Divan of Sana'i

DIVAN of SANA’I Translation and Introduction by Paul Smith One of the most prolific and influential Sufi Master Poets of all time Hakim Sana’i (d.1131) composed many ghazals (over 60 translated here), masnavis, qasidas, qita’s and over 400 ruba’is that influenced all the ruba’i writers that followed him. His long masnavi (rhyming couplets) mystical work The Enclosed Garden of the Truth (here the first book is translated in free-form poetry), is said to have had a profound influence on Nizami and ‘Attar’s great masnavis and Rumi’s composing of his Masnavi and in Sadi’s composing his Bustan (’The Orchard’). Rumi said, “ ‘Attar is the soul and Sana’i the eyes and I came after them’. Included in the Introduction are the Life and Times and Poetry of Sana’i and a history of the various poetic forms that he wrote in. Selected Bibliography. The correct rhyme-structures has been kept, often for the first time, as well as the beauty and meaning of many of these powerful, mostly spiritual, beautiful, immortal poems. 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 of many works in English into Persian and knower of Hafiz’s Divan off by heart. “Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz.” Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). 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, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Lalla Ded, Mahasti, Iqbal, Ghalib, Rahman Baba, Ibn al-Farid, ‘Iraqi, Faiz, Urfi, Rahim and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, children’s books, biographies and a dozen screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com Read more