JAMI Joseph & Zulaikha and Other Poems Translation & Introduction Paul Smith The masnavi is the form used in Persian poetry to write epic ballads or romances and is essentially a Persian invention. Each couplet has a different rhyme with both lines rhyming. This is to allow the poet greater freedom to go into a longer description of the subject he has chosen to present. All of the great, long, narrative poems of Persia were composed in this form that is a Persian invention and is not known in classical Arabic poetry. The most famous poems written in this form are the 'Shahnama' (Book of the Kings) of Firdausi, the 'Enclosed Garden of the Truth' of Sana'i, the 'Five Treasures' of Nizami, the 'Conference of the Birds' and 'The Book of God' and many others by 'Attar, the 'Seven Thrones' of Jami (1414-1492) including his masterpiece 'Joseph and Zulaikha', the ten masnavis of Amir Khusraw and of course the great 'Masnavi' of Rumi. Jami's masterpiece masnavi 'Joseph and Zulaikha' here translated in the correct form and in prose/poetry is the last great Sufi masnavi about the raising of the human love of Zulaikha into the Divine Love of the Spiritual Master, Joseph of Egypt. Introduction: The Life & Times & Works of Jami, Selected Bibliography, Sufis & Dervishes: Their Art & Use of Poetry, Some Forms in Persian Poetry Used by Jami, Some of the Great Masnavi Poets up to Jami, Preface to Joseph and Zulaikha. Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" Pages 264. COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'. "It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished" Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. "Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "I was very impressed with the beauty of these books." Dr. R.K. Barz. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. Paul Smith (b.1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Mu'ir, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Shah Latif, Mu'in, Lalla Ded, Rahman Baba, Iqbal, Ghalib, Nazir and others, and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and a dozen screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com