Persian Poetry for English Readers - Being Specimens of Six of the Greatest Classical Poets of Persia, Ferdusī, Nizāmī, Sādi, Jelāl-Ad-Dīn Rūmī, Hāfiz, and Jāmī; With Biographical Notices and Notes #245041

There is one point upon which I am particularly anxious to be very frank, and to be perfectly under stood by any who may be my readers. I make no claim to be regarded as a Persian scholar, nor do I wish to be so regarded. My knowledge of the language is very imperfect. The only claim I make is this: that I have done my work — such as it is laboriously and conscientiously. To repair my own defects I have sought assistance wherever I could find it. I could have done nothing satisfactory to myself without such aid. I have diligently compared my own translations, line by line and word by word, with the best texts which I could obtain, and with such translations as existed in English, French, and German. I trust, therefore, that, as regards the sense of the Persian originals, I am not greatly in error. As to the English garb in which I have clothed them, my readers must judge of that. It is very much on the score of my want of a scholarly mastery of the language (though combined with other causes) that, as stated above, I have had so much doubt and hesitation about reprinting my work, and I should not improbably have continued to doubt and hesitate, and finally abandon the idea altogether.