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BOOKS, e-Books, C.D.’S. ON HAFIZ AND POETS WHO
DIVAN OF HAFIZ
This is the only complete, modern, poetic version of his book of 791 poems. The spiritual content is here in plain English; also the form: the correct rhyme-structure has been achieved for the first time. In the Introduction his life story is told in great detail. His spirituality is explored, his influence on the East and the West, the form and function of his poetry and the use of his book as a guide etc. Included are notes to his poems, a glossary and bibliography and index. First published in a two-volume hardback limited edition in 1986 the book quickly went out of print. Copies now fetch over $200 U.S. on the net. Electronic (ebook) version available NOW - 630 pp read more ... HAFIZ: THE ORACLE English Version, Introduction & Interpretations by Paul Smith. Hafiz’s Divan has been used as an Oracle successfully by millions of people from all walks of life for the past 600 years. The practice of interpreting his poems has been going on in Iran for many centuries. Here are almost four hundred of his ghazals with insightful and clear interpretations by Paul Smith plus an Introduction that includes his life, poetry, spirituality and the history of the use of his book as one of the world’s great Oracles. Electronic (e-Book) version available NOW. read more ...
HAFIZ: TONGUE OF THE HIDDEN
English Versions by Paul Smith. This selection of Hafiz’s ghazals from his Divan contains a 23 page Introduction and representative collection of over 60 of his ghazals. For examples click on "A Selection of Hafiz’s Poetry". Paperback (94 pp.) available NOW. e-Book available NOW. _______________________
LOVE’S PERFECT GIFT: Rubaiyat of Hafiz.
English Versions by Paul Smith. ALL of the ruba’i attributed to Hafiz in the correct rhyme-structure and in clear English. A 30 page Introduction that contains essays on his life and time, his poetry and spirituality and on the form of the ruba’i. "Paul Smith has achieved a remarkable feat. An inexhaustible well of inspired images." The Age (Melbourne, Australia). For examples click on "A Selection of Hafiz’s Poetry". Paperback (94 pp.) available NOW. _______________________
BOOK OF THE WINEBRINGER: Masnavi of Hafiz.
English Versions by Paul Smith This book contains ALL of the masnavi poems of Hafiz in a clear, poetic, correct-rhyming translation. It has a 27 page Introduction with chapters on his life, spirituality and poetry. For an example of his masnavi poems click on A SELECTION OF HAFIZ’S POETRY in the navigation menu. Paperback (94 pp.) available NOW. HAFIZ OF SHIRAZ. By Paul Smith. (Writing as Muhammad Gulandam)
In 3 volumes, (approximately 2100 pages). HAFIZ OF SHIRAZ: BOOK ONE (THE EARLY YEARS) Told through the eyes of Hafiz’s lifelong friend and student Muhammad Gulandam, BOOK ONE of this long, historical novel/biography based on ten years of research and writing covers Hafiz’s life from the age of eight in 1328 when his father dies and he goes to live with his Uncle Sadi, until the age of 32. Shiraz is under seige by the tyrant Mubariz and Hafiz’s friend the king, Abu Ishak, is on the brink of madness and despair. Along the way Hafiz falls in love with the beautiful Nabat, meets his Spiritual Master, marries and had a son. He teaches at University and befriends the liberated princess, Jahan Malek (Iran’s greatest female poet) after being a student of the outrageous poet/jester Obeyd Zakani. He experiences kingdoms rise and fall, the people of his beloved city throw out dictators and the wrath of the false sufi and black magician Shaikh Ali Kolah. This is a majestic love story on a level of great love, beauty and consciousness, full of action and adventure, immortal poetry and song, bravery and betrayal and destiny. (approximately 650 pages) Electronic (ebook) version available NOW. HAFIZ OF SHIRAZ: BOOK TWO (THE MIDDLE YEARS) Book Two tells of the years from 1353-1365 when the bloodthirsty tyrant Mubariz takes control in Shiraz closing the winehouses, imprisoning Hafiz's friend the poet, Princess Jahan and forcing Obeyd Zakani to flee for his life. Abu Ishak is executed and the false Sufi Ali Kolah is now in control of religious morals. Eventually Mubariz's son Shah Shuja takes control but tragedy strikes Hafiz and Jahan and Nabat must suffer separation. Kingdoms rise and fall through treachery and wars but through it all the songs/ghazals of Hafiz and his minstrel friends help the brave Shirazis to carry on. (approximatelsy 650 pages) Electronic (ebook) version available NOW. _______________________ A Novel by Paul Smith. Written as the basis for the animated feature film on the life of Hafiz, this novel/biography will appeal to readers from ages 10-100. A simple telling of the lifestory of the small, ugly, orphaned boy who through great courage and love and a remarkable memory performed a miraculous deed that would attain for him the gift of poetry, immortaily and his heart’s desire. Full of poetry, action and adventure it tells the story of a love beyond belief and a life lived to the fullest. Many of the world’s greatest poets and philosophers and mystics believe that Hafiz was and stll is ... the greatest poet who ever lived and the story of his exciting, mysterious and magical life is an adventure almost beyond belief for readers of all ages. (approximately 175 pages). Electronic (e-Book) version available NOW. read more ...
