The World's Admirers of Hafez

Hafez has occupied a place in Iranians' lives for centuries with his ghazals. Yet the magic of his poetry has not remained confined to Iran, captivating major figures of world literature.

Ambassador Arjan - Mehr Magazine; Roya Sadat Hashemi: Asghar Farhadi says in one of his memories: "After the screening of an Iranian film, we were sitting with foreign friends and talking. One of them asked: What was that boy selling at the crossroads? Was it drugs or...? I answered: He was selling fortune telling. He asked: What is a horoscope? I said: Poetry; The poems of our great poet, Hafez. He excitedly said: You come from a country where poetry is sold on the streets and ordinary people pay and buy poetry?! He went from one table to another and told everyone about it with amazement!" This gentle narrative may well show how Hafez's poetry is intertwined with the lives of us Iranians. A fact that sometimes we ourselves are not aware of it as much as we should. Some people make so much space in the life of a nation that they can no longer be considered only poets, writers or part of history. They become a part of people's daily life; From the words that we say when we are homesick to the fortune telling that we do on Yalda night and we wait to see what Hafez has brought us.

For us Iranians, Hafez is not just a poet whose poems we have read in books. Sometimes the language is words that we don't know how to say; The time of love, the time of longing, the time of hope and even when we are tired of the world and its people. It is as if someone has been sitting in a corner for centuries and has written the state of our hearts in the language of poetry; Someone whose words are still fresh for us after hundreds of years, but the interesting thing is that the story of Hafez does not end at the borders of Iran. His poems have gone out of this land, have been translated into other languages, and have reached the hearts of people who do not share our language and do not necessarily see the world like us. From Goethe, the great German poet, who fell in love with Hafez's poetry and was inspired by him, to thinkers and writers from all over the world, each of them has faced his poetic world in a way. Hafez commemoration day is an excuse to see this poet again from the eyes of the greats of the world; A poet who has a place both in our historical memory and in our personal privacy. Now he wants us to live anywhere in the world and speak in any other language.

Hafez is not only a familiar poet of ghazal and divination for Iranians; His footsteps can be found in the world of thought. Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani, a well-known Iranian writer and philosopher, in one of his talks, refers to the view of Nietzsche, a famous German philosopher, on Hafez and says: "Despite his harsh criticisms of the 2500-year history of philosophy and Plato's thoughts, Nietzsche bows before the greatness of Hafez and considers him the one who intoxicates the world and man with his poetry." Perhaps this is why many believe that Hafez's poetry is not just a narration of the state of affairs of a nation; He talks about things that people experience in every corner of the world; From love and longing to hope and searching for the meaning of life.

When the German Goethe falls in love with the Iranian poet

Another one of those who fell in love with Hafez's poetry on the other side of the world was Goethe, a great German poet and thinker. Familiarity with Diwan Hafez influenced him so much that he decided to write a work inspired by his poetic world. The result of this attachment was the "Western-Eastern Court"; A work that is considered one of Goethe's most important writings. Goethe talks to Hafez many times in his poems and says about him; as if he has met a poet from his own time. In praise of Hafez, he writes: "O Hafez, your speech is as great as eternity; because it has no beginning and end." In another part of his writings, Goethe expresses his wish as follows: "O Hafez, my wish is to be only a disciple of your disciples." He also compares Hafez's words to the dome of the sky and says that there is no difference between the different parts of his ghazal; Because all his poems are at the peak of beauty and perfection. Goethe even wishes that if the world ends one day, he would be by Hafez's side; A wish that speaks of the depth of his attachment to this Iranian poet.

"Poet of poets" from the point of view of American Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and thinker of the 19th century, is another figure whose fascination with Hafez cannot be ignored. He considered Hafez not only a great poet, but also a mystical thinker and referred to him as "poet of poets". Emerson was so influenced by Eastern poetry, especially Hafez, that he wrote some poems inspired by his style and published a collection titled "Oriental Poems". Among his works, the poem "From Hafez Farsi" also has a special place; A work in which the American poet, with a free interpretation of Hafez's poems, expresses his perception of the world of this Iranian poet in his own language. In an article titled "The Poet", Emerson praises Hafez as an example of a perfect poet and talks about the strength and courage of his thought. He believed that Hafez is a poet who can convey happiness and spiritual joy to others. In Emerson's writings, Hafez is the face of a poet who fearlessly looks at the world, does not avoid seeing its different parts, and presents a broad picture of life to the audience.

"Poet of hearts" from Victor Hugo's point of view

Victor Hugo, the famous French writer and poet, was also familiar with Hafez's poetry from his youth and was influenced by him. Hugo's interest in Hafez was not only limited to reading his poems; In 1822, he included one of Hafez's sonnets with the title "I told you how I feel" in his poetry collection and mentioned this Iranian poet. In his writings, Hugo mentions Hafez as "the poet of hearts". In a part of this collection, he regretfully talks about being born in the land of Hafez: "Poet, I wish you had opened your eyes to the world in the land of the Khosrows, in the land of light and sunshine, and among amber and oud." Hugo also paid attention to Hafez in his collection of "Poems and Poems"; A sign of how this Iranian poet's poetry was able to cross the boundaries of language and geography and find its way into the heart of one of the great figures of French literature.

Edward Fitzgerald and "The Greatest Musician of Words"

Those familiar with literature probably know Edward Fitzgerald best for his translation of Khayyam's quatrains; But this English poet and translator was also interested in Hafez and mentioned him many times in his letters. Fitzgerald writes about Hafez that his best poems are untranslatable, because Hafez is "the best musician of words". This interpretation clearly shows that, from his point of view, the beauty of Hafez's poetry is not limited only to the meaning of the words; The melody and elegance of the language are also part of the magic of his poetry. Fitzgerald considered Hafez's poetry to be beyond Khayyam's poetry in terms of depth and meaning; However, he believed that Khayyam's language and thought are easier to transfer to English. He even translated some of Hafez's ghazals into English, but these translations were never published.