Hafez translations by Gertrude Bell

[nages...@yahoo.com]

SalAm:

I recently obtained a copy of "The Hafez Poems of Gertrude Bell," which first was published in 1897. I thought the material might be of interest to ALUPERs; we recently had several threads on translation.

The original:

sAqi bah nUr-e bAdAh bar afroz jAm-e mA
mutrib bigU keh kAr jahAN shud bah kAm-e mA

mA dar pyAlA aks-e rukh-e yAr dIdah Im
ai bekhabar zi lazzat-e shurb-e mudAm-e mA

The translation:

Oh cup-bearer, set my glass afire
With the light of wine! oh minstrel, sing:
The world fulfilleth my heart's desire!
Reflected within the goblet's ring
I see the glow of my love's red cheek,
And scant of wit, ye who fail to seek
The pleasures that wine alone can bring.

Regards,

Nagesh

[Afzal A. Khan]

Nagesh Saheb,

It is true that we did have some threads in recent times about
translations. And, maybe, I am to be blamed for at least a few
of them. But, as far as I can recall, these involved Urdu
poetry. Many of us are not very familiar with Faarsi and,
therefore, may not be able to appreciate the original Persian
verses, like those quoted above.

Also, I have a faint recollection that you had once posted
the second sher above earlier, but mis-remembered the word
"shurb" and wrote "sharaab" instead. I think I had clarified
the matter at that time.


Afzal

[Naseer]

salaam Nagesh SaaHib.

One or two minor transcription mistakes..

saaqii ba-nuur-i-baadah bar-afroz jaam-i-maa
mutrib bi-guu kih kaar-i-jahaaN shud ba-kaam-i-maa

maa dar piyaalah 3aks-i-rux-i-yaar diidah-em
ai be-xabar zi lazzat-i-shurb-i-mudaam-i-maa

And translation in Urdu by Maulana Qazi Sajjad Hussain SaaHib.

ai saaqii sharaab ke nuur se hamaaraa jaam raushan kar de
gavaiyye gaa!dunyaa kaa kaam hamaarii manshaa'ke mutaabiq ho gayaa hai

ham ne piyaale meN yaar ke rux kaa 3aks dekhaa hai
ai be-xabar! hamaare sharaab ke piine kii lazzat se

You can see that Gertrude Bell has taken some liberties with
"padding".

Naseer

[Afzal A. Khan]

One cannot really expect exact word for word translation
(i.e. without padding or substitution).

As regards Qaazi Saheb's translation, it is in prose; so
Ms. Bell is, in a way, one up on him.

Also, the word "gavaiyye" sounds so pedestrian. The
original word used by Haafiz can be used in Urdu too,
viz. "mutrib". Ghalib has used the word in his famous
qat'aa :

Mutrib ba~naGHma rahzan-e-tamkeen-o-hosh hai

Even the word used by Ms. Bell sounds very elegant,
i.e. "minstrel".



Afzal

[nages...@yahoo.com]

Afzal Sahib:

I remember your correction of my use of "sharaab" for "shurb". I continue to be grateful for the free education that is so generously offered on ALUP, and thank you again for your many efforts to share your wisdom with us.

There was a time when English poetry, more often than not, respected rhyme and metre. In the past, ALUPers have commented on Fitzgerald's skill in recreating Khayaam's Rubaiyat. To me, Bell's Hafez had a similar effect, except that she seems to hew more closely to the meaning of the original. All the other translations of Hafez that I have seen have provided literal meanings, and made no attempt to create English poetry.

Naseer Sahib; thanks again for the corrections.

Regards,

Nagesh

[Naseer]

muHtaram Afzal SaaHib, I can not disagree with anything that you have
written.

Naseer

[Afzal A. Khan]

Thank you,

Our worthy friend, UVR Saheb (I regret to say that he is now
a FORMER ALUPer) was quite fond of double negatives. And I
had ribbed him playfully about this on a couple of occasions too.


Afzal

[Afzal A. Khan]

> Nagesh




Nagesh Saheb,

Thank you for your kind words.

I think you have made a quite valid point here. English
translations of Urdu poetry (if done in a mechanical,
literal and word-for-word manner) will be too prosaic, for
the readers. Such translations ought really be such as to
be considered good poetry in their own right. People may
consider Fitzgerald's translation as not really reflecting
KHaiyyam's original thought. But isn't it good poetry in
itself ? I do think Ms. Bell has done full justice to the
Faarsi verses of Haafiz. In due course, when time permits,
please favour us with more such translations from this new
book acquired by you. And we are fortunate to have Naseer
Saheb with us, who can render difficult Faarsi poetry in
intelligible Urdu. Actually, translations from Faarsi to
Urdu may not be all that abstruse, due to much of the
vocabulary being common to both languages. In due course,
even I may be able to present such examples....


Afzal