A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems (Middle East Literature in Translation) [Hardcover]

Simin Behbahani (Author), Farzaneh Milani (Translator), Kaveh Safa (Translator)

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Review

And Behold
The Ant's Leftover
Apples, Crimson Lanterns
Barren Desert
A Bat Or Some Other Creature
Bring Me The Palette
Caduceus
Can You Really Fly?
The Child Trailed Behind
The Dead Are Silent
Dead Man's Tooth
Dialogue
Don't Read
Doubts, Doubts, Doubts
Dry, Lifeless Dry
Ears, Ears Of Gold
Flog!
Footsteps
Fossil
From The Street: 1
From The Street: 3
From The Street: 6
Glass-like Snow
Green Blood
Gypsiesque: 11
Gypsiesque: 13
Gypsiesque: 14
Gypsiesque: 15
Has The Game Ended?
Heart, You Are So Restless
His Master's Voice
I Am So Full Of Light
I Can't Look
I Gave My Face To The Scalpel
I Sell Souls
I Sing In Your Voice
I Swear On The Fig, I Swear On The Olive
I Used To Tell You
I Want A Cup Of Sin
I Write, I Cross Out
I'm An Old Sanctuary
If The Snake Is Domestic
Ignorance
In My Necessary Silence
Inheritance
It Was The Pulse Flying
It's The End Of The Line
It's Time To Mow The Flowers
The Last Leaf
Laws Of Lead
Lead Dust
Lead Insulation
A Lily, Like A Smoke Ring
Limestone Branches
Love Came So Red
A Man With A Missing Leg
Maybe It Is The Messiah
Metamorphosis
Mind Blister
Mind: Smoke Rings
Morse
Must Write Something
My Country, I Will Build You Again
My Heart Is Heavy, Friend
My Little World
Necklace
Nightmare
O Box Within Box
O Child Of Today
Oh, I Made Love!
Opium Of False Promises
Orange-tressed Sun
Our Tears Are Sweet
'ours' - An Image
The Perfume Of Coffee And Thoughts Of You
The Prostitute's Song
The Rabbit's Garnet Eyes
Raining Death
Rival
Song: 3
Song: 4
Song: 5
Sounds Of Blossoms
A State Beyond Words
Thorned Fruit
A Thousand Golden Butterflies
Thump, Thump, Thump, Echoed The Drum
Tick Tock, Tick Tock
Time, It Is Dream Time
Tombstone
Twelve Fountains Of Blood
Two Rows Of Acacia Leaves
What A Cold And Somber Silence
When The Hand Of Darkness
Whirl, Whirl, My Friend
The Windows Are Closed
Wine Of Light
Workshop
The World Is Shaped Like A Sphere
You Leave, I'll Stay
You Said, It's Only Grapes
You Won't Believe It
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815605544
• ISBN-13: 978-0815605546
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,514,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PERSIAN GHAZAL AT ITS BEST, July 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Hardcover)

Just a generation ago the Persian sonnet ( ghazal) was regarded as dead and buried as a poetic form. Now, and thanks to Simin Behbahani, the ghazal is not only alive but rejuvenated. Ms. Behbahani shows that the most modern themes could still be effectively and beautifully handled by a poetic form that dates back to almost 11 centuries ago, making " modern Persian" the oldest language of the world still in daily use. Ms. Behabahani was one of few poets of her generation who refused to fall for the fashionable forms of poetrty, mostly imported from France and propagated by public relations masters such as trhe late Ahmad Shamlou. She avoided vers libre and prose-poems and other gimmicks and concentrated on retooling the Persian classical prosody in the service of new needs and feelings. She has never looked back. Behbahani is one of the most significant poets writing in any language today. She deserves to be read and re-read. What we need is more translations of her work not only in English but also in other major languages. A READER IN ENGLAND

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars GET TO KNOW THIS POET, April 25, 2002

By 

Pierre Benedile (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Hardcover)

Many Iranians regard Simin Behbahani as the Queen of Persian Poetry. And this book provides part of the proof that she desrves the title.

I first discovered Behbahani's work in the book " Wounded Rose" in which some of her poems were presented in English along with the works of two of her contemporaries: Yadollah Royai and Nader Naderpour.
In this collection we are treated to a larger selection of Ms. Behbahani's work.
Ms. Behbahani initially supported the seizure of power by the mullahs in 1979. But she was soon disappointed. She not only realised that the mullahs were enemies of Iranian culture, including Persian poetry, but learned a more important lesson: poets should not become involved in partisan politics of the day.
That change is reflected in the selection of her poets presented here.
I have noticed some important differences bewteen the two translations, in this book, and in " Wounded Rose". Here, teh translations are more literal and appear , at times at elast, rather crude.In " Wounded Rose" the translations, including one of Behbahani's sonnets by W.S. Merwin, are more literary and poetical.
But this, I suppose, is inevitable in any translation of poetry.
P.Benedile