HafizCritiques

This translation changes god to "Christ" with all the accompanying errors.

Wasn’t awful, though I do wish the “screaming” from the beginning wasn’t so startling. I wished they warned us about that first. Also the narrators voice was really soothing which I did like.

Try as I might, I just couldn't get into these poems. Between the frustrating and childish layout and the fact that the obsession with god lacks explanation for why the poet is obsessed with god. Didn't do it for me and I gave up.

mystical poems of Persian poet

“I am
A hole in a flute
That the Christ’s breath moves through—
Listen to this
Music.”

These few lines made me buy this book. Hafiz is a loving and cherished spiritual guide for humanity. In various cultures for centuries, he has been referred to as the “Tongue of the Invisible,” because he still sings passionate, wild love songs to God. He asks us to join him in praising the many wonderful things in life. With every flag, chapel sound, tomb, masjid, and politician's brain being served, I vote for inscribing these words of Hafiz on every one: Dear ones, let's depose this earth with dance!

I love Hafiz and I love Daniel Landisky's translations of Hafiz. I randomly found a copy of this at a library book sale and I was SO DELIGHTED. I knew I would love this and I did.

I don't know what new can be said about Hafiz at this point, but to me he speaks of our deep capacity for joy and affection -- and even sometimes gives some still quite relevant advice. I'm not sure if he has ever failed to raise my spirits.

This huge volume analyzes the poetry of Hafiz and his antecedents. Wilberforce was not the first person to translate Hafiz. This volume is a reissue of his translation in 1891.

An exquisite example of illuminated calligraphy illustrations place this work on a higher visual level than most translations of Hafez. Forty-three poems are in English and the remainder of the book is in Persian.

Bell's scholarly translation has an extensive preface and notes on each poem. The original Persian accompanies each poem.

Una colaboración única entre un monje cisterciense y un erudito de traducción islámica, este volumen ofrece interpretaciones nuevas y distintivas de obras del poeta espiritual sufí­, Hafiz de Shiraz. Combinando precisión académica con una aguda sensibilidad a los contornos mí­sticos de los originales persas, estos versos esotéricos se traducen al inglés sin perder el arte o la precisión de la intención original. Al unir la estética y la erudición, cada poema busca ser intelectualmente estimulante y espiritualmente estimulante. Generadas a través de la conversación y el intercambio, y complementadas con introducciones y notas reflexivas, estas traducciones poéticas proporcionan un medio auténtico para cruzar las fronteras religiosas y culturales, admitiendo audiencias contemporáneas en el mundo del sufismo persa. -
A unique collaboration between a Cistercian monk and a scholar of Islamic translation, this volume offers fresh and distinctive interpretations of works by the spiritual Sufi poet, Hafiz of Shiraz. Combining scholarly precision with keen sensitivity to the mystic contours of the Persian originals, these esoteric verses are rendered into English without forfeiting the artistry or accuracy of the original intent. Knitting together aesthetics and erudition, each poem seeks to be intellectually stimulating and spiritually invigorating. Generated through conversation and exchange, and supplemented with reflective introductions and notes, these poetic translations provide an authentic means of crossing religious and cultural borders, admitting contemporary audiences into the world of Persian Sufism.

Aunque se acepta generalment que Khayaam fue un poeta no demasiado conocido en su propia patria hasta que le dio fama la traducción de E. Fitzgerald en Occidente, esto no es estrictamente correcto. Es cierto que Khayaam no era tan conocido como Saadi, Hafiz, Rumi y otros poetas sufies, la función de la colección de poemas que figuran a su nombre era ligeramente distinta. Khayaam es la voz sufi, y la voz sufi, para el sufi, es intemporal.

I enjoyed this little collection of poems. They were easy to read and understand... accessible to people (like me) who don't know much about poetry. The structures were simple, but varied enough to keep it all interesting.

I enjoyed this little collection of poems. They were easy to read and understand... accessible to people (like me) who don't know much about poetry. The structures were simple, but varied enough to keep it all interesting.

A collection of 250 poems from the Sufi master Hafiz, who lived in the 14th century in what is now Iran. Unfortunately the vast majority of his output was destroyed by clerics and rulers who did not approve of it, and in what survives we can get glimpses of why that happened, since he wrote about enlightenment in a way that transcended the usual dogma. The sense of seeing God in everyone and everything, of delighting in life’s pleasures, and of using spiritual discipline to overcome our baser instincts all come through. I think the book’s length begins to work against it a little bit, as even with breaks, it begins to be repetitive, and I found my response to them was pretty uneven. They are ambiguous in the way that Rumi’s poems are which is lovely, but there is often a sense of Hafiz proclaiming himself to be the true spiritual teacher to listen to, which I didn’t care much for.

