Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr joins us to discuss the poetry of Shams al-dīn Muḥammad Shirāzī (1325-1390), better known by his pen-name, Hafez. Widely considered the greatest master of the Persian ghazal, his poetry was acclaimed even during his lifetime, winning him fame as far as Bengal. His Divān, or collection of poetry, is one of the most beloved, studied, and commented upon works of literature in Islamic history, even influencing non-Muslim poets like Goethe and Tagore. Enjoying the patronage of the various rulers of Shiraz during this tumultuous period of its history, Hafez was known for the exceptional musicality and profound ambiguity of his poetry, most of which can be read mystically, romantically, and politically all at once. Fiercely critical of religious hypocrisy, Hafez’s poetry champions the figure of the rend, the gangster/rascal lover who doesn’t care for reputation or social convention. Known as Lisān al-ghayb, “the tongue of the unseen,” Hafez’s Dīvān is also commonly used for divination in Iran and amongst Persian-speaking peoples everywhere, and his shrine is still a popular site in Shiraz today.
Links and Further Reading/Listening:
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Reza Saberi (trans.), The Divan of Hafez: A Bilingual Text (Persian-English) (University Press of America, 2002)
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Leonard Lewisohn (ed.) Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry (Bloomsbury, 2015)
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Dick Davis, The Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz (Penguin, 2012)
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Peter Avery, The Collected Lyrics of Hafiz of Shiraz (Archetype, 2007)
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Elizabeth Gray (trans.) The Green Sea of Heaven: Fifty Ghazals from the Diwan of Hafez (White Cloud Press, 1995)
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The Hafez Poems of Gertrude Bell (IBEX Publishers, 1995)
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A.Z. Foreman’s translations of Hafez: https://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/search/label/Hafiz
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Path & Present Podcast: Hafez & The Persian Sufi Poetic Tradition w/ Nicholas Boylston
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Host: Oludamini Ogunnaike
Guests: Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Edited By: Alana Bittner, WJTU