Persian Poets

by Peter Washington (Editor)

The Middle Ages saw an extraordinary flowering of Persian poetry. Though translations began appearing in Europe in the nineteenth century, these remarkable poets--Omar Khayyam, Rumi, Saadi, Sanai, Attar, Hafiz, and Jami--are still being discovered in the West.

The great medieval Persian poets owe much to the mystical Sufi tradition within Islam, which understands life as a journey in search of enlightenment, and, like their European contemporaries, they combine religious and secular themes. While celebrating the beauty of the world in poems about love, wine, and poetry itself, or telling humorous anecdotes of everyday life, they use these subjects to symbolize deeper concerns with wisdom, mortality, salvation, and the quest for God.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Anthologies, Classics, Islam

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 29, 2000

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology of Persian poets (Sufi mystics of the medieval period) features a wide range of translations, from the rhymed Victorian imitations of Omar by Edward Fitzgerald to the free-verse contemporary versions of Rumi by Coleman Barks.

Some of the old translations--not Fitzgerald!--are second-rate--filled with unnecessary inversions and deliberately archaic diction. In fact, I skimmed or skipped most of the translations of Hafiz for this very reason.

Overall, though, the poems work well in these English versions, letting the glory of the originals shine. There is beauty and wisdom here, O traveler! Drink of this wine, and be refreshed!

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So very good. This edition is en point too. Just the right amount of intro, biography, explanation and notes

[Nazmi Yaakub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fragmen daripada karya tokoh besar dalam tradisi sufi dan sastera Parsi (berdasarkan perspektif anda), Umar Khayyam, Sanai, Fariduddin Attar, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, Hafez Shirazi dan Jami yang memukau - meski sebahagiannya hanya membuka sedikit pintu untuk difahami tetapi pancaran cahaya hasil imbasan daripada ilmu yang agung sudah menyilaukan pandangan.

[Sarahj33 · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is the way one must
listen to the reed flute. Be killed
in it and lie down in the blood." - Attar, Trans. Coleman Barks

I picked up this book because the Salt Lake City Public Library - Anderson/Foothill Branch was having a Rumi Festival and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. This books collects works from several poets, not just Rumi, which I thought would be helpful for context. And it was, but it turns out that the medieval Persian mindset is foreign enough that I came away feeling like I could have used a lot more context to really understand it.

This book features works by Omar, Sanai, Attar, Rumi, Saadi, Hafez, and Jami (spellings may vary.) Some pieces are excerpts from larger works - bits of Attar's Parliament of Birds are included, for example. Common themes include Sufi mysticism, how awesome wine is, and beautiful women who are sometimes, but not always, allegories for God. I'm not an expert in Sufi religion, but it seems to have a lot to do with overcoming the ego and being one with the world and/or God, which are the same thing. There are several interesting poems on this topic in particular, along with lots of poems that teach lessons or present fables, usually humourously. Overall, the tone was not what I expected, being a lot less serious and a lot more self-deprecating.

Obviously these poems are all presented in translation, and are the work of several translators spanning many decades, so there is huge variety to be seen here. It can get a little frustrating reading poems that are clearly supposed to be a certain style, such as a ghazal or a quatrain, that different translators treat differently. In the end, it's a collection of great poems, but if you're looking for anything resembling explanation or interpretation, look elsewhere.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What? There are persian poets besides Rumi? And they are good?

[Richard Rogers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like it much.

There are some great poems here, some interesting translations, but so much of this collection suffers from one problem that I never got into it at all: the translations are off-puttingly English. English like King James, or Shakespeare, or John Donne.

Like this (pretty much random example), from a poem by Rumi, as rendered by a popular British translator:

Time bringeth swift to end
The rout men keep;
Death's wolf is nigh to rend
These silly sheep

(In subsequent lines, we get"smiteth" and "lovest" and "thou'lt." I've never even seen "thou'lt" before. I feel like I need to dissect it to understand what it means.)

In just the first four lines I encounter two words I have never said aloud and two others I've never used unironically. But you know where I've seen them? I mean, the only place I've seen them? Right. British literature.

