Sonnets from Hafez and Other Verses

Elizabeth Bridges (at the time of this book's publication--later Elizabeth Bridges Dayrush) was a turn-of-the-century English poet who married a Persian government official. Hafez was a 14th-century Persian mystic and poet. Some of the poems in this collection are based on and inspired by Hafez' ardent and unorthodox religious verse, and some are Bridges' original writings, many with similar themes. She clarifies that "The last fifteen pieces in this book, which are founded on odes of Hafez, are not translations. Their aim is rather to convey if possible something of the original spirit than to give a faithful rendering of either thought or form..." - Summary by Joanna Hoyt