Goethe: Hafiz has no peer - Persian poet Hafez Shirazi
The 14th-Century Persian poet Hafez’s work is not just very beautiful – it is useful too. Hafiz can teach us how to get the most out of our lives, writes Daniel Ladinsky. Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafez (c. 1320-1389) is one of the most beloved poets of the Persians, and is considered by many – from different cultures – to be one of the seven literary wonders of the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe both agreed. As Emerson said of Hafiz: "He fears nothing. He sees too far, he sees throughout; such is the only man I wish to see or be." And Emerson gave Hafiz that grand and famous compliment, "Hafiz is a poet for poets."