ON THE TWO GREAT POETS WHO INFLUENCED HAFIZ: SADI Sadi has been for over six centuries the proverbial Sufi philosopher of Persia. He was born in Shiraz in 1213 A.D. and died there towards the end of the century. His many travels took him to Egypt, Anotolia, Iraq, India, Central Asia and Africa, which resulted in many of the adventures, poems and tales that make up his most famous book, THE ROSE GARDEN. His DIVAN, or collection of ghazals, is loved by Persians as much as those of Hafiz whom he greatly influenced. He was an intimate friend of Rumi, was nearly always poor, but was loved by all manner of people from beggars to kings. He was said to have performed many miracles and was a Qutub or Perfect Master of his age.
SADI: THE ROSE GARDEN
Translated by Edward Rehatsek The ROSE GARDEN of Sadi has been called the most famous work in Persian Literature. It is more quoted than any other outside of the Koran itself. It is a collection of one hundred and eighty eight short stories in prose mingled with verse. In many parts of the East a person is not considered knowledgeable who does not know by heart much of what Sadi has written. Sadi is wise and witty, moral and ribald and sarcastic; his poems abound in practical wisdom and spirituality. Edward Rehatsek’s translation is the only complete, unexpurgated version in English. W.G. Archer says of it: "When we bear in mind his quite exceptional knowledge of both English and Persian, it is difficult to envisage a better person as translator". DIVAN OF SADI: His Mystical Love-Poetry. English Versions by Paul Smith Sadi’s mystical love poetry, his ghazals, although almost unknown in the West, are loved by his fellow-countrymen almost as much as those of Hafiz whom he greatly influenced. Here for the first time in English they can be read in all their beauty and power and spirit. ALL of the wonderful 603 ghazals from Sadi’s Badayi and Tayyibat have been translated in clear, modern, meaningful, correct-rhyming English. Included is an Introduction containing The Life of Sadi, his Poetry and his influence on the East and the West. Paperback available late 2007. (approximately 500 pp.) read more ...
SADI: THE BOOK OF LOVE
Translated by Sir Edwin Arnold THE BOOK OF LOVE is the third chapter of the BUSTAN or ORCHARD one of the major books by the Persian Sufi/Master Poet Sadi of Shiraz. The full title of the chapter could be translated as ‘Of Love, Divine Madness and God-Intoxication’. Through its stories in the poetic form it tells of many lovers on various levels of consciousness on the path to God. Written in 1257 A.D. it is considered to be one of the pivital works of Sufism. Paperback Available NOW (74 pp.)
