems in the masnavi form. This collection contains ALL of the poems in all the forms he wrote where he uses wine as a symbol of something higher.... probably about 90% of his poems. The correct forms have been obtained. Included are notes to most poems, glossary and selected bibliography. Appendixes: 'The Wine Poems of Abu Nuwas (Khamriyyat)' and 'Eight Sufi 'Winebringer' Poems in Masnavi Form' by Nizami, Hafiz, Zargun Khan, Fuzuli, Tahirih, Iqbal, Inayat Khan & Paul. The correct rhyme-structures are achieved. Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" 510 pages. Goethe: "In his poetry Hafez inscribed undeniable truth indelibly! He has no peer!" Gertrude Bell: "It is as if his mental Eye, endowed with wonderful acuteness of vision, had penetrated into those provinces of thought which we of a later age were destined to inhabit." Meher Baba: "There is no equal to Hafez in poetry. He was a Perfect Master ... His Divan is the best book in the world because it engenders feelings which ultimately lead to illumination." COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFEZ'S 'DIVAN'. "It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafez is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished.." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. "Superb translations. 99% Hafez 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of English to Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish and other languages including Hafez, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Hallaj, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Ghalib, Huma, Iqbal, and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, kids books, screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa