This is the first English translation of Rumi's entire Divan contained in 20 volumes. The Divan-i Kebir, or Divan-i Shams, is the anthology of Rumi's poems from the time he met Shams (1244) until the day he died (1273). He recited (he did not write) poems day and night, and four assigned people, called Katib-i esrar ("secret secretary"), followed and recorded him. These 44,000+ verses are the best and most beautiful explanations of the secret of life, love, humanity, God, and more. They also serve as historical sketches of 13th Century life in Konya, Anatolia. The language the Divan was written in is 13th Century Farsi, spoken in Anatolia. There are a small number of gazelles written in Arabic, Turkish and even Greek. Abdulbaki Golpinarli (d. 1982), a Turkish scholar, translated the Divan into Turkish. Nevit Ergin has translated Mr. Golpinarli's 7 volume Turkish Divan into a complete 20 volume English Divan. |
