World Peace and Harmony

Shyamli Suneesh 

Peace is glory, peace is dignity,

peace is love and peace is amity.

 

Birds fly freely high up in the blue sky,

Flowers bloom and cherish when spring arrives.

Dews settle on leaves with deliberate happiness,

As bees buzz excited around their hives.

 

Why aren't we as happy as they are?

So free, so elated

and no complaints at all.

  

As trees and flowers sway

and the wind runs over my face

It brings in a new ray of hope

that world peace can still return. 

"May the World Live in Peace and Harmony"

روز بزرگداشت حافظ شیرازی، خداوند شعر و ادب پارسی، گرامی باد.

دوش دیدم که ملائک در میخانه زدند            گل آدم بسرشتند و به پیمانه زدند

ساکنان حرم ستر و عفاف و ملکوت            با من راه نشین باده مستانه زدند

آسمان بار امانت نتوانست کشید              قرعه فال به نام من دیوانه زدند

جنگ هفتاد و دو ملت همه را عذر بنه           چون ندیدند حقیقت ره افسانه زدند

    شکر ایزد که میان من و او صلح افتاد         صوفیان رقص کنان ساغر شکرانه زدند

    آتش آن نیست که از شعله او خندد شمع       آتش آنست که در خرمن پروانه زدند

کس چو حافظ نگشاد از رخ اندیشه نقاب

تا سر زلف سخن را به قلم شانه زدند

Autumn: the season of colorful leaves

 

 Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Albert Camus

Summer Moonlight

Moonlight, Summer Moonlight
by Emily Bronte

'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight,
All soft and still and fair;
The solemn hour of midnight
Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere,

But most where trees are sending
Their breezy boughs on high,
Or stooping low are lending
A shelter from the sky.

And there in those wild bowers
A lovely form is laid;
Green grass and dew-steeped flowers
Wave gently round her head.

“Life is not a race”

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast
Time is short, the music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly
When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores running through your head?
You'd better slow down, don't dance so fast
Time is short, the music won't last.

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
'Cause you never had time to call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down, don't dance so fast
Time is short, the music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift, thrown away.
Life is not a race, do take it slower
Hear the music, before the song is over.

God is love." the Bible, 4:8"

God's Amazing Love!

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
Were every blade of grass a quill,
Were the world of parchment made,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor would the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

New words:

quill: pen made from the feather shaft

parchment: the thin dried skin of some animals which was used in the past for writing on

scribe: a person employed, before the invention of printing, to make copies of documents

by trade: a job which needs special skill and which involves working with your hands

scroll: a long roll of parchment

Note for drama students

Dear all,

In response to some of the students' request for a question-and-answer session, I am going to be present at English department on coming Saturday from 9 to 11. Please study hard till then and come with clear questions. Also, it should be mentioned that no information is going to be given about the exam questions, except what you already know. Then, please do not refer unless you have some serious problems in your understanding of the textbook.  

Good luck!

Introducing an English poet

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) is a famous English poet. He also wrote many children's stories. The poem's line, "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same" is written on the wall of the players' entrance at Wimbledon.

If  

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

... If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
...

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Catch-up Class

Dear Students

This is to inform you that we are going to have a two-session class (8-10 and 12-2) on coming Monday. As I have asked you before, you are required to study the chapter titled Tragedy and Comedy and to answer the questions of the play The Brute. Also, this is the last opportunity for the students who have not yet delivered their lectures.

See you

دو رباعی از حکیم عمر خیام به مناسبت روز بزرگداشت وی (بیست و هشتم اردیبهشت)

Here are two quatrains by Khayyam translated, with considerable changes, by Edward Fitzgerald, the famous English poet, in 1859. As a work of English literature, Fitzgerald's translation is a high point of the 19th century and has been a popular favorite ever since.

ای دوست بیا تا غم فردا نخوریم      وین یکدم عمر را غنیمت شمریم

فردا که از این دیر فنا درگذریم       با هفت هزار سالگان سر بسریم.

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears

TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears -

To-morrow ? - Why, To-morrow I may be

Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.

این یک دو سه روز نوبت عمر گذشت        چون آب به جویبار و چون باد به دشت

      هرگز غم دو روز مرا یاد نگشت              روزی که نیامده است و روزی که گذشت. 

