Why didn't you guys tell me how good Rumi was?

Why didn't you guys tell me how good Rumi was?

What're you reading, OP?

I've always avoided Rumi because fat old bags who led real happy lives love dropping him as another piece of their texture-lives, discarded on a bedside table while they fuck hundreds of men in the gold light of the 60's-today.

I have a bunch of his books my dad gave me, I remember reading a few poems and liking them. He's probably considered pleb-tier around here though.

>He's probably considered pleb-tier around here though.
Most threads about him have been positive up until this point but now that you have insinuated that it might be pleb-tier to like him, Veeky Forums will have to pretend to hate him.

I didn't mean to :(

Also OP you might like to checkout Hafiz, my dad recs him as well.

Has anyone ITT done any further reading into Sufism? I know it's Islam but it sounds pretty based to me.

I was surprised when I heard he is the best selling poet in the US. thought it would be Whitman

I tried Saadi (in translation), found some of it interesting for reasons external to the books but a lot of the content itself (in translation, I know) is boring and repetitive. Would have expected more images.

Nah, Rumi and Khayyam are good. They're one of the ones where it makes you seem like a retard to avoid, see 's story about his mum.

How much is lost in translation?

Hafiz is better.

wew lad, looks like you spared him no expense

The musicality and high-tempo rhythm of Rumi's Ghazals in original Persian is something to behold. It even puts the best of Italian poetry to shame. They are so catchy that It's a challenge to read them out loud and focus on the meaning. So I guess much is lost in translation. Because in translation, you've got nothing but the meaning.

>The musicality and high-tempo rhythm of Rumi's Ghazals in original Persian is something to behold.
You speak Persian?

afaik persion poetry uses almost exclusively rhymed couplets and is therefore boring

Yes. I am Persian.

That is not true. Only Masnavi form (the equivalent of heroic couplet in English) uses rhymed couplets exclusively. Of course all forms of classical Persian poetry are reliant on rhymes one way or the other, so if you have anything against rhyming (though God knows why), you're indeed going to find them boring.

rubai is aaba i.e. effectively has a rhymed couplet as the two first lines and then the rhyme is repeated again for the next two lines

ghazal is aabacadaea etc i.e. yet again has a rhymed couplet as the first two lines and then it doesn't let you forget the rhyme because it's the only rhyme in the whole poem and it repeats every 2 lines

no interesting meter schemes too iirc

Anyone read iqbal or ghalib? Heard they're also quite good...

i read the whole the birds parliament by farid ud din, praise me :3

I have book 1 of the Masnavi with me. Might give it a read, thanks OP.

I was thoroughly surprised when I discovered this. The Mawlawi Order makes musical compositions of Rumi's poems in Persian, and they feel perfect musically, even when you don't know the meaning.

Any opinions on Coleman Barks' translations?

>reading sandnigger shit

get out

>>/pol/

Be careful with the Coleman Barks """""translation"""" He doesn't speak Persian or even understand, he takes a lot of liberty with the material kind of removing the Muslim perspective which is essential in any Sufi poetry

t. a real Sufi

>praise
? it's not that long nor really difficult.
Pretty boring though, assuming translation, I can understand why it could've seemed so to you

Italian poetry sounds a lot better to me though, I think its just because you grew up with Persian

>. It even puts the best of Italian poetry to shame.
get the fuck out of here lel

Can you recommend a good, literal translation?

Did you grow up with Persian or Italian? I don't think someone can judge honestly unless they understand both.

Occitan poetry sounds way better than Italian though