3 Review(s)

About The Book : “Poems from The Divan of Hafiz” is a 1897 collection of poems by Gertrude Bell. Contents include: “Arise, Oh Cup-Bearer, Rise! And Bring”, “The Bird Of Gardens Sang Unto The Rose”, “Wind From The East, Oh Lapwing Of The Day”, “Sleep On Thine Eyes, Bright As Narcissus Flowers”, “Oh Turkish Maid Of Shiraz! In Thy Hand”, “A Flower-Tinted Cheek, The Flowery Close”, “From The Garden Of Heaven A Western Breeze”, “The Rose Has Flushed Red, The Bud Has Burst”, etc. A wonderful collection of poems written by a woman who played a major role in establishing administering the modern state of Iraq. About The Author: Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (1868 – 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making as an Arabist due to her knowledge and contacts built up through extensive travels. During her lifetime, she was highly esteemed and trusted by British officials such as High Commissioner for Mesopotamia Percy Cox, giving her great influence. She participated in both the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (briefly) and the 1921 Cairo Conference, which helped decide the territorial boundaries and governments of the post-War Middle East as part of the partition of the Ottoman Empire. Bell believed that the momentum of Arab nationalism was unstoppable, and that the British government should ally with nationalists rather than stand against them. Along with T. E. Lawrence, she advocated for independent Arab states in the Middle East following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and supported the installation of Hashemite monarchies in what is today Jordan and Iraq.