Songs of Hafiz
| Language | en |
|---|---|
| First published | 2025-12-13 |
| Rights | Public domain in the USA. |
| Gutenberg ID | #77453 |
Description
Encovragements, for such as shall have intention to bee vnder-takers in the new… is a colonial promotional pamphlet written in the early 17th century. It is a policy tract that likely outlines inducements, obligations, and assurances for prospective “undertakers” in a state-sponsored plantation, encouraging settlement, investment, and orderly governance in the new enterprise. The book you provided is a three-part collection of Persian-inspired lyric poems that praise wine, music, love, and mystical insight while reflecting on fate and the brevity of life. In the “Book of the Tavern Keeper,” the speaker invokes the Saki to pour the life-giving cup, treating intoxication as a symbol of divine illumination and setting carpe diem joy against the vanity of kings and the onrush of time, with mythic figures (Jamshid, Rustem, Darius) and paradise images (Selsebil, Houris, the Magic Cup) illuminating these themes. The “Book of the Singer” calls for lute and drum to scatter grief, celebrates comradeship, and measures human fragility against the fall of proud princes. The expansive “Book of Lyrics” turns intimate: addresses to a beloved, laments of absence and exile, homesick praise of Shiraz, playful market scenes, and sharp rebukes of hypocritical zeal, all threaded with aphoristic counsel to seize the rose-bright moment. Brief closing pieces include a moving lament at a child’s grave and terse quatrains that crystallize the whole: fate is fixed, power fades, and only love, song, and the red cup kindle a radiant, momentary peace. (This is an automatically generated summary.)