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

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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

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