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    Seven Persian Poets
    Seven Persian Poets
    Seven Persian Poets
    Ebook169 pages1 hour

    Seven Persian Poets

    By Albert Shansky

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    Ever since my three visits to Iran in the years 1973, 1976, and 1978, I fell in love with Persian poetry. Poetry was everywhere in Iran in those years; one could simply walk into a bookstore and buy a copy of a poem of a favorite poet or the work of a new entry which are sometimes illustrated and displayed on walls. Poetry was always an important expression of life in Persia (Iran) beginning with Hakim Ferdowsi's great historical/ mythological epic, Shahnahmeh (The Book of Kings) to the well-known Rubaiyat (Odes) of Omar Khayyam and the magnificent love poems of the three Sufi poets, Jalaluddin Rumi, Muhammad Hafiz, and Saadi Shirazi. This book includes the five poets above as well as two relatively modern poets Forough Farrokhzad and Ahmad Shamloo.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris US
    Release dateMay 25, 2016
    ISBN9781524504755
    Seven Persian Poets
    Author

    Albert Shansky

    Albert Shansky studied philosophy and religion at Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut. He received Shambhala training at the Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and studied Islam at the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. He has trained as a lay monk at the Hosshinji Monastery in Obama, Japan, and at Eiheiji Monastery in Fukui, Japan. He is a member of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, the American Academy of Religion, the American Philosophical Association, and the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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      Book preview

      Seven Persian Poets - Albert Shansky

      Also by Albert Shansky

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      SEVEN PERSIAN POETS

      ALBERT SHANSKY

      Copyright © 2016 by Albert Shansky.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Rev. date: 05/24/2016

      Xlibris

      1-888-795-4274

      www.Xlibris.com

      742496

      CONTENTS

      Dedication

      Acknowledgements

      Introduction

      One Ferdowsi Hakim Abul–Qasim Firdawsi Tusi

      Two Omar Khayyam

      Three Rumi

      Four Saadi Shirazi

      Five Hafez (Hafiz)

      Six Forough Farrokhzad

      Seven Ahmad Shamloo

      Afterword

      Notes

      DEDICATION

      This book is dedicated with great respect and fondness to:

      Shirlee Maddren

      Leila de Bruyne

      Myrna Hollinger

      These three women were students in my class on Persian Poets at Norwalk Community College in the spring 2015. They showed great scholastic ability in the quest for knowledge and the pursuit of meaning in the poetry of the Persians. They deserve my praise, admiration and recognition.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      Grateful acknowledgement is given to the many publishers whose books contained the poems cited in this book without their help this book could not have been written. I particularly would like to recognize Susan Madeo of the Interlibrary Loan Department of Westport Library who was of considerable help in locating many of the obscure books used for this project. Also, I am grateful to Sandra Lillydahl of Omega Publications who made available and permitted me to use The Hand of Poetry which contains the poems of Saadi. Indeed, great plaudits are due Jennifer Lipps of Norwalk Community College who unstintingly allowed me the use of her good offices. My dear friend, Maurice Siegel shared my suffering through the ordeal of waiting for permissions to be granted from publishers.

      The one who deserves the highest approbation is my loving wife, Pearl Brody Shansky, who with patience and understanding, sanctioned my entry into this project with a delightful and insightful help even in moments of ennui.

      INTRODUCTION

      Ever since my three visits to Iran in the years 1973, 1976, and 1978, I fell in love with Persian poetry. Poetry was everywhere in Iran in those years; one could simply walk into a bookstore and buy a copy of a poem of a favorite poet or the work of a new entry which are sometimes illustrated and displayed on walls. Poetry was always an important expression of life in Persia (Iran) beginning with Hakim Ferdowsi’s great historical/mythological epic, Shahnahmeh to the well-known Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam and the magnificent love poems of Jalaluddin Rumi, Muhammed Hafiz, and Saadi Shirazi. This book will include the five poets mentioned above as well as two relatively modern poets Forough Farrokhzad and Ahmad Shamloo.

      It has been estimated that there were about one hundred sixty well-known poets in Iran from the seventh century up to the twentieth century and beyond. I shall focus on seven in the following chronological order:

      Ferdowsi – mythological and historical – 11th century.

      Omar Khayyam – romanticism – 11th century.

      Rumi – mysticism, Sufism and theology – 13th century.