All through these translations, there's lots of "ne'er" and "offer'd" and "blest" and "'twas" and "pluméd" and "ev'n" and "hark" and "oft" and the like. All perfectly good words, if you're an 18th or 19th century British poet trying to sound traditional and maybe a bit archaic. But they don't say "Persian!" to me. It sounds like Coleridge:

She had dreams all yesternight
Of her own betrothèd knight

or Pope:

'Tis she!—but why that bleeding bosom gor'd,
Why dimly gleams the visionary sword?

or Dryden:

Whate'er he did, was done with so much ease,
In him alone, 'twas natural to please.

That's all I can see when I'm trying to read this very old Persian poetry. It's like someone hung powdered wigs all over the lines and tried to tell me no no it's still super Persian, just ignore the wigs...

Secondly (nope, this rant is not over), most of it rhymes. I hate that.

I get it--it rhymed in the original. But come on--it's hard enough to make a faithful translation that makes sense to readers like me, coming at it from a very different time and culture. Trying to force that language into English rhymes is only doing additional violence to the poem. It's like taking these glass figurines of poetry and packing them in a small box by smashing them up till they fit. What is left of the original at that point?

What I would like is a faithful translation that approximates the feeling and sense of the poetry without bothering with rhyme and archaic poetic diction. Yes, I want it well written, not just transcribed by google translate or something, but stripped down enough that the source material shines through, so that the reader can appreciate something of the original character and sense of the poetry.

Anyway. Maybe I need a nap.

Not a fan. YMMV

[Ambia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like other anthologies, I liked some poems, liked some parts of poems and didn't really feel someothers. I was pretty interested in how alot of these poems from a time in Persia's past were about Wine and also about spirituality/religion, as if drunkenness was a state that lead to higher thought. I also wonder at whether some of the poems flew over my head becuase the translations are approximations of what the poets intended and some of the cultural references can't be understood. For example, the reoccurring character of the reed flute and reed beds. I found alot of the phylisophical musing very interesting to read and it seemed like these poets, probably becuase of the sufi and Islamic influence on their poetry were almost scholarly in their writing.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me ages to read the whole book not because I did not like the poems,
on the contrary, it was becasue I enjoyed them enough to want to give each one the attention it deserved.
Classic. Incredible writing by Persia's absolute best.
The poems give a lot of insight into the values and beliefs of Islam and into the Arabic / Persian worldview (or at least into what it was like in the poets' age).
The poems evoke strong emotions and reflections and are a difficult (mostly due to archaic language) but highly enjoyable read.

[Mejix · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5 stars. Some really good poems and then acres and acres of meh poems. Nineteenth century translations suck.

[Anh Nch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful read

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rumi carried

[Akhtar Mirza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, Hafiz, Life's a riddle - give it up:
There is no answer to it but this cup.

[Sarah Dunmire · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t say I really liked any of these poems. Saadi was okay.

[falaq · Rating 4 out of 5]

rumi my beloved 🤌🏼🤌🏼

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I said, 'Become my moon.' She said, 'If it comes to pass.'"

[Sammie Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this for my FRIEND's birthday and read it all first - a beautiful collection of poetry.

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, beautiful REALLY not a Book too read fast; But too SAVOUR... Hmm very tastey:)

Here are a few stanza's Poet: Sanai

entitled: The Walled Garden of Truth

Once one is one,
no more, no less
error begins with duality:
unity knows no error.

Place itself has no place:
how could there be place
for the creator of place,
heaven for the maker of heaven?

He said:
'I was a hidden treasure;
creation was created
so that you might know me.'



end qoute but not whole poem


there are many more stanzas to this poem - - - If you find this interesting, the Neighbor's were also thinking along these same lines in many ways: "The Cloud of the Uknowning" is a small book about how the Orthodox Christian's were thinking in the same time period... read it aloud, write it(copy it) and then takes on a whole new meaning?

regards

g

[Raytown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Includes pieces by Rumi, Hafez, Omar, Sanai, Attar, Saadi and Jami - in various translations, and while some worked beautifully (Coleman Barks is by far my favourite), others were too heavy on the page for me. Now, obviously I’ve no way of telling which translations are most faithful to the originals, but it’s interesting that the same poet sounded like an entirely different one depending on which translator was behind it. That’s to say, I’m not so much rating the original poetry here as much as I’m rating the translations.

Ah Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would we not shatter it to bits - and then
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart’s Desire!

(From Omar’s The Ruba’iyat)

[LudmilaM · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

a cute little book of poems. i liked it :)

[Emma]

Because there's no such thing as too much Rumi and Hafiz.