Author: HAFIZ
Biography:
HAFIZ (c. 1315-c. 1390: iranicaonline)
Hafiz (also Hafez) was the pen name of Šams-al-Din Moḥammad of Shiraz in what is now known as Iran, one of the most celebrated of Persian poets; the name itself is an honorific designating someone who knew the Koran by heart as Hafiz is said to have done from childhood. Selections from his work were first translated into English by Sir William Jones (q.v.) in 1771; other Orientalist scholars followed soon after. There is almost no certain information about the poet's birth, parentage, and education, though it is known that he was born and died in Shiraz and spent his life there largely in literary retirement. Internal evidence from his work suggests that he might have married and had at least one child, who died young. He was admired in his day and had several powerful patrons in the courts of successive rulers. His grave in the Mosalla gardens is preserved to this day, with the first of a series of mausoleums constructed over it sixty years after his death. ("Hafez," Encyclopedia Iranica, iranicaonline.com [2012]; Encyclopaedia Britannica [1911])
Other Names:
- Hafez