HAFIZ, Persia's greatest lyric poet and one of the renowned lyrists of the world: b. about 1325; d. about 1389. For nearly six centuries the Odes of Hafiz have received uni versal acknowledgment as masterpieces in the lyric vein. Hafiz was a native of southern Persia, having been born in the city of Shiraz about the year 1325 A.D. The same city had pro ducd also his famous predecessor Sa'di (q.v.), While the Persian name Hafiz is really only a title meaning "gifted with a good memory," as bestowed upon him as a pupil who knew the whole Koran by heart, it has clung to him by fame instead of his real name which was in full Muhammad ad-Din, or "Mohammed, the Sun of Gifts such as Hafiz showed early in youth soon won literary patronage. Persian notables made him their friend and became also his benefactors. A theological institution was even founded in his honor with a professional chair for him to hold. The impression, how ever, seems to be well founded that his sever ance from this post was ultimately due to his freedom of thought and perhaps to a too liberal manner of life, together with his out spoken contempt for the hypocrisy that was characteristic of some of the Mohammedan priests of his time.
The poetic talents of Hafiz could never have long waited for full recognition even outside of Persia. He received a princely invitation from one of the Bahmanid dynasty in India to grace his court in Hindustan. The story of the acceptance by Hafiz, and of the fearful attack of seasickness which made him turn back from the journey, and of the graceful ode which he wrote to his would-be royal patron as an apol ogy for not being able to fulfil the obligations of his acceptance, are facts recorded in connec tion with his life. The poetic career of Hafiz is therefore wholly confined to Persia.
Haft lived to a fairly ripe old age, and allusion is made in his lyric verses to sons born from his marriage. The date of his death is not altogether certain, but it appears to have been about the year 1389 A.D. In the environs of his beloved city of Shiraz lie his remains in an enclosed tomb that is still a place of pil grimage, including visits as tributes from lov ers of poetry in the West.
Estimates of Hafiz and his Odes may be summarized somewhat as follows: The burden of his lyric verses is love and wine, the night ingale and the rose. Regarding the interpre
tation of these tender effusions, so full of pas sion, there is considerable difference of opin ion, particularly in the Occident. Hafiz is fre quently spoken of as "the Persian Anacreon); and there is no doubt that there is much that is anacreontic in his poetry. At the same time due weight must be given to the Oriental inter pretation of the Odes of the Safi mystics as being symbolic and allegorical expressions of Divine Love couched in terms of human pas sion. On the whole it may be said that the in terpretation which is probably nearest the truth is the one that holds the mean between these two extremes, esoteric and exoteric, in seeking to understand the poetry of so human and so ideal a master of lyric song as was Hafiz. See ODES.
any of various eel-like crea tures of the class of Cyclostomi (q.v.). They are eel-like in shape, lack all paired fins, have a suctorial mouth, without jaws; a single nos tril at the tip of the head and either one (Myxine) or from 6 to 14 (Polistotrema) gill openings along the sides of the body. Around the mouth are eight barbels, and the nostril connects with the cavity of the mouth. The skin contains numerous mucus-glands and also numerous pockets of the proto plasm of which is converted into long threads, which, when discharged, unwind and, together with the mucus, form a jelly-like mass protect ing the animal. The eggs are large, oval in shape and enclosed in a horny case provided with hooks on each end by which they are an chored to sea weed, etc., on the bottom. Where abundant the hag-fishes are among the greatest pests of the fishermen. They attach them selves to other fishes in the neighborhood of the gills or on the eyes, and thence work them selves rapidly into the interior of the body, de vouring the viscera, muscles, etc., so that there remains ea living hulk of head, skin and bones.° The California hag-fishes (Polisto trema stouti) will devour a fish of 10 or 15 pounds in a single night, and it is believed that they enter the fishes after they are taken in the nets. The hag-fish of the Eastern coast (Myxine glutinosa) ranges north of Cape Cod, and in the European seas, south to the English Channel. Other species occur in other parts of the world.