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The Gift |  | Author: Hafiz
Creator: Daniel Ladinsky
Publisher: Penguin Compass
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
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Rating:  87 reviews
Sales Rank: 11876
Media: Paperback
Edition: Gift
Pages: 333
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0140195815
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.5511
EAN: 9780140195811
ASIN: 0140195815
Publication Date: August 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Hafiz, a secret Sufi, came to prominence in his day as a writer of love poems. That love transformed into an all-consuming passion for union with the divine. In The Gift, Daniel Ladinsky bestows on us the impassioned yet whimsical strains of Hafiz's ecstasy. Never forced or awkward, Ladinsky's Hafiz whispers in your ear and pounds in your chest, naming God in a hundred metaphors. I once asked a bird,
"How is it that you fly in this gravity
Of darkness?"
She responded,
"Love lifts
Me." Like Fitzgerald's version of Khayyam's Rubaiyat, the language of The Gift strikes a contemporary chord, resonating in the reader's mind and then in the heart. Ladinsky's language is plain, fresh, playful--dancing with an expert cadence that invites and surprises. If it is true, as Hafiz says, that a poet is someone who can pour light into a cup, reading Ladinsky's Hafiz is like gulping down the sun. --Brian Bruya
Product Description
An extraordinary new translation of the world-renowned mystic poet Hafiz.
More than any other Persian poet--even Rumi--Hafiz expanded the mystical, healing dimensions of poetry. Because his poems were often ecstatic love songs from God to his beloved world, many have called Hafiz the "Invisible Tongue." Indeed, Daniel Ladinsky, the accomplished translator of this volume, has said that his work with Hafiz is an attempt to do the impossible: to translate Light into words--to make the Luminous Resonance of God tangible to our finite senses.
With this stunning collection of 250 of Hafiz's most intimate poems, Ladinsky has succeeded brilliantly in translating the essence of one of Islam's greatest poetic and religious voices. Each line of The Gift imparts the wonderful qualities of this master Sufi poet and spiritual teacher: encouragement, an audacious love that touches lives, profound knowledge, generosity, and a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 87
 A unique portrait September 15, 1999
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
Like millions of Persians I sat on my grandfather's knee and listened to Rumi and Hafez. I was and am struck by what I have read in The Gift. Are these Hafez's poems or are they just Ladinsky's? The essence of Hafez is truth, beauty, humor, endearment to the Self, and light, above all - a freeing whirling light. With that in mind, after some soul searching, I must admit this book is wonderful, a unique portrait of Hafez. I have never seen this great Persian Master more glorious in the English language.
My Portrait of Hafiz April 18, 2005
Daniel Ladinsky (Indian Creek Farm)
65 out of 79 found this review helpful
I thought I might step into the middle of a blurb/reader's review war that seems active, at times, around this book.
There is an essay I wrote and published in an earlier edition of the "The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz," VERSIONS by Daniel Ladinsky, that was called -- My Portrait of Hafiz, as that is what I feel my work with Hafiz really is, my unique portrait of him. A portrait based on my study of thousands of pages of stories and poems that are attributed to Hafiz. And this book "The Gift" was first offered to Penguin with the word VERSIONS on the cover rather than the word translations, for I have never claimed my work with Hafiz is a traditional -- scholarly -- translation, for how could it be for I do not know or speak Farsi (Persian) at all fluently, though at times I have worked with several translators who do know Farsi as their first language. Though once the book (The Gift) got to Penguin, that is into the hands and minds of the very literate, some there saw and knew -- as any good dictionary will tell you -- that a primary definition of the word translation is: "A written or spoken rendering, an interpretation of the significance of a work in another language..." And thus the word VERSIONS was changed to translations. Also, I feel that the deeper one gets into the study of Hafiz the less of a scholarly foundation there really is to have any intelligent debate about what he may or may not have actually said; thus all we truly have of Hafiz in ANY language is a VERSION. We unfortunately don't even know when Hafiz was actually born or when he died. No doubt there is the establishment's view of Hafiz, but I have never been one to fully trust a bunch of religious or cerebral conservatives. My great research into Hafiz has revealed, what I feel, is enough genuine DNA to reconstruct Hafiz if you will into a more astounding, brilliant man, into a more wild and vital life giving -- encompassing sun. I love these words that are attributed to Hafiz, I have found them so encouraging in trying to do justice to this world-treasured poet, those words are, "No one could ever paint a too wonderful picture of my heart or God."
