Somayeh Baeten, née Shafiei, is a German citizen born in Tehran in 1981. She was raised in a caring Persian family with her beloved mom, Soosan, who inspired and supported her devotedly through all stages of life, to whom this book is devoted. After finishing school, Somayeh as a talented student, finished her Bachelors and Masters in English Language and Literature in her hometown. She came later to Germany to continue her studies and received her Dr. Phil. (Ph.D.) in English Linguistics and Medieval Literature from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. In Munich, she got to know her dear husband, Andre, and later gave birth to her lovely daughter, Niki. Since 2005, she has been teaching classes in English Linguistics and Literature at universities in both her hometown, Tehran, and Munich. Moreover, she has experienced Establishing and Organizing EFL Learning Centres at Universities in her hometown. Being motivated in her academic life and interested in both Persian and English literature, reading literary books, lecturing, translating and travelling around the world, she got a deep understanding and knowledge of literature to write the present book: “Birds, Birds, Birds: A Comparative Study of Medieval Persian and English Poetry, especially Attar’s Conference of Birds, The Owl and the Nightingale, Chaucer’s The Parliament of Fowls and The Canterbury Tales”, in which she compares these medieval literary masterpieces of the East and the West.

This volume presents annotated texts of two poems that have not appeared in a previous critical edition. They are specimens of noncourtly minor poetry; the bird convention which links them is formulaic rather than experimental, their mode is predictable, their outlook decidedly conventional. A publication of the Renaissance English Text Society.

First full-length study of birds and their metamorphoses as treated in a wide range of medieval poetry, from the Anglo-Saxons to Chaucer and Gower.

Chaucer's 'Parliament of Fowls' is a story about love, lust, honour, nature . . . and ducks. Simon Webb's highly accessible modern English verse translation conveys the humour and colour of Chaucer's original, and Simon's introduction explains why the poem is now considered to be the work that first introduced the idea of Valentine's Day as we know it. With introduction, glossary and further reading.

This book contains an edited version of the Middle English poem 'The Owl and the Nightingale', together with a modern English translation.

Abstract: Mantiq Ut-tair, The Conference of the Birds, was composed in the twelfth century by the Persian poet, Farid ud-Din Attar, in the form of an allegorical poem, based on the teaching of the Sufis, of whom Attar was one of the greatest. The book is, as Attar says, 'A gift for distinguished men and a boon for the common'. Translation: This translation by C. S. Nott was first published in 1954 and at that time only two partial translations were available in England. Stanley Nott's rendering from the French prose translation of Garcin de Tassy is virtually complete, and as such was the first to appear in English. Garcin de Tassy's translation is as he says, 'as literal as I have been able to make it intelligible'. He has also retained the flavour, the spirit, and the teaching of Attar's poem. The brush drawings by Kate Adamson are based on those in an ancient Persian manuscript of Mantiq Ut-tair. Additional content: The appendix of this book includes a note about Attar, a short section on the Sufis and a glossary of some of the names and other words used throughout the text.

“These lofty words are an antidote for anyone sickened by extremism's poison.” Considered by Rumi to be “the master” of Sufi mystic poetry, Attar is best known for this epic poem, a magnificent allegorical tale about the soul’s search for meaning. He recounts the perilous journey of the world’s birds to the faraway peaks of Mount Qaf in search of the mysterious Simorgh, their king. Attar’s beguiling anecdotes and humor intermingle the sublime with the mundane, the spiritual with the worldly, while his poem models the soul’s escape from the mind’s rational embrace. Sholeh Wolpé re-creates for modern readers the beauty and timeless wisdom of the original Persian, in contemporary English verse and poetic prose.