This book offers a study of West-East cross-cultural and cross-contextual literacy by investigating Goethe's relationship to the poetics of fourteenth-century Persian poet Hafiz in the West-östlicher Divan. Goethe's collection of poetry, this book argues, constitutes a turning point in the history of German poetic subjectivity. The intellectual and historical significance of the Divan is examined by considering Goethe's conception of history both in relation to Hegel's philosophy of history as well as the linear notion of progress throughout the nineteenth century. Furthermore, the book demonstrates how the rise of aesthetics and the transition from a theological to a secular-humanistic conception of history and humanity in Europe positively influenced the reception of non-European literatures at the end of the eighteenth century. Hafiz, as argued here, owes his textual presence in the Divan to a cross-cultural and cross-temporal poetic vision that has its roots in the European Enlightenment. The book also elaborates on the role translation plays in the development of poetry and poetics as exemplified in the works of Sir William Jones (1746-1794) and Josef Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (1774-1856), translators of Oriental poetry into English and German.

In 1814, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe read the poems of the great fourteenth-century Persian poet Hafiz in a newly published translation by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall. For Goethe, the book was a revelation. He felt a deep connection with Hafiz and Persian poetic traditions, and was immediately inspired to create his own West-Eastern Divan as a lyrical conversation between the poetry and history of his native Germany and that of Persia. The resulting collection engages with the idea of the other and unearths lyrical connections between cultures. The West-Eastern Divan is one of the world’s great works of literature, an inspired masterpiece, and a poetic linking of European and Persian traditions. This new bilingual edition expertly presents the wit, intelligence, humor, and technical mastery of the poetry in Goethe’s Divan. In order to preserve the work’s original power, Eric Ormsby has created this translation in clear contemporary prose rather than in rhymed verse, which tends to obscure the works sharpness. This edition is also accompanied by explanatory notes of the verse in German and in English and a translation of Goethe’s own commentary, the “Notes and Essays for a Better Understanding of the West-Eastern Divan.” This edition not only bring this classic collection to English-language readers, but also, at a time of renewed Western unease about the other, to open up the rich cultural world of Islam.

This book explores the poetic articulations of a shift from a transcendent to an immanent worldview, as reflected in the manner of evaluation of body and soul in Goethe’s Faust and Ḥāfiẓ’ Divan. Focusing on two lifeworks that illustrate their authors’ respective intellectual histories, this cross-genre study goes beyond the textual confines of the two poets’ Divans to compare important building blocks of their intellectual worlds.

"Hafiz--a quarry of imagery in which poets of all ages might mine." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Hafiz was born at Shiraz, in Persia, some time after 1320, and died there in 1389. He is, then, an almost exact contemporary of Chaucer. His standing in Persian literature ranks him with Shakespeare and Goethe. A Sufi, Hafiz lived in troubled times. Cities like Shiraz fell prey to the ambitions of one marauding prince after another and knew little peace. The nomads of Central Asia finally overthrew the rule of these princes, and led to the establishment of the succeeding Timurid Dynasty. It is of utmost literary interest that a poet who has remained immensely popular and most frequently quoted in his own land should, for the universality and grace of his wisdom and wit, be known outside the land of his birth as he used to be, the subject of veneration among literati both in Europe and the United States. The time for revival of interest in a poet of such cosmopolitan appeal is overdue. His poems celebrate the love, wine, and the fellowship of all creatures. This volume, first published in 1952, brings back into print at last the renderings, the most beautiful and faithful in English, of this greatest of Persian writers.

The Persian Sufi poet Hafiz (1326–1390) is a towering figure in Islamic literature—and in spiritual attainment as well. Known for his profound mystical wisdom combined with a sublime sensuousness, Hafiz was the supreme master of a poetic form known as the ghazal (pronounced "guzzle"), an ode or song consisting of rhymed couplets celebrating divine love. In this selection of his poems, wine and the intoxication it brings are the image that expresses this love in all its joyful abandon, painful longing, bewilderment, and surrender. Through ninety-five free-verse renditions, we gain entry into the mystical world of Hafiz's Winehouse, with its happy minstrels, its bewitching Winebringer, and its companions in drunken longing whose hearts cry out, "More wine!" Thomas Rain Crowe brings a new dimension to our growing appreciation of Hafiz and his wise drunkard's advice to the seekers of God: In this world of illusion, take nothing other than this cup of wine; In this playhouse, don't play any games but love.

~DIVAN OF HAFIZ~DIVAN OF HAFIZRevised Translation & Introduction Paul SmithHafiz was born in Shiraz, Persia (Iran) in 1320 and died there in 1392. He is considered by many of the world's great poets, writers and mystics to have been the greatest poet who ever lived. The book that he gave to the world, his Divan has been loved by millions of people of the East and West for the past 700 years and is used as an oracle even today. Hafiz was not only a unique and great poet; he was also a Perfect Master, a God-Realized soul whose wisdom and insights into the everyday and the mystical path are such that it is said one can gain spiritual advancement just by reading his book. His Divan is for all because he speaks as one who has gone through it all, from the passion of human love into the arms of the Divine. This is a completely revised one volume edition of the only modern, poetic version of Hafiz's masterpiece of 791 ghazals, masnavis, rubais and other poems/songs. The spiritual and historical and human content is here in understandable, beautiful poetry: the correct rhyme-structure has been achieved, without intruding, in readable English. In the Introduction of 70 pages his life story is told in greater detail than anywhere else; his spirituality is explored, his influence on the life, poetry and art of the East and the West, the form and function of his poetry, and the use of his book as a worldly guide and spiritual oracle. His Divan, like the I Ching, is one of the world's Great Oracles. Included are notes to most poems, glossary and selected bibliography and two indexes. First published in a limited edition in 1986 the book quickly went out of print. 542 pages.Goethe: "In his poetry Hafiz has inscribed undeniable truth indelibly... Hafiz 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 Hafiz 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."Inayat Khan: "Once a person has studied Hafiz he has reached the top of the mountain, from whence he beholds the sublimity of the immanence of God."EXPERT COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'."It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece inspired by the Creator of all and I will lay down my head at his feet out of respect." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran."I have never seen such a good translation and I would like to write a book in Farsi and introduce his Introduction to Iranians." B. Khorramshai, Academy of Philosophy, Tehran."Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of many mystical works in English into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author of his own poems inspired by Hafiz).Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies and screenplays.www.newhumanitybooksbookheaven.com