Ah, fill the Cup: - what boots it to repeat

How Time is slipping underneath our Feet:

Unborn to-morrow and dead yesterday

Why fret about them if to-day be sweet!

نخستین روز اردیبهشت، سالروز بزرگداشت استاد سخن، شیخ اجل، سعدی شیرازی گرامی باد.

توصیف بهار از زبان سعدیِ شیرین سخن

منّت خدای را عز و جل که طاعتش موجب قربتست و به شکر اندرش مزید نعمت ...

فرّاش باد صبا را گفته تا فرش زمرّدین بگسترد و دایه ابر بهاری را فرموده تا بنات نبات را در مهد زمین بپرورد درختان را به خلعت نوروزی قبای سبز ورق در بر کرده و اطفال شاخ را به قدوم موسم ربیع کلاه شکوفه بر سر نهاده عصاره نالی به قدرت او شهد فایق شده و تخم خرمایی به تربیتش نخل باسق گشته ...

پیراهن برگ بر درختان                  چون جامه عید نیکبختان

اول اردیبهشت ماه جلالی             بلبل گوینده بر منابر قضبان ...

گلستان سعدی، بهار جاویدان

... برای نزهت ناظران و فسحت حاضران کتاب گلستان توانم تصنیف کردن که باد خزان را بر ورق او دست تطاول نباشد و گردش زمان، عیش ربیعش را به طیش خریف مبدل نکند.

به چه کار آیدت ز گل طبقی        از گلستان من ببر ورقی

گل همین پنج روز و شش باشد    وین گلستان همیشه خوش باشد

انّما سمّیت ابنتی فاطمة، لان الله فطمها و ذرّیتها و محبّیها عن النار

Surah Al-Kauthar (A River in Paradise)

Translated by
Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali, Ph.D. & Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

1. Verily, We have granted you (O Muhammad) Al-Kauthar (a river in Paradise);

2. Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice (to Him only).

3. For he who makes you angry (O Muhammad), - he will be cut off (from every good thing in this world and in the Hereafter).

 

Wonders of Nature

Flower in the Crannied Wall

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower -but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

خوشآمد گویی به بهار در ادبیات فارسی معاصر

خوش به حالِ غنچه های نیمه باز

فریدون مشیری

بوی باران، بوی سبزه، بوی خاک،
شاخه های شسته، باران خورده، پاک
آسمان آبی و ابر سپید ،
برگ های سبز بید،
عطر نرگس، رقص باد،
نغمه ی شوق پرستو های شاد،
خلوت گرم کبوترهای مست
نرم نرمک می رسد اینک بهار،
خوش به حال روزگار !

خوش به حال چشمه ها و دشت ها،
خوش به حال دانه ها و سبزه ها،
خوش به حال غنچه های نیمه باز،
خوش به حال دختر میخک - که می خندد به ناز- [...]
خوش به حال آفتاب.
[...]ای دریغ از تو اگر چون گل نرقصی با نسیم !
ای دریغ از من اگر مستم نسازد آفتاب !
ای دریغ از ما اگر کامی نگیریم از بهار.

گر نکوبی شیشه ی غم را به سنگ؛
هفت رنگش می شود هفتاد رنگ!  

Welcoming Spring in Contemporary English literature

Spring

© Teresa Underwood

The air is cool, the breeze is light.
The clouds in the sky are fluffy and white.

The flowers open to show their bright faces,
as the garden snail alongside paces.

The trees unfold their bright green leaves.
The spider a silken web she weaves.

The birds sing their notes high and clear.
Cheer up! Cheer up! Spring is here!

 

25 اسفند، سالروز بزرگداشتِ بزرگ بانوی شعر پارسی، پروین اعتصامی، گرامی باد!