The translation from Ladinsky is certainly heartfelt, but I also disliked the occasional use of modern phrases (though he does provide an explanation for his thought process in the preface). I found his explanation for the number of chapters in the introduction off-putting (“Well, would it make sense if I said that I felt Hafiz didn’t want anything to get sore. That is, some honeymooners could benefit with a room-service waiter knocking now and then…”). It kind of gave the impression of one moved by the poet, but less scholarly in his approach. The result of it all was a mixed bag – certainly worth reading, but it fell a little short of being something I’d recommend without reservations.

Here’s one of the poems I liked the most:

Where is the door to God?
In the sound of a barking dog,
In the ring of a hammer,
In a drop of rain,
In the face of
Everyone
I see.

Here’s another:

Where does the real poetry
Come from?

From the amorous sighs
In this moist dark when making love
With form or
Spirit.

Where does poetry live?

In the eye that says, “Wow wee,”
In the overpowering felt splendor
Every sane mind knows
When it realizes – our life dance
Is only for a few magic
Seconds,

From the heart saying,
Shouting,

“I am so damn
Alive.”½

The poetry is wonderful, and Ladinsky seems to have done a great job of molding some of the vocabulary and prose for the modern reader. I personally like having things like footnotes or introductions to give me some context, and the book only has a brief introduction which gives some autobiographical information about Hafiz. As it is, I enjoyed it.

The poetry of Hafez is quoted by Iranians the way others quote Shakespeare--constantly. They often open a book of his poetry to a random page to find a quote applicable to their current wish or problem. This bi-lingual book is set up to be used that way. You make a wish, open to a random page, and read the original Persian and/or English translation, and get a kind of response to your wish. What the translator, Abbas Kashani, has added is an "Interpretation" of the lines to help you apply them to your own wish or problem. Several passages of Hafez from this book and others were used by Rea Keech in his novel A Hundred Veils.

Being honest, I was poised to hate the book, Daniel Ladinsky has managed a dubious reputation as translator, blamed by quite a few as a shill larding self-help affirmations with traces of ancient poetry.

That sounds like a case for Arno Schmidt—but he’s dead.

I don’t know about the degree of license taken but I did appreciate the images. There’s a drunken ecstasy at play. There are poetic love bruises. Sure, there are anachronisms, I have doubts Hafiz was preoccupied with being cool or ever waxed on “getting stoned.” This volume did encourage me to pursue other translations.

I am unaware how much the author freely interprets Hafiz, though it does seem greatly. However the result, whether Hafiz or Ladinsky, is magical. I love this poetry. I love whimsy and the grace and the blessing.

Avoid if heartbroken or heartless.

There is a quote on the front of this book: "These translations should do for that great glorious mystic Hafiz what Coleman Barks' translations have done for Rumi. Seekers on all paths will benefit from the radiance they emit."

What more to say than that? These poems come from the same spiritual tradition as Rumi, the same sort of ecstatic state of delirious love. And the translations are in the same spirit as Barks'. Not just a literal translation from Farsi to English, but also a poetic translation into a more modern form. These are wonderful.

The Great Sufi Master Hafiz, was a contemporary of Chaucer and the most widely known Persian poet after Rumi. His verses describe an intimate and playful relationship with God, capativating an enthusiasm for finding the scared in the mundane. Hafiz's poems have been admired by such diverse writers as Goethe, Emerson and Nietzsche. Hafiz's work was greatly admired in the west, even Queen Victoria consulted his musings that brought the relationship with God to a very real and daily endeavor.

L'introduzione è indispensabile per potere apprezzare fino in fondo il lavoro di cesello di Hafez di Shiraz...
L'originalità nella rielaborazione dei temi canonici senza "andare in loop", poi, ha del portentoso!
La qualità è talmente alta e la suggestione talmente forte che persistono, a volte, anche nella traduzione italiana!

Love, lust and wine stand up well to the test of time

The poems are lovely, yet it is a very "love and wine" focused translation skipping over or missing the deeper meanings hidden in this tradition. Read it for the poetry, skip it for Sufi teachings.

Oh, to be a "rind" - the inspired libertine, genius by nature, wise through study, beloved by God, and lover of creation and pursuer of beauty! I don't know why Islamic mysticist poems about love and wine and nature strike a chord in my heart, but presumably it is the combination of an appreciation for a lack of formality, immense erudition, and a love of this world (because of God!). Even in English translation (and what a translation - 30 ghazals worked over 15 years!) they work, and I wonder not why Hafez is to be found in nearly every Iranian household.