NIZAMI Nizami (1140-1202) is considered one of the six great Master/Poets of Persia, (the others being Hafiz, Sadi, Rumi, Attar and Firdousi). Nizami is most famous for his KHAMSA (Quintet) of books in the masnavi form of rhyming couplets (Epic Poems). These are (in order of composition), THE TREASURY OF MYSTERIES, KHOSRAU AND SHIRIN, LAYLA AND MAJNUN, THE SEVEN PORTRAITS and the two ALEXANDER BOOKS.He also composed thousands of mystical ghazals but unfortunately all but approx. Two-hundred of these have been lost. Both his ghazals and masnavi books have been a major influence on all the poets that followed and on Hafiz and Jami. "In wisdom’s opinion there is no better adorner of poetry in this old sphere, than the pearls of speech of Nizami." Hafiz. "Although most of Nizami’s works on the surface appear to be romance, in reality they are a mask for essential truths and for the explanation of divine knowledge." Jami. NIZAMI: THE TREASURY OF MYSTERIES English Version by Paul Smith "The Makhzanol Asrar (The Treasury of Mysteries), the most beautiful mystic poem in the Persian language, has both perfection of language and grandeur of thought. Every line of his Treasury of Mysteries is a living witness to his absolute certainty that piety, devotion, humility and self-forgetfulness are the corner stones of total annihilation, which in turn is necessary for unification with God and the foundation of the edifice of eternal life." G. H. Darab. Senior lecturer in Persian. University of London. Translator of Nizami. "In his first work (The Treasury of Mysteries) ... Nizami creates an ethical-philosophical poem ... with enormous power of poetic invention. Nizami employs reflections, parables, allegories and every means of rhetorical ornamentation in order to master the stubborn material and to transform it into perfect poetry and a poetical whole." Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Translator Paul Smith has kept to the correct rhyme-structure while retaining the meaning and beauty of the original in simple, undertandable, poetic English. He has written a long Introduction on the Life of Nizami and chapters on each of his book. (approximately 250pages). Electronic (ebook) version available NOW. _______________________________________ NIZAMI: LAYLA AND MAJNUN English Version by Paul Smith It is impossible to underestimate the effect of Nizami’s ‘Layla and Majnun’ on the world over the past 800 years. Many poets throughout this period have copied or been influenced by his story of the young lovers. Many Master-Poets besides Ibn Arabi, Attar, Rumi, Sadi, Hafiz and Jami have quoted from him or like him have used the story of the desperate lovers to illustrate how human love can be transformed into divine love through separation and longing. It is said that no one has painted a more perfect picture of women in Persian Literature than Nizami. Paintings by the thousands, musical pieces and hundreds of songs (even ‘modern’ ones by singer-songwriters such as Eric Clapton) have been inspired by Nizami’s epic poem ... also many plays, operas, ballets and films. Today the influence of his book seems more alive than ever and is growing. It is still one of the most popular epics of the Middle East and Central Asia ... among Azerbaijanis, Arabs, Persians, Turks, Afghans, Tajiks, Kurds, Indians and Pakistanis. Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is said to have been written under the influence of a Latin translation of LAYLA AND MAJNUN. Paul Smith has kept to the correct rhyme-structure of this long masnavi epic poem, while retaining the beauty of the poetry, the mystical meaning and simplicity of the form. He has included a long Introduction on his life and chapters on all of the works of this great Master/Poet. (approximately 232 pages). Electronic (ebook) version available NOW. read more ... Two books about two of HAFIZ’S poet friends in SHIRAZ
OBEYD ZAKANI: THE DERVISH JOKER. A Selection of his Poetry, Prose, Satire, Jokes and Ribaldry. English Version and Introduction by Paul Smith Obeyd Zakani is an important a figure in Persian and Sufi literature and poetry. His satire, humorous stories, ribald and obscene poems, social commentary, mystical ghazals, prose, ruba'is and his famous epic Cat & the Mice are popular today in Iran and elsewhere and are more relevant than ever. Some of his works are still banned in Iran. He is considered to be Iran’s greatest satirist and social-commentator whose life and mystical poems had a great influence on Hafiz and many others. This is by far the largest selection of his work available in the English language. (approximately 230 pages). Electronic (ebook) version available NOW. read more ...
HAFIZ’S FRIEND, JAHAN MALEK KHATUN: Translated by Paul Smith and Rezvaneh Pashai. WHO WAS PRINCESS JAHAN MALEK? Daughter of the king of one of Shiraz’s most turbulent times(8th century A.H. 14th century A.D.) ... Masud Shah; pupil and lifelong friend of the world’s greatest mystical, lyric poet, Hafiz of Shiraz; the object of crazed desire by (among others) Iran’s greatest satirist, the obscene, outrageous, visionary poet Obeyd Zakani; lover, then wife of womanizer Amin al-Din, a minister of one of Persia’s most loved, debauched and tragic rulers Abu Ishak; cruelly imprisoned for twenty years under the Muzzafarids while her young daughter mysteriously died; open-minded and scandalous, one of Iran’s first feminists ... the beautiful and sensuous, petite princess who abdicated her royalty twice; one of Iran’s greatest classical lyric poets; a prolific, profound, infamous female Persian poet ... and one of the greatest love poets of all time, the incomparable ... Princess Jahan Malek. (approximately 253 pages). Electronic (ebook) version available NOW. |
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