Speak Only of The Moon: A New Translation of Rumi (40)

by E.D. Blodgett (Translator)

As readers everywhere of the Sufi poet Rumi know, his thought is at once profound and perennially fresh. It is sometimes forgotten, however, by those who rely on translations, that he was a poet most at home in a poetry of constraints. The intention of this book is to give some emphasis to his poetry, particularly his intricate use of rhyme while bearing in mind that, were we to follow Rumi all the way, it might appear artificial. Remembering the constraints of both Persian and English, we have endeavoured to present a Rumi, one of the great lights of a brilliant poetic tradition, in an English that, despite the hazards of translation, comes close to our great forebear, in all his lightness, playfulness, and ineffable joy.

138 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2017

About the author

Edward Dickinson Blodgett (born 26 February 1935) is a Canadian poet, literary critic, and translator who won the Governor General's Award for poetry in 1996 for his collection Apostrophes: Woman at a Piano.

Born in Philadelphia and educated at Rutgers University, E. D. Blodgett emigrated to Canada in 1966 to work as a literature professor at the University of Alberta.[1]

In 1999, Jacques Brault won the Governor-General's Award for Translation for 'Transfiguration (1998), a translation of Blodgett's poetry.

On July 1, 2007 E.D. Blodgett was appointed the post of Poet Laureate for the City of Edmonton, Alberta.