Persian Poems: An Anthology of Verse Translations

by A.J. Arberry (editor)

This book is an excellent introduction to classical Persian poetry for English-speaking readers. As stated in its preface, "This little book ... is a landmark in the interpretation of Persian literature, containing as it does the first English verse translation of a Persian poem." Many of these translations were completed in the late 19th century by noted scholars of both languages; for that reason alone, it is a valuable piece of history and a valuable memento of the sense of wonder and adventure with which Western scholars once approached the East. The poets featured here include Rumi, Sa'di, Hafez, Rudaki, Khosrow, Ferdowsi, Nizami, Shahriyar, and others. Also features Persian miniature illustrations.

Genres: Poetry, Middle East

239 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Arthur John Arberry (Portsmouth, May 12, 1905 – Cambridge, October 2, 1969) FBA was a respected British orientalist. A prolific scholar of Arabic, Persian, and Islamic studies, he was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. His translation of the Qur'an into English, The Koran Interpreted, is one of the most prominent written by a non-Muslim scholar, and widely respected amongst academics.

Formerly Head of the Department of Classics at Cairo University in Egypt, Arberry returned home to become the Assistant Librarian at the Library of the India Office. During the war he was a Postal Censor in Liverpool[citation needed] and was then seconded to the Ministry of Information, London which was housed in the newly constructed Senate House of the University of London. Arberry was appointed to the Chair of Persian at the School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS, University of London 1944–47. He subsequently became the Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, his alma mater, from 1947 until his death in 1969. He is buried in Ascension Parish, Cambridge, together with his (by provenance Romanian) wife Sarina Simons/Arberry (1900-1973) whom he had first met in Cairo and then married at Cambridge in 1932.

Arberry is also notable for introducing Rumi's works to the west through his selective translations and for translating the important anthology of medieval Andalucian Arabic poetry The Pennants of the Champions and the Standards of the Distinguished. His interpretation of Muhammad Iqbal's writings, edited by Badiozzaman Forouzanfar, is similarly distinguished.

Reviews

[Daniel Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I continue to travel in Iran, most of my usual apps and websites fail to work (NY Times? no way! Facebook? forget it!), but perhaps it's telling that a culture with such a love for literature gives the greenlight to GoodReads. It's commonplace in Iran to say that every family has at least two books in their home: a copy of the Qur'an, and a book of Hafez's poetry. Paging through Hafez's beautiful verses (in translation, of course) while the sun was setting over his mausoleum in Shiraz is an experience I will not soon forget.

[Ahmad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly translated. A marvel to the eyes of a native speaker, who indeed isn't well-read in and of the literature of the origin. I could bring myself to imagine the pains the translators might have gone through to bring to life the essence of old Persian poesy.