Since the middle ages, Persia has produced more great poets than any other country in the world. Sir William Jones about two hundred fifty years ago, in his introduction on Hafez, wrote, "...At Oxford there is a manuscript containing the lives of a hundred and twenty-eight of the finest Persian poets," of these, according to Iranians, the fourteenth century poet, Hafez, is their last, greatest, and the most beloved of all; even though, Persia has had poets like Sa'di, Khayyam, Ferdosi, Nezami, and Rumi to boast about! (Iranians take Rumi as a Persian.) They also consider Hafez as their most difficult poet to understand.
One may ask, how could such a difficult poet be so popular among people of all walks of life? No Hafez scholar, heretofore, has directly addressed, or adequately answered this question! In this book, the author, for the first time, raises and answers this question by bringing convincing examples from different parts of the divan.
Another unique aspect of this book is in the fact that the author has interpreted some couplets entirely different than what other commentators have done, and sometimes, the opposite of theirs!
Still another difference that we find in this book is the sequence of the couplets in some ghazals. The author, in order to find the natural unity of the poems, he has arranged a new sequence for the couplets. Something that is lacking in all available divans.
The translations are accurately and charmingly done in the form of uni-rhymed ghazal, and each one is preceded by the original, and followed by a commentary, something that has never been done before.
This book is written for English-speaking people who wish to know Hafez, especially, the siblings of the Iranians in diaspora, whose children have heard the praise of Hafez from their parents, but are unable to read him in Farsi. It is for them to read him in english and put to test the judgment of their parents.
