Iranian envoy highlights impact of Hafez on German, Austrian poets

Iranian Ambassador to Vienna Abbas Bagherpour has said in a message that the 14th-century lyric poet of Persian classical literature, Hafez Shirazi, left impacts on German and Austrian contemporary poets.

"We commemorate Day of Hafez Shirazi, world-famous Persian poet & mystic," Bagherpour wrote in his Twitter account.

"#Goethe who wrote West–Eastern Divan, being inspired by Hafez enigmatic ghazals, is owed to #Hammer_Purgstall of Austria for the first German translation of complete Divan of Hafez," he added.

This year October 11 has been honored as Iran’s National Day of Hafez who is regarded as the most influential Persian poets of all time.  

His poems have been translated into different languages and his art of poetry has been appreciated by many knowledgeable figures.  

Hafez Shirazi was also a huge influence on German Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe came across a translation of Hafez when he was about 65 years old, which changed his life. He would not have composed Western poetry with Eastern content in West-Eastern Divan if it was not for Hafez.    

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