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Loading... The Mystical Poems of Rumi 1 (UNESCO Collection of Representative Works. Persian Heritage)by Jalal al-Din Rumi
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This book presents A.J. Arberry's famous translations of the mystical poems of Rumi, as edited and corrected by the scholar Franklin Lewis. Lewis notes that "... many who claim to 'translate' Rumi in English do not know Persian at all; their glimpse of Rumi, and the inspiration they receive from him, in fact often relies upon the pages of Nicholson [an early translator] and Arberry ...." The translations in this book, although Arberry takes poetic license, are based on original manuscripts of Rumi's poetry. Rea Keech used quotations from Rumi as epigraphs and in the title of his novel A Hundred Veils. no reviews | add a review
My verse resembles the bread of Egypt--night passes over it, and you cannot eat it any more. Devour it the moment it is fresh, before the dust settles upon it. Its place is the warm climate of the heart; in this world it dies of cold. Like a fish it quivered for an instant on dry land, another moment and you see it is cold. Even if you eat it imagining it is fresh, it is necessary to conjure up many images. What you drink is really your own imagination; it is no old tale, my good man. Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-73), legendary Persian Muslim poet, theologian, and mystic, wrote poems acclaimed through the centuries for their powerful spiritual images and provocative content, which often described Rumi's love for God in romantic or erotic terms. His vast body of work includes more than three thousand lyrics and odes. This volume includes four hundred poems selected by renowned Rumi scholar A. J. Arberry, who provides here one of the most comprehensive and adept English translations of this enigmatic genius. Mystical Poems is the definitive resource for anyone seeking an introduction to or an enriched understanding of one of the world's greatest poets. "Rumi is one of the world's greatest lyrical poets in any language--as well as probably the most accessible and approachable representative of Islamic civilization for Western students."--James W. Morris, Oberlin College No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)891.551Literature Literature of other languages Literature of east Indo-European and Celtic languages Persian languages Modern Persian Persian poetryLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Fortunately, there are those who have gone out of their way to produce a reliable translation. In the mid 20th century, Cambridge Professor A.J. Arberry completed the present (selective) translation of the "Divan", the mystical poems of Rumi. It is – he concedes – a very literal translation, which mainly follows the meaning and much less the literary aspect. Of course, that reads less smoothly, especially because the many references of Rumi to religion and culture do require some prior knowledge.
Mystical poetry, it is not an easy genre in any religion, especially because of the intensity and magnificence that characterizes this poetry, often with hermetic content. This is certainly also the case with Rumi, but at the same time his mystical lyricism is also more accessible. After all, Rumi addresses his love lyric not only to the Almighty, but strikingly also to his great dervish teacher Shams al-Din. With Rumi, becoming annihilated in the spiritual master is the necessary step to be able to become annihilated in God/Allah. That may provide a certain ambiguity, but it is more concrete to imagine. Nature also often is present in his verses (which is also a constant in mystical poetry), and this often produces gems. Still, reading this book remains a hard task to digest. My suspicion is that his best known work, the Masnavi, may be more accessible. Maybe I should try that. ( )