Mystical Poems of Rumi

440 Pages·2009·1.334 MB·English

by  Rumi, A.J. Arberry, Ehsan Yarshater, Franklin D. Lewis, Hasan Javadi

m p
ystical oems
r
umi
of
Untitled
SadeghTabrizi,100x100cm,inkonparchment
m p
ystical oems
r
umi
of
TranslatedfromthePersianby
A.J.Arberry
Annotatedandpreparedby
HasanJavadi
Forewordtothenewandcorrectededitionby
FranklinD.Lewis
GeneralEditor,
EhsanYarshater
(cid:2)
TheUniversityofChicagoPress Chicago'London
Thetranslationsinthisvolumewereoriginallypublishedintwobooks.Thefirst
volume,includingthefirst200poems,orghazals,appearedin1968underthetitle
MysticalPoemsofR¯um¯ı1,FirstSelection,Poems1–200.ItwaspartofaUNESCO
CollectionofRepresentativeWorksandwasacceptedinthetranslationseriesofPersian
worksjointlysponsoredbytheRoyalInstituteofTranslationofTeheranandUnited
NationsEducational,Scientific,andCulturalOrganization(UNESCO).Thesecond
selection,preparedbyHasanJavadi,waspublishedin1979byBibliothecaPersicaas
number23intheirPersianHeritageSeries,editedbyEhsanYarshaterwiththeassistance
oftheCenterforIranianStudiesatColumbiaUniversity.Itwasreprintedin1991bythe
UniversityofChicagoPressunderthetitleTheMysticalPoemsofR¯um¯ı2,Second
Selection,Poems201–400.Thiscombinedandcorrectededitioncontainsthetextandnotes
fromthosetwobooksaswellassignificantrevisionsbasedonanewreadingofArberry’s
originalhandscriptandsomenewnotesandanewforewordbyFranklinD.Lewis.
PublishedbyarrangementwithBibliothecaPersica.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
Poems1–200andnotestopoems1–200© 1968byA.J.Arberry
Poems201–400andnotestopoems201–400©1979byEhsanYarshater
CombinedandCorrectededitionwithanewForewordbyFranklinD.Lewis©2009
byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.
Originallypublishedintwovolumes.Poems201–400originallypublishedin1979as
No.23inthePersianHeritageSeries,BibliothecaPersica.
UniversityofChicagoPressedition2009
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
18171615141312111009 12345
isbn-13:978-0-226-73162-9(paper)
isbn-10:0-226-73162-6(paper)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Jalalal-DinRumi,Maulana,1207–1273.
[Divan-iShams-iTabrizi.English.Selections]
MysticalpoemsofRumi/translatedfromthePersianbyA.J.Arberry;annotated
andpreparedbyHasanJavadi;forewordtothenewandcorrectededitionbyFranklin
D.Lewis;generaleditor,EhsanYarshater.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
isbn-13:978-0-226-73162-9(pbk.:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-226-73162-6(pbk.:alk.paper) 1. Jalalal-DinRumi,Maulana,
1207–1273—TranslationsintoEnglish. 2.Sufipoetry,Persian—Translationsinto
English. I.Arberry,A.J.(ArthurJohn),1905–1969. II.Javadi,Hasan. III.Lewis,
Franklin,1961– IV.Yar-Shater,Ehsan. V.Title.
pk6480.e5a72 2008
891(cid:2).551—dc22 2008034071
(cid:4)∞ ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsoftheAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ansiz39.48-1992.
c
ontents
ForewordtotheNewandCorrectedEdition
byFranklinD.Lewis(2008) (cid:2) 7
ForewordtoVolume2,MysticalPoemsofRumi
byEhsanYarshater(1978) (cid:2) 17
AnAutobiographicalSketch
(cid:2)
byA.J.Arberry 21
IntroductiontoVolume1,MysticalPoemsofRumi
(cid:2)
byA.J.Arberry 27
translation: poems 1–400 (cid:2) 37
(cid:2)
NotestoPoems 377
ApagefromA.J.Arberry;translationofMysticalPoemsofRumi,inhis
ownhandwriting,showingpoems285–287.(CourtesyofHasanJavadi).
f
oreword
to the new and corrected edition
AprofessorshipofArabicatCambridgeUniversitywasestab-
lishedin1632andendowedbyThomasAdams,whohadmade
hisfortuneasadraperandhaberdasher,andlaterwentonto
becometheLordMayorofLondon.Asitsnameimplies,the
SirThomasAdams’sProfessorshipofArabicwastobedevoted
tothestudyofArabic—itistheoldestendowedprofessorship
forthispurposeintheEnglish-speakingworld.Severalofthe
professorswhooccupiedtheSirThomasAdamschairatCam-
bridgeinthetwentiethcentury—E.G.Browne,C.A.Storey,
R.A.Nicholson,andA.J.Arberry—were,however,equallyor
evenmorerenownedasPersianists.Indeed,thelattertwoespe-
ciallydistinguishedthemselvesasscholarsofthePersianmys-
ticalpoetMaul¯an¯aJal¯alal-D¯ınRu¯m¯ı,nowknowninEnglish
