Persian · 14th Century
❚
The Poems of Hafez
Translated by Reza Saberi
1995
Translator · Author · Teacher
Reza
Reza
Saberi
of Tabriz
Bringing seven centuries of Persian poetry into faithful English — from the ghazals of Hafez to a thousand years of rubáiyát.
A jeweler
of words.
Born in Iran in 1941, Reza Saberi has spent six decades quietly carrying the masterpieces of classical Persian literature into English. After reading English at the University of Tabriz and Teachers College in Tehran, he taught in Iran from 1965 to 1973 — and, after emigrating, at the Berlitz School of Languages in New York, and as a high-school English teacher in Fargo and Moorhead.
He is the first Iranian scholar to render a complete, faithful translation of the ghazals of Hafez. His A Thousand Years of Persian Rubáiyát gathers the four-line stanzas of dozens of poets, from the tenth century to the twentieth, alongside the original Persian. His own books of essays and meditations turn the same patient attention to questions of consciousness, nature, and the inner life.
He lives in Fargo, North Dakota, with his wife Akiko, a pathologist; their daughter, the journalist Roxana Saberi, is the author of Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran. Reza Saberi remains a member of the Smithsonian Institution and a lifelong reader, hiker, climber, and swimmer.
17
Published Works
1,000+
Years of Poetry Translated
60
Years of Writing
I consider a writer as a jeweler. His words are his commodity, and his readers his customers. I prefer to deal in precious genuine jewels rather than in cheap imitation ones.
— Reza Saberi
A Life's Work
The complete Divan of Hafez,
The complete Divan of Hafez,
in English at last.
Six centuries after the death of Shamsoddin Khaja Mohammad Hafez, Reza Saberi's 1995 translation of The Poems of Hafez became the first faithful, authentic, and complete English rendering of the ghazals by an Iranian scholar — working from the canonical Qazvini-Ghani edition. Seven years later he published The Divan of Hafez: A Bilingual Text, setting the Persian and the English side by side.
For students of Persian literature, lovers of mystical poetry, and general readers of New Age and oriental traditions, these volumes remain the standard.
“For years my heart inquired of me
Where Jamshid's sacred cup might be,
And what was in its own possession
It asked from strangers, constantly.” From the ghazals of Hafez · trans. Reza Saberi
A library, book by book
Translations from the Persian, original works of reflection, and essays — spanning forty years of patient, polyphonic literary labor.
2002
The Divan of Hafez — Bilingual Text
Translation · BilingualPersian Anthology
❦
A Thousand Years of Persian Rubáiyát
Reza Saberi
2000
A Thousand Years of Persian Rubáiyát
Translation · AnthologyNonfiction · Philosophy
✦
Insights and Intuitions
Reflections on Existence
2003
Insights and Intuitions
EssaysA Novel
⟡
The Labyrinth
Reza Saberi · 1982
1982
The Labyrinth
FictionNonfiction
☀
Splendor of the Light
Reza Saberi
1991
Splendor of the Light
NonfictionNonfiction
❉
Impressions & Expressions
Reza Saberi · 1992
1992
Impressions and Expressions
EssaysPersian Poetry
❦
An Invitation to Persian Poetry
Selected Translations
Selected Poetry
An Invitation to Persian Poetry
TranslationReflections
✺
A Knapsack Full of Light
Reza Saberi · 2008
2008
A Knapsack Full of Light
EssaysPersian Translation
❦
Selected Verses from Saeb Tabrizi
Reza Saberi
Persian Classic
Selected Verses from Saeb Tabrizi
TranslationPersian Translation
✧
Hidden Treasures
Kalim & Bidel
Indo-Persian
Hidden Treasures: Selected Verses from Kalim and Bidel
TranslationPersian Anthology
❀
A Rose Garden of Persian Poetry
Reza Saberi
Anthology
A Rose Garden of Persian Poetry
AnthologyPhilosophy
✦
Pentagon of Wisdom
Reza Saberi
Reflection
Pentagon of Wisdom
EssaysReflections
⟡
Reflections & Inspirations
Reza Saberi
Meditations
Reflections and Inspirations
EssaysSpiritual
✺
Spiritual Enlightenment
Reza Saberi
Contemplation
Spiritual Enlightenment
SpiritualIn Persian
❦
بین دو جهان (Between Two Worlds)
Persian edition
2010
Beyne Do Jahan, Zendegi Va Esarate Man Dar Iran
Persian EditionFrom Tabriz to Fargo
A teacher, a translator, a reader — six decades carried between two languages and three continents.
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1941Born in Iran to Mohammad Hosayn Saberi, a merchant, and Ommulbanin Saberi.
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1960sB.A. in English at the University of Tabriz; B.A. in education at Teachers College, Tehran.
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1965–73English teacher in Iran. Serves in the Iranian armed forces (1966–67).
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1971Marries Akiko Hayashi, a pathologist. Three children: Rezmin, Jasper, and the journalist Roxana Saberi.
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1975–77Teaches Persian and translates at the Berlitz School of Languages, New York. Graduate study at Seton Hall, NYU, and Case Western Reserve.
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1982Publishes his first book, the novel The Labyrinth, with Exposition Press, New York.
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1985–92High-school English teacher in Fargo, North Dakota, and Moorhead, Minnesota.
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1995Publishes The Poems of Hafez — the first complete, faithful English translation of the ghazals by an Iranian scholar.
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2000A Thousand Years of Persian Rubáiyát (Ibex Publishers) gathers a millennium of quatrains in Persian and English.
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2002The Divan of Hafez: A Bilingual Text presents the complete ghazals with facing-page Persian.
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2003 →Insights and Intuitions, A Knapsack Full of Light, Pentagon of Wisdom, and further translations of Saeb Tabrizi, Kalim, and Bidel.