Persian Poets (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) [Hardcover]

Peter Washington (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2000 | Series: Everyman's Library Pocket Poets

The Middle Ages saw an extraordinary flowering of Persian poetry. Though translations began appearing in Europe in the nineteenth century, these remarkable poets--Omar Khayyam, Rumi, Saadi, Sanai, Attar, Hafiz, and Jami--are still being discovered in the West.

The great medieval Persian poets owe much to the mystical Sufi tradition within Islam, which understands life as a journey in search of enlightenment, and, like their European contemporaries, they combine religious and secular themes. While celebrating the beauty of the world in poems about love, wine, and poetry itself, or telling humorous anecdotes of everyday life, they use these subjects to symbolize deeper concerns with wisdom, mortality, salvation, and the quest for God.

Editorial Reviews

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The Middle Ages saw an extraordinary flowering of Persian poetry. Though translations began appearing in Europe in the nineteenth century, these remarkable poets--Omar Khayyam, Rumi, Saadi, Sanai, Attar, Hafiz, and Jami--are still being discovered in the West.

The great medieval Persian poets owe much to the mystical Sufi tradition within Islam, which understands life as a journey in search of enlightenment, and, like their European contemporaries, they combine religious and secular themes. While celebrating the beauty of the world in poems about love, wine, and poetry itself, or telling humorous anecdotes of everyday life, they use these subjects to symbolize deeper concerns with wisdom, mortality, salvation, and the quest for God.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"The True Sufi"
by Rumi (translated by R. A. Nicholson)

What makes the Sufi? Purity of heart;
Not the patched mantle and the lust perverse
Of those vile earth-bound men who steal his name.
He in all dregs discerns the essence pure:
In hardship ease, in tribulation joy.
The phantom sentries, who with batons drawn
Guard Beauty's palace-gate and curtained bower,
Give way before him, unafraid he passes,
And showing the King's arrow, enters in.

"Where Is My Ruined Life?"
By Hafiz (translated by Gertrude Bell)

Where is my ruined life, and where the fame
    Of noble deeds?
Look on my long-drawn road, and whence it came,
    And where it leads!
Can drunkenness be linked to piety
    And good repute?
Where is the preacher's holy monody,
    Where is the lute?
From monkish cell and lying garb released,
    Oh heart of mine,
Where is the Tavern fane, the Tavern priest,
    Where is the wine?
Past days of meeting, let the memory
    Of you be sweet!
Where are those glances fled, and where for me
    Reproaches meet?
His friend's bright face warms not the enemy
    When love is done-
Where is the extinguished lamp that made night day
    Where is the sun?
Balm to mine eyes the dust, my head I bow
    Upon thy stair.
Where shall I go, where from thy presence? Thou
    Art everywhere.
Look not upon the dimple of her chin,
    Danger lurks there!
Where wilt thou hide, oh trembling heart, fleeing, in
    Such mad haste--where?
To steadfastness and patience, friend, ask not
    If Hafiz keep--
Patience and steadfastness I have forgot,
    And where is sleep?

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Everyman's Library (November 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375411267
• ISBN-13: 978-0375411267
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 0.7 x 6.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Selection and Good Translations, February 1, 2001

By 

Nessander - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Persian Poets (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) (Hardcover)

Persian Poetry has come onto the popular scene recently with interest in Rumi and his mystical/love poems. However, those interested might also be interested in the tradition of such poetry that Rumi comes out of. Actually Rumi is considered as only one of the four great mystical poets in Persia (and not necessarily the best of them).

Washington's selection is an intelligent one, and the poems are on the whole good translations. Often such collections are a mixed bag, but in this case a good job was done. Since there are really no alternatives to a collection of Persian poetry in translation in print at the moment, this volume is recommended!

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, May 31, 2009

By 

Jack E. Stoudenmire Jr. "Ravenous reader" (Southern Pines, NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Persian Poets (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) (Hardcover)

A little counter-intuitive, perhaps in this era of conflict between the West and Asia Minor; but if one can read this poetry in the spirit of exploration, the appreciation of another culture from before the days of Shakespeare, there is much to relish in this slim volume.

The mindset of the writers of these gems is clearly different from our own, and that brings an interesting take on daily life.