Customer Reviews

Persian Poets (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)

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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!

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.