Shiraz: October 2013

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Street scenes. loading jpeg loading jpeg
The bazaar. loading jpeg loading jpeg
The mosque attached to the bazaar. loading jpeg loading jpeg
The Karim Khan citadel, built in about 1766. In the 20th century it was used as a prison, and none of the original inside remains. Subsidence has given one of the corner towers a definite lean. loading jpeg loading jpeg
 
Two of the most famous poets in Persian were born in Shiraz: Saadi (1210-1291) and Hafez (1315-1390). Both are widely read in Iran today, and scholars who can read Persian consider them to have been two of the world's greatest poets. Several very talented people have translated selected poems by Saadi and Hafez, but because the poetic traditions of Persian and English are very different, none are considered fully satisfactory by scholars of Persian poetry. The best are generally considered to be those by Elizabeth Daryush (daughter of Poet Laureate Robert Bridges) and Basil Bunting. (The Saadi snippet below is Bunting's, the Hafez snippet Daryush's.) A book of poems by Daryush including some translations of Hafez was published under her maiden name in 1921 and, being out of copyright, is available for free download from Project Gutenberg. The memorials to them are modern (20th century).
The mausoleum of Saadi
"How sweetly you will sing what I so sadly write"
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The mausoleum of Hafez
" In his all-whelming tears hath Hafez drowned
Wisdom & patience, yet no peace hath found. "
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