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Rumi, Hafez, Omar Khayyam and the Global Artistic Perspective
Major artistic movements, form,
mature and grow in clusters of
time and region. Whether it’s
the American jazz movement, or
the great European classical
music composers, Impressionist
painters, Italian post WWII
neorealist filmmakers, British
Rock invasion bands (which were
inspired by the American blues)
or in this case the Persian
classical poetry. Without an
exception all major, global,
highly creative and intensely
demanding artistic movements are
a product of a very specific
cultural vibration set within a
particular time and geography.
The Persian classical poetry
movement is not an exception and
follows this natural flow quite
precisely.
When an artistic movement is
formed, a whole universe of
activity starts to buzz around
it. Enthusiast groups are formed
and special viewing areas or
performance halls are built. A
structure of trade forms around
these movements, whether it’s
art dealers, publishers, record
and film producers,
distributors, agents, managers
and collectors. A system of
training and education also
shapes to support these
movements; meaning as the
artform grows so does the
understanding and appreciation
of it. And the training
structure allows the young to
aspire to become the next big
players within these creative
fields.
Although poetry has been
immensely popular in Persia (and
today’s Iran) for over a
thousand years (or in forms much
earlier), what we commonly refer
to as Persian classical poetry
movement in essence lasted about
400 years (about 1000-1400 CE)
and produced many great poets.
However, only three of which are
globally recognized: Rumi, Hafez
and Omar Khayyam.
In fact some might argue that
Khayyam in height of his
popularity in the West was much
more known than today’s Rumi. As
far as I know Khayyam is being
quoted on at least four major
studio Hollywood movies of
1940s, '50s and ‘60s: The
Music Man, Pandora and The Flying Dutchman, Payton
Place and The Picture of Dorian Gray. And there is also a biopic
“Omar Khayyam”
(1957), directed by William
Dieterle (Portrait of Jennie,
Elephant Walk, Salome…). These
movies represent the very
popular aspect of American
culture. In contrast, except for
an episode of the HBO series Six
Feet Under, Rumi references are
basically non-existent in
American pop culture.
Since the English-speaking world
appreciates Persian classical
poetry through translations, the
personality of these literary
giants and the unique style of
each poet is often ignored or
morphed together to form an
endless stream of brilliant
verse. However, their work in
the original Persian language is
quite unique.
In the original Persian, Rumi and
Hafez are as different from each
other as Miles Davis and Dizzy
Gillespie. Hafez (1315-1390),
who is undoubtedly the most
popular of all the Persian
classic poets in his homeland of
Iran, is the true Persian
word-meister. He has an immense
grasp of the language, with a
very distinct fluid style, that
is often embellished with great
care. The poetry of Rumi
(1207-1273) by contrast is akin
to Miles’ expression of Jazz, in
many ways minimal, direct,
honest, personal, soulful and
masterful with a clear lack of
embellishment. However, Hafez
translations in English are
often indistinguishable from
Rumi, and this is of course
expected when any great literary
work is read through translation
and interpretation.
Nevertheless, the beauty,
grandeur, majesty, poetic craft
and wisdom of these great beings
come through not only in the
original Persian language but in
the English translations as
well. |
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