I feel there are saints in this world, and I feel I have walked with one for hundreds of miles in India, and on many occasions he would listen to me recite my renderings/versions of Hafiz, as a matter of fact this teacher choreographed my coming to work with the poems of Hafiz. And if this man had not sanctioned me in the most remarkable of ways -- not one single book of mine would ever have been published. Hafiz is not only one of Islam's greatest literary wonders, Hafiz is also one of history's most vital poet-seers. I feel I have shown the greatest of respect to his work. I have prayed hundreds of times for help to try and reveal something of Hafiz's soul & beauty.
"Hafiz has no peer." Said Goethe. And Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, "Hafiz is a poet for poets." I hope you find some REAL POETRY in some book of Hafiz, for then you will agree with Goethe and Emerson. Then, in that book, you will find a great teacher and lasting friend. And then ... you can be saved by a poem whenever you want. But remember, any verse that cannot flirt with the sublime and comfort you -- or lift the corners of your mouth with delightful humor -- has really nothing to do wtih HAFIZ. Anything mediocre about him is really fraud.
Thanks for your time here. I hope what I have written may help the review-war ebb. I hope this book aids all wars to realize the insanity of their being. With that in mind why not end with this verse I bet Hafiz might feel just fine in having his named pinned to by me.
I think this old great Persian Master and I once shared some bread together, and some magnificent wine he poured into me, that is still there and fermenting ... and caused all my words, vision, and (hopefully) sacred needed mischief. Millions have now come to hear his name through my work. This is profoundly humbling. Still though, I -- we -- should rise and dance.
"I have come into this world to see this:
The sword drop from men's hands
even at the height of their arc of anger
because we have finally realized
there is just one flesh to wound and that
is His, The Christ's -- our Beloved's."
From my Hafiz chapter, in my Penguin anthology, Love Poems from God.
By Daniel Ladinsky
The Best Hafez "translation" May 8, 2002
Farhad Bahrami (San Diego, CA United States)
34 out of 40 found this review helpful
Yes, Hafez is the greatest Persian-language poet outselling the Koran in Iran!No, Hafez's poetry cannot be translated: it is both beautiful (in Persian) and meaningful. Translations can only hope to capture one of those traits. Yes, Ladinsky's book is not a word-for-word (or poem-by-poem) translation. However, he captures the essence of Hafez with beautiful verse. I read Hafez in Persian all the time, and enjoy Ladinsky almost as much! Go Hafez! Thank you, Ladinsky.
Love September 17, 1999
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I have fallen in love with Hafiz . . . this work is so transformative and reaches so deep into my heart, all I need to do is put out my question, open the book, and find the answer so clearly and beautifully written . .
Accurate scholarship and inspired poetry October 15, 2001
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
This is a book of poetry that is inspired by the love-songs of the Persian poet, Hafiz who lived in the 1300s... there is no way to capture all the subtleties of the original Persian in English, it can't be done, though people have tried for centuries. Ladinsky's solution is to try to express his understanding of the spirit of Hafiz, disregarding the form, and in some of these poems it seems like he is actually "channeling" Hafiz -- vibrant,heartfelt, raucous, compassionate, drunk with love, desperate with longing for the Beloved, who may be reflected in a person but is certainly Divinity itself.The reviewer from Berkeley below criticized the very informative introduction to Hafiz's life, but his criticism is incorrect- he has confused Hafiz's master, Mohammed Attar, with the Sufi poet Fariduddin Attar, who lived 100 years earlier. Meher Baba, who is quoted in the introduction, is not a Sufi master, but a spiritual figure from India who lived in the 20th century and energized all spiritual paths... he wrote a book called "God Speaks" that integrates many mystical systems, and his "Discourses" are the clearest, most direct modern explanations of how to live a spiritual life that I have ever seen. Apparently Hafiz was his favorite poet and is quoted frequently in these works, and Ladinsky uses Meher Baba's insights in his own work. The reviewer below is correct when he says these are not really translations of Hafiz, and if I had a criticism of this joyful, inspiring book, it would be that Mr. Ladinsky should have called them "Renderings" as he did in his earlier collection, because they seem to be new poems inspired by Hafiz rather than attempts to accurately translate the ghazals (love-songs). But they are clearly animated by the breath of that magnificent Persian poet.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 87
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