simplyasRumi,orinTurkeyasMevlana.
WhileEdwardGranvilleBrowne(1862–1926)wasperhapsnot
asenamoredofRumi(Jala´lu’d-D´ınRu´m´ı,asthescholarlycon-
ventionswerethenspellinghisname)astwoofhissuccessorsto
[ 7 ]
theSirThomasAdams’sProfessorshipofArabicwouldbe,he
neverthelesspassedontohisstudentsadeepandabidinglove
forthepoethedescribedas“withoutdoubtthemosteminent
S.u´f´ıpoetwhomPersiahasproduced,whilehismysticalMath-
nawı´deservestorankamongstthegreatpoemsofalltime.”1In
1898,Browne’sstudentReynoldAlleyneNicholson(1868–1945)
publishedaselectionofforty-eightofRumi’sPersianghazals
withfacing-pagetranslationinEnglish,accompaniedbyschol-
arlynotes.2Nicholsonwouldlatergoontoeditandtranslate
Rumi’sgreatnarrativepoemtheMasnavi(alsotransliterated
asMathnav¯ıorMathnawı´),aprojecttowhichhedevoteda
largepartofhisscholarlycareer.Althoughattemptshadbeen
madetotranslatepartsofRumi’sMasnaviintoEnglishbefore
Nicholsondidso,hisselectionfromRumi’sD¯ıv¯an-iShams-i
Tabr¯ız,or“greatD¯ıv¯an”(D¯ıv¯an-ikab¯ır),wasthefirstwork
inEnglishdevotedtoRumi’sghazals,ofwhichNicholsonre-
marked,they“reachtheutmostheightsofwhichapoetryin-
spiredbyvisionandraptureiscapable.”
ArthurJ.Arberry(1905–69),thetranslatorofthepresent
work,hadattendedthefuneralofProfessorE.G.Brownein
1926andin1927receivedthescholarshipforCambridgestu-
dentsBrownehadestablishedinhiswill.Arberryusedthis
scholarshiptopursuehisstudiesinPersianandArabic,becom-
ingastudentofR.A.Nicholsonandobtaininghisdoctorate
atCambridgein1936.In1944,aftersometimespentinCairo,
A.J.ArberrysucceededVladimirMinorskyasChairofPersian
attheSchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudiesattheUniversity
ofLondon.Meanwhile,backinCambridge,C.A.Storeyhad
succeededNicholsonasThomasAdamsProfessorofArabic.
1.E.G.Browne,ALiteraryHistoryofPersia,vol.II:FromFirdawsı´to
Sa’dı´(London:T.FisherUnwinandNewYork:C.Scribner’sSons,1906;
reissued:Cambridge:TheUniversityPress,1928andseveralreprints.Reissued
Bethesda,Maryland:Iranbooks,1997),515.
2.SelectedPoemsfromtheD¯ıv¯aniShamsiTabr¯ız,trans.R.A.Nicholson
(CambridgeUniversityPress,1898,reissuedin1952,paperbackedition1977;
reissuedbyIbexpublishersin2002)
franklind.lewis
[ 8 ]
ButwhenStoreyretiredin1947,ArberryreturnedtoCambridge
tohimselfassumethepositionofhisformerteacher,Nicholson,
andhisbenefactor,Browne,asSirThomasAdamsProfessor.
ThoughArberrydidnotpublishonRumiwhileNicholson
wasstillalive,duringhistwenty-yearcareeratCambridgehe
devotedmuchofhisscholarlyeffortstobuildinguponhismen-
tor’sprojectoftranslationandintroductionofRumitothe
West.Arberry’svoluminousscholarlyoutputincludedtrans-
lationsofsomepoemsofRumiinhisImmortalRose:AnAn-
thologyofPersianLyrics(London:Luzac,1948),versetransla-
tionsofRumi’squatrains(rub¯a‘¯ıy¯at,1949),histranslationof
Rumi’slecturesanddiscourses(F¯ıhim¯af¯ıh,1961),twovolumes
ofprosetranslationsofselectedstoriesfromRumi’sMasnav¯ı
(1961and1963),selectionsfromthespiritualdiariesofRumi’s
father,Bah¯a’al-D¯ın-iValad(Ma‘¯arif,1964),andanextended
selectionofRumi’smysticallyrics(1968and,posthumously,
1979).WemayalsonotethatduringtheseyearsArberryalso
translatedtwoworkstangentiallyrelatedtoRumi:boththe
Qur’¯anitself,whichfiguressoprominentlyinRumi’spoetry,
aswellasthefamousmodernPersianpoembyMuhammad
Iqbal,inwhichRumifeaturesasacharacter,guidingIqbal(just
asVirgilguidedDante)throughtheheavens.3Beyondallthis,
Arberryhadannouncedin1961ahopetopublisha“fullstudy
ofthelife,writingsandteachingsofRumi”whichwasto
includean“extendedanalysisofthecontents,patternand
doctrineoftheMasnavi,”which,sadly,hedidnotlivelong
enoughtocomplete.4
3.TheKoranInterpreted,trans.A.J.Arberry(London:AllenandUnwin;
NewYork:MacMillan,1955),whichhasservedasastandardsourceforquo-
tationsoftheQur’¯aninEnglish.AndMuhammadIqbal,J¯av¯ıd-n¯ama,trans.
A.J.Arberry(London:AllenandUnwin,1966).
4.ThefollowingchronologicalcapsulesummarizesArberry’sgreatcontri-
butiontothestudyofRumi:
1949 TheRubaˆ`ˆıyaˆtofJalaˆlal-DˆınRuˆmˆı(London:E.Walker)
1961 DiscoursesofRumi(London:J.Murray)
1961 TalesfromtheMasnavi(London:AllenandUnwin)
foreword,2008
[ 9 ]