October 11 is designated National Hafez Day in the Persian calendar. It is a day in which the great Persian poet Hafez is honored in Iran. Every year Hafez Commemoration Week is held during the week leading to Hafez Day.

Born in Shiraz between 1310 and 1325, Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafeẓ Shirazi, known by his pen name Hafez, is best known for his collection of poetry known as “Divan,” which is still read and recited widely across Iran and the world.

His ghazals, often exploring themes of love, spirituality, and the human connection to the divine, have transcended time, influencing Persian culture, Sufism, and world literature.

Having memorized the Holy Qur’an at a young age, he was bestowed the title of “Hafez”.

Among Iranians, Hafez is known as “Lisān al-Ghayb,” literally meaning someone who knows about hidden secrets. Poetry, particularly that of Hafez, occupies a significant place in Iranian society. This art form is an important part of the lives of all Iranians. The spiritual enlightenment that Hafez attained and personified traveled beyond the borders of Iran and influenced the great minds of the world, in both the East and the West.

He composed some 500 ghazals, 42 Rubaiyees, and a few Ghaseedeh's over a period of 50 years. His works are often found in the homes of Persian speakers, who learn his poems by heart and use them as everyday proverbs and sayings. They not only consult him to foresee their future through “Faal-e-Hafez” (augury), but the poetry of the celebrated poet has had a lasting influence on great people, including Shahriar.

Inspired by Hafez, Goethe has written West-Eastern Divan

The poetry of the Nightingale of Shiraz has had a hypnotic influence not only on the East, but his verses also inspired poets in the West. Founding oriental studies as an academic field, the prominent orientalist, Joseph von Hammer Purgstall, translated the Diwan e Hafiz in 1846. The translated work inspired Goethe to create a collection of poems titled The West-Eastern Divan.

The poetry of Hafez led Goethe, the legendary German philosopher, to call him “Saint Hafiz” and a “Celestial Friend”.

For Goethe, Persian poetic language reached its zenith in the verses of Hafez in whom he was able to find the magnificence of ideas and the view of the world he had been searching all his life.

Inspired by Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan, a number of German poets, including Friedrich Ruckert and August von Platen, composed poems on the model of Ghazal. Hafez’s poetry is considered the very epitome of the Ghazal tradition.

Prominent among the German thinkers fascinated by Hafez was Friedrich Nietzsche, who repeatedly mentioned him in his seminal works. Nietzsche was deeply interested in Hafez and praised him as an ideal poet and spent many years reading his works. The Persian poet appears almost a dozen times in the writings of Nietzsche.

In a poem dedicated to Hafez, Nietzsche glorifies the insight of the Persian poet and his poetry. Among all Persian poets, Hafez occupies a special place for Iranians.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), the most renowned poet of German literature was deeply interested in Eastern literature and above all, Hafez poems A professor of Universität Klagenfurt, Austria, said at Shiraz University that it is not deniable that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wouldn’t have written the prestigious West-Eastern Divan without being inspired by Hafez.

Goethe came across a translation of Hafez when he was about 65 years old, which changed his life. Hafez, as the biggest Iranian poet, had a great impact on Goethe's life, she said.

Goethe could establish an image of the mystic terms and language of Hafez. His understating of Hafez made him compose 15 new pieces in a week. Goethe composed Western poetry with Eastern content, she added.

She said that he interwove Eastern literature and the Old Testament to make it fathomable for the people of the West, though the book had an Easter theme.

Later, he got interested in other elements of Persian Literature. He even tried to copy the Perso-Arabic script from Eastern books, Professor Bosse said.

In the West-Eastern Divan Goethe tries to make the understanding of the two people closer to each other and show that man should develop his nature.

Hafez poetry

Generally, Hafez used to write mystical pieces of poetry known as “Ghazal”. This is considered a form of Arabic poetry that originates back in the 7th century. Hafez’s poetry holds a combination of rich imagery and symbolism. He is also a master of using ambiguity in his works. His poems are mostly emotional which indicates his searching soul.

which increasingly awakened his interest in Persian literature. The first impulse of Goethe in imitating Hafez was a framework to compose romantic poems but later the mystical aspects of Hafez's poems attracted him.

The influence of Hafez Ghazaliat (the collection of his poems/ghazals) on Goethe was so profound that he composed his collection of poems in order to imitate Hafez and named it the “West-Eastern Divan”.

The following poem is one of Hafez’s famous Ghazals:

That beautiful Shirazi Turk, took control and my heart stole,I'll give Samarkand & Bukhara, for her Hindu beauty mole.O wine-bearer bring me wine, such wine not found in HeavensBy running brooks, in flowery fields, spend your days and stroll.Alas, these sweet gypsy clowns, these agitators of our townTook the patience of my heart, like looting Turks take their toll.Such unfinished love as ours, the Beloved has no need,For the Perfect Beauty, frills and adornments play no role.I came to know Joseph's goodness, that daily would increaseEven the chaste Mistress succumbed to the love she would extol.Whether profane or even cursed, I'll reply only in praiseSweetness of tongue and the lips, even bitterness would enthrall.Heed the advice of the wise, make your most endeared goal,The fortunate blessed youth, listen to the old wise soul.Tell tales of song and wine, seek not secrets of the world,None has found and no-one will, knowledge leaves this riddle whole.You composed poems and sang, Hafiz, you spent your days wellVenus wedded to your songs, in the firmaments' inverted bowl.