Description
Few major achievements of world litera- ture are as little known to Americans as the great ecstatic poetry of the Hindus and the Sufis, as exemplified by the work of the 15th-century master, Kabir. Irreverent while being intensely religious, Kabir seems incredibly playful in his taunting of the sacred dogmas of his time-to readers accustomed to the solemnity and ideological fidelity of most Western religious poems. Kabir has been translated into English only once before, by Rabindranath Tagore and Evelyn Underhill. Unfortu- nately, Tagore's Victorian English was simply not equal to Kabir's directness, spontaneity, and irreverent humor. Working from the Tagore-Underhill translation, Bly has done much more than retranslate into American diction. A noted poet himself, he has breathed new life into the work of a fascinating poet.
ISBN:0807063797