      Saadi – mysticism, Sufism and theology – 13th century.

      Hafez – mysticism, Sufism and theology – 14th century.

      Forough Farrokhzad – modernism – 20th century.

      Ahmad Shamloo – modernism – 20th century.

      The seventh century was significant in Persian history because it saw the birth of Islam through the visions of the archangel Gabriel who sent messages to Muhammad (570-632) and the transference of these messages orally by Muhammad to Abu Bakr (632-34) who wrote them down to eventually become the Qur’an. The future of the new religion of Islam was uncertain because Muhammad did not designate his successor before his death. One group of his followers claimed that Muhammad named his son-in-law, Ali as his successor. This group known as Shia (the Shi’ites) dominated Persia (Iran) which sparked violent disagreement with the main group in Islam, the Sunnis.

      Abu Bakr, through war with the Bedouins claimed the entire Arabian Peninsula for Islam. His declaration of hostility against the Byzantines (Christians) and Sassanids (Persians) who surrounded Arabia would account for the expansion of Islam under the next three caliphs, Umar (634-44), Uthman (644-56), and Ali (656-61). Ali was succeeded by Mu’awiya establishing the Umayyad Dynasty (660-680) and was finally succeeded by his son Yazid (680-692) thus ending the seventh century with Abd al-Malik (684-705). All the mid-east, North Africa (the Maghreb), and the lower part of Spain were converted to Islam. They couldn’t go any further in Spain having been stopped by the Frankish army. It was Charles Martel (688-741) who rolled back the tide of Muslim conquest, in a desperate battle between Tours and Poitiers in 732.

      The conquest of Persia begun by Umar was completed in 653. The Persians greatly resented their conquest by the despised Arabs. The Sassanid Empire had its own state religion Zoroastrianism which was an integral part of their culture. They considered the Arab Muslims an inferior people. The Arabs and Persians were constantly in conflict as a result of their differences in the Islamic movement; Persians were Shi’ite followers while the Arabs and others were Sunni.

      Writing poetry in this milieu from the tenth century until today produced bitter feelings of the heart. Some poems were originally written in Arabic while others were written in classical Persians or Pahlavi Persian and then translated into Arabic. Of course, modern poetry was written in Farsi the modern language of Iran. All, however, were translated into multiple languages rendering problems in meaning and structure. Translations are attempts to preserve the rhyme scheme of the original but often distort the meaning.

      In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the term Iran, the historical common name of the county. In 1959, the government of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi announced that both Persia and Iran could officially be used interchangeably.

      Poems in Arabic are known as Ghazals, collections are called Divans. The names of the seven poets in this book are what are described as pen names. The actual names will appear beneath the headings for each poet. Bear in mind that their pronunciation depends on the fact that the Arabic and Persian languages, like most Semitic languages, are phonetic and so have a serious influence on their pronunciation. In particular is the use of a letter within a name such as ‘h’ which is often mispronounced by nonsemitic speakers. For example Ahmad should be pronounced as A ch mad where ch is gargled in the mouth more like AkKmad or in the case of Mahmud which is pronounced more like MakKmud. In addition there is the use of the glottal or a modulation of the voice wherein a slight separation of letters is made by a space written as an a or as an apostrophe such as Saadi or Sa’di.

      As to name explanation let us analyze the name of Omar Khayyam:

      Ghiyath ad-Din Abul-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim al Khayyam Nishapuri

      Ghiyath ad-Din means The shoulder of the faith, Abu means father, Fath means conqueror, Umar means life, ibn means son of, Ibrahim is the name of the father, Khayyam means tent maker and Nishapuri means from Nishapur.

      So Omar Khayyam’s name in translation is:

      The shoulder of the Faith, Father, Conqueror, Life, Son of Ibrahim, Tent maker from Nishapur.

      Mystic poetry of the thirteenth century was written by Rumi and Saadi to be followed by Hafez (Hafiz) in the fourteenth-century. A number of philosophers, mystics and saints emerged at this time in Europe and were their contemporaries. In Britain we find Roger Bacon (1214-1292), William of Ockham (1285-1349) and in Scotland John Duns Scotus (1265-1308). In Spain there was Maimonides (1135-1204), Moses de Leon (d.1305), and ibn Arabi (b.1165). In Italy we have Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), and Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). In Germany, the mystic, Mechthilde of

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