Borrowed Ware: Medieval Persian Epigrams (Poetica) [Paperback]

Dick Davis (Editor, Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004 | Series: Poetica

In `Borrowed Ware', Dick Davis brings together a wide range of shorter poems by poets from the `classic' period of Persian literature. It makes a fascinating introduction to a literature that is little known in the West, and incidentally provides insights into a vanished and extraordinary way of life.

The book contains a lucid and entertaining introduction, and informative headnotes on each of the 68 poets whose work is included.

After graduating from King's College Cambridge, Dick Davis worked as a teacher in various places around the world including Iran, where he lived and worked for eight years. He was Northern Arts Literary Fellow at Durham and Newcastle (1985-7), and he now teaches Persian at Ohio State University. `Borrowed Ware' is published simultaneously with his new collection of original poetry, `Touchwood'.

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Mr. Davis has put what he calls "Medieval Persian Epigrams" into easy, idiomatic English and provided an engaging introduction to the Persian world and an explanation of the code words that might otherwise puzzle modern readers. These authors were court poets, highly valued and well rewarded for wit, elegance, and a light touch. Originality of theme was not necessary, but there are surprises among the lovers' laments and financial complaints. Jahan Khatun, one of the few women poets, considered erotic reform but decided to "renounce renunciations." (A contemporary accused her of being a prostitute, but Mr. Davis points out that he "said this kind of thing" about everybody.) Vahshi requests,

Sweet breeze, inform my noble
lord from me
That panegyrics are what I excel at,
And if he gets obstreperous and rude,
Say satire's also something I do
well at.

The poems are faced by versions in Persian script, making the collection pretty as well as amusing. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

'Some of the best known Persian poets - Rudaki, Sa'di, Rumi, Hafez - are included in this book, but its virtue is that it has cast its net widely over a fascinating variety of writers from the tenth century to the seventeenth... The epigrams are erotic, religious and political (sometimes all three together!), and their tone sweeps from the tender to the scabrous, from the bitchy to the mystical' - Edwin Morgan, PBS Bulletin

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Anvil Press Poetry (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0856462705
• ISBN-13: 978-0856462702
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,627,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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