با سلام به همکاران گرامی و دانشجویان عزیز

لازم می­دانم توضیحی از بابت انتخاب غزل "اختر چرخ ادب" با مضمون مرگ پروین که آن را برای سنگ آرامگاهش سرود، بدهم. بجاست اگر دوستان انتخاب چنین غزل غم انگیزی را مناسب سالروز نکوداشت پروین ندانند. اما اگر نیک تامل کنیم، پروین در این شعر، مرگ خود را دستمایه عبرت گرفتن برای ما زنده­ها قرار داده تا نه تنها زنده باشیم بلکه هنر درست زندگی کردن را بیاموزیم. علاوه بر این مضمون گرانمایه، زیباییهای کلامی و وزنی شعر چنان برجسته است که خواننده را مسحور خود می­کند. همانطور که دکتر ابوالفتح حکیمیان گرد آورنده شعرهای پروین بیان کرده است: "این غزل زیبا و خیال برانگیز که سرنوشت محتوم زندگان را در برابر مرگ، با حداقل کلمات مرتسم و مجسم کرده، ورد زبانهاست" و از شاهکارهای پروین است. 

اختر چرخ ادب

اینکه خاک سیهش بالین است          اختر چرخ ادب پروین است

              گرچه جز تلخی از ایام ندید               هرچه خواهی سخنش شیرین است

      صاحب آنهمه گفتار امروز                  سائل فاتحه و یاسین است [...]

        بیند این بستر و عبرت گیرد               هر که را چشم حقیقت بین است

  هر که باشیّ و ز هرجا برسی         آخرین منزل هستی این است

                 آدمی هر چه توانگر باشد                 چون بدین نقطه رسد مسکین است [...]

 زادن و کشتن و پنهان کردن               دهر را رسم و ره دیرین است

 خرّم آن کس که در این محنت گاه         خاطری را سبب تسکین است

پروین تا ابد زنده است؛ سعی کنیم زندگی را از نگاه فلسفی و انسانی او ببینیم و زنده گی کنیم.

Cleansing Drops

Rain

Rain is something completely pure,
Nourishment it will ensure.
Understands how to sooth and relax,
With unpredictability, it often acts.

Rain is something we shouldn't avoid,
When it's sprinkling, it may be enjoyed.
We may share it with family and friends,
It helps our minds regenerate and cleanse.

Rain is something we should all respect,
When it's angry, we should hide and protect.
It knows how to take but also give,
We must cherish it, as long as we live.

Take Life Seriously

On Living

by Nazim Hikmet, translated by Mutlu Konuk and Randy Blasing

 

 Living is no laughing matter:

            you must live with great seriousness

                        like a squirrel, for example--

   I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,

                        I mean living must be your whole occupation.

Living is no laughing matter:

            you must take it seriously,

            so much so and to such a degree

   that, for example, your hands tied behind your back,

                                            your back to the wall,

   or else in a laboratory

            in your white coat and safety glasses,

            you can die for people--

   even for people whose faces you've never seen,

   even though you know living

            is the most real, the most beautiful thing.

I mean, you must take living so seriously

   that even at seventy, for example, you'll plant olive trees--

   and not for your children, either,

   but because although you fear death you don't believe it,

   because living, I mean, weighs heavier.

Starting over” for all the students who have decided to start it over“

Starting Over

© Tatum

I’m trying to find something to base my life upon,
Something in this strange world that goes on and on. […] 
Tomorrow comes, and then again, it goes,
And my ambition to become something more, grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,
The life I want now, gets closer each day.
All I've ever wanted was something to live for,
I don’t want to be this little person anymore. […]
I understand now, that I’m pretty much on my own,
And I know a lot of what I can do will never be known.
All the time, I think about everything I can’t say, what I have to keep in,
And by doing this, my thoughts only get more complicated and deepen.
Soon I hope to find out who I am, and what I am meant to become,
I want to know where I’m going, I don’t need to be reminded of where I came from. 

Note: for the complete version of the poem visit: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/starting-over

اطلاعیه برای دانشجویان درس درآمد 2

 

دانشجویان محترمی که درس درآمدی بر ادبیات 2 دارند، طبق برنامه ارائه دروس باید

 این درس را برای بعدازظهر روز دوشنبه ساعت 2 تا 4 بگیرند اما خواهشمند است

 ساعت 8 تا 10 صبح سه شنبه اشان را خالی بگذارند بعدا زمان کلاس به صبح

 سه شنبه منتقل می شود.

Note for the Students of Introduction to Literature II

Dear Students,

Good News

You must have felt frustrated to learn that there has been a change of program in Introduction to Literature II classes. Now here is the good news that, as settled before, the class is going to meet on Tuesday mornings, 8 to 10.

