LIFE & TIMES & POETRY OF HAFEZ OF SHIRAZ by Paul Smith Hafiz's life from birth in 1320 until after his passing in 1392 is told here. Shiraz is under siege by the tyrant Mubariz and Hafiz's friend the king, Abu Ishak, is on the brink of madness and despair. Hafez falls in love with the beautiful Nabat, meets his Spiritual Master 'Attar, marries and has a son. He teaches at university and befriends the liberated princess Jahan Khatun and the poet/jester Obeyd Zakani. He experiences the people of his beloved city throwing out dictators, and the wrath of the false Sufi and black magician Shaikh Ali Kolah. Abu Ishak is executed. Eventually 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. In this book his wonderful life story is told in great detail with a selection of his poems and others of the time; his spirituality is explored, his influence on the life, poetry and art of the East and the West, the form and function of his poetry, and the use of his book as a worldly guide and spiritual oracle and a chapter on the translations into English, Selected Bibliography. Large Format 7" x 10" 200 pages. Goethe: "In his poetry Hafez inscribed undeniable truth indelibly He has no peer "Gertrude Bell: "It is as if his mental Eye, endowed with wonderful acuteness of vision, had penetrated into those provinces of thought which we of a later age were destined to inhabit."Meher Baba: "There is no equal to Hafez in poetry. He was a Perfect Master ... His Divan is the best book in the world because it engenders feelings which ultimately lead to illumination." COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFEZ'S 'DIVAN'."It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafez is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished.." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran."Superb translations. 99% Hafez 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of English to Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish and other languages including Hafez, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in ud-din Chishti, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Hallaj, Rudaki, Yunus Emre Ghalib, Iqbal, Makhfi, Lalla Ded, Abu Nuwas, Ibn al-Farid and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books, and a dozen screenplays. New Humanity Books amazon.com/author/smithpa