These are my English translations of Mirza Ghalib, who has been called the last great poet of the Mughal Empire. I consider him one of the world's greatest poets and a legit contender for the top ten.
Thank you for your reply, which I will reflect on. I only found, reading these marvellous lines, that I OD-ed on their quality quite quickly. I just could not sustain the effort of reading them all at once. The intensity was too much. I knew that closing the page and promising myself to come back to them, was just fooling myself. The continuous conveyor belt of Social Media, 24/7 News and events would prevent it. Hence my comment. Allow me to quote something recent: “A big book is a huge bore.”—Callimachus, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch.🙂
One assumes Callimachus read the Odyssey, the Iliad, the Aeneid, etc.
Not everything poets say stands up to reason.
As a boy, I read the Tolkien trilogy in two nights, thousands of pages, so it can be done.
When I really want to continue reading, I send myself an email with a link to the text in question, and it stays in my inbox as a reminder until I finish.
I detect distinct pedagogic intent. Reminiscing on your childhood is best left for 5th Formers. What mystifies me most is your dedication to “Google Searchers”. What are they to you? A market? Disciples? A constituency? And if Google finds you once, it will find you a thousand times! Unlike me, it cannot get tired. And do you imagine you are going to be “discovered“… enthroned as a bard, perhaps…? Maybe best if you block me.
Well, now you're getting personal, testy and nasty.
Google has already discovered me, many times over. Every week I get multiple requests from educators, scholars and students to use my poems. Composers have set my poems to music 74 times, from swamp blues to classical, including three operas. All the composers found me and ran me down. I never solicited any of the collaborations.
So perhaps I know more than you do about the value of Google searchers, which you put in quotation marks as if intending another slight.
I won't block you, but I won't waste further time replying to someone who can't or won't keep a debate civil.
Marvellous aphorisms ‼️ (Still think you would be better served revealing them in smaller quantities)
I'm glad you liked my Ghalib translations.
Separating the poems would make it much more difficult for Google searchers to find them.
My favorite book is the Norton Anthology of Poetry, which I have read several times, with over 2000 pages.
Thank you for your reply, which I will reflect on. I only found, reading these marvellous lines, that I OD-ed on their quality quite quickly. I just could not sustain the effort of reading them all at once. The intensity was too much. I knew that closing the page and promising myself to come back to them, was just fooling myself. The continuous conveyor belt of Social Media, 24/7 News and events would prevent it. Hence my comment. Allow me to quote something recent: “A big book is a huge bore.”—Callimachus, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch.🙂
One assumes Callimachus read the Odyssey, the Iliad, the Aeneid, etc.
Not everything poets say stands up to reason.
As a boy, I read the Tolkien trilogy in two nights, thousands of pages, so it can be done.
When I really want to continue reading, I send myself an email with a link to the text in question, and it stays in my inbox as a reminder until I finish.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
Happy hunting!
I detect distinct pedagogic intent. Reminiscing on your childhood is best left for 5th Formers. What mystifies me most is your dedication to “Google Searchers”. What are they to you? A market? Disciples? A constituency? And if Google finds you once, it will find you a thousand times! Unlike me, it cannot get tired. And do you imagine you are going to be “discovered“… enthroned as a bard, perhaps…? Maybe best if you block me.
Well, now you're getting personal, testy and nasty.
Google has already discovered me, many times over. Every week I get multiple requests from educators, scholars and students to use my poems. Composers have set my poems to music 74 times, from swamp blues to classical, including three operas. All the composers found me and ran me down. I never solicited any of the collaborations.
So perhaps I know more than you do about the value of Google searchers, which you put in quotation marks as if intending another slight.
I won't block you, but I won't waste further time replying to someone who can't or won't keep a debate civil.