NIZAMI'S BOOK OF THE WINEBRINGER (SAQI-NAMA) Translation & Introduction Paul Smith The Saqi-Nama or 'Book of the Winebringer' is a genre of poetry where the poet or drinker or seeker or devotee calls upon the saqi (sometimes spelt saki) or winebringer or cupbearer or waiter or waitress (in reality the Spiritual Master or God) to bring wine whether in the material sense of juice from the grape or in the spiritual sense of it symbolizing Truth, Love, Grace, Knowledge & Beauty. This genre was really begun in the masnavi (rhyming couplets) form by Nizami (1140-1208) in his famous 'Layla & Majnun' and later in the first of his last two works... 'Books of Alexander'. It was (all scholars agree) perfected by Persia's greatest lyric poet Hafiz of Shiraz in the 14th century. CONTENTS: Sufis & their Art and Use of Wine in Poetry, The Poetic Genre of the 'Book of the Winebringer' (Saqi-Nama), The Main Form in the Genre of the 'Book of the Winebringer' (Saqi-Nama), Nizami's 'Book of the Winebringer'. Appendix: Hafiz's 'Book of the Winebringer'. The correct rhyme-form is kept in translations of these beautiful, powerful, honest, epic poems. Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" Pages 209COMMENTS 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 mystical works in English into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart.Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi and other poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Ubayd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Lalla Ded, Ghalib, Rahman Baba, Makhfi, and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and screenplays. Published by New Humanity Books amazon.com/author/smithpa