Have a good vacation

Introducing a book in English about Prophet Muhammad

Muhammad in Europe

Written by Minou Samimi - also known as Minou Reeves - published by New York University Press, 2003.

Synopsis    

Generations of Western writers—from the Crusades to the present day—have written portraits claiming to depict the life and personality of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Over the course of thirteen centuries, stubbornly biased and consistently negative representations have persisted, presenting images which bear no resemblance to the noble man familiar to Muslims. Muhammad in Europe traces this consistent tradition of distortion and provides an account of the reasons behind it.

About the writer:

Born in Tehran, Minou Reeves/ Samimi was, until 1979 a career diplomat. She is the author of several books and is now a member of the Institute of Linguists at London. She currently lives in Worcestershire, working as a freelance writer, translator and language consultant. Minou knows several languages including French, German, English, Italian and Latin.

Note: the book was translated into Farsi by Abbas Mehrpooya in 2005 and is available in public libraries.

 

بلغ العلی بکماله ... صلوا علیه و آله

 

لَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ أَلَّا يَكُونُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ (آیه ۳، سوره شعراء)

(ای رسول ما) تو چنان در اندیشه هدایت خلقی که خواهی جان عزیزت را از غم اینکه

ایمان نمی آورند، از دست دهی.

چند حدیث گهربار از امام حسین (ع)

Imam Hussein says:

• When other people turn to you in need, consider it a favour of Allah. Do not be wearied of this favour, or it will move on to someone else.
• The biggest pardoner is he who forgives in spite of being strong enough to retaliate.
• Fighting against self is the biggest crusade, which, in other words, amounts to abstinence from disobedience of Allah.
  
  

Merry Christmas

Peace at Mind

Author: C. Marquardt

 A gentle drizzle of snow
Brings the whole family to the window
Winter is on its way
It soon arrives and before you know it
Presents are being bought
Christmas Eve is the night
And your family is all together
There’s something going around
Putting everyone at peace
You look around wondering
Why everything is so different
But all you see is a smile
On every face
You can't help but smile too
Everyone has peace at mind
You move to the fireplace
Feel the warmth and see gingerbread cookies
On the table beside a candle
No one has to say a word because everyone seems
To have peace at mind
You think aloud that this is the best feeling
And everyone seems to hear
Smiles get bigger, hugs are shared
Presents are opened.

 

ادامه نوشته

He lives long that lives well

 

 

Life without endeavor is like entering a jewel mine and coming out with empty hands.

Japanese Proverb

The Rain

The Rain

Author: anonymous

I love the rain beating against my window
As I lie here warm and dry, watching the world go by

I love the rain running along the roads
Washing the pavements and streets
From the dirt of the night before

I love the rain when it ripples in the canal
Filling the river and streams as they gush forth

I love the rain as it quenches the thirst of the arid lawn
The bed of roses, the daffodils, the lilies and the fields of corn

I love the rain when it beats against my window
Blessings in abundance, a mercy, God’s grace
I love the rain as it gently falls on my face
As I thank the Lord, The Giver of all, The Sustainer, The Glorious.

Happy Eid

 

Imam Ali

There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty than ignorance; no greater heritage than culture and no greater support than consultation.

 

Make-up Class

Note for the students of Introduction to Literature 1

Dear Students

Sorry that I couldn’t make it.

As you must have been informed, the make-up class will be held on coming Monday. Since we are going to have a two-session class this week, in addition to your previous assignments, you are supposed to prepare the following too:

1. Study the short story Miss Brill by Catherine Mansfield and find the setting (time, place and atmosphere) of the story. 

2. Read the introductory pages of chapter three, titled Characterization and try to analyze the characters of The Most Dangerous Game in the light of the information this chapter gives you.

See you

Take Time

Take Time

Author: Unknown  

Take time to think:
it is the source of power.

Take time to read;
it is the foundation of wisdom.

Take time to play;
it is the secret of staying young.

Take time to be quiet;
it is the opportunity to see God.

Take time to be aware;
it is the opportunity to help others.

Take time to love and be loved;
it is God's greatest gift.

Take time to laugh;
it is the music of the soul.

Take time to be friendly;
it is the road to happiness.

Take time to dream;
it is what the future is made of.

Take time to pray;
it is the greatest power on earth.