If a book of poetry is to be found in a Persian home, it is likely to be the Divān (collected poems) of Hafez. Many of his lines have become proverbial sayings, and there are few who cannot recite some of his lyrics, partially or totally, by heart. And yet he is also a poet’s poet. No other Persian poet has been the subject of so much analysis, commentary, and interpretation. Nor has any poet influenced the course of post-fourteenth century Persian lyrics as much as he has.

In no other Persian poet can be found such a combination of fertile imagination, polished diction, apt choice of words, and silken melodious expressions. These are all wedded to a broad humanity, philosophical musings, moral precepts, and reflections about the unfathomable nature of destiny, the transience of life, and the wisdom of making the most of the moment—⁠—all expressed with a lyrical exuberance that lifts his poetry above all other Persian lyrics.

SHAMS AL-DIN MUHAMMAD OF SHIRAZ, known as Hafez, was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1320. He lived in a turbulent time that was subject to much internal strife between marauding princes and under constant threat from the nomads of Central Asia under Timur. The poems of Hafiz have many levels of significance but have come to be interpreted above all in terms of Sufi mystical theology.