6 h 12 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How does a people carry its homeland through stories, songs, love and grief?
In Armenian Legends and Poems, Zabelle C. Boyajian gathers old Armenian tales and verse into an invitation to know a culture. The legends draw on traditions preserved by medieval chroniclers. Haik and Ara the Beautiful stand among the figures through whom these stories explore beginnings, homeland and a people's sense of who they are.
The poems turn from the broad sweep of national legend to the feelings of a single heart. Love, grief, faith and homeland give these voices their subjects. Published in 1916, amid great Armenian suffering, the anthology serves as an act of memory: a way to introduce readers to stories and poetry that hold a culture close.
What you’ll discover
- Stories of beginnings Meet Haik and Ara the Beautiful in legends that give a people heroes and a homeland.
- A landscape of belonging Explore founding stories rooted in the Armenian highlands around Mount Ararat.
- From legend to lyric Follow the shift from a nation's grand stories to the intimate concerns of individual poets.
- Love, grief and faith Find verses that bring these enduring feelings into the company of homeland and memory.
- Words to read aloud Take the legends slowly and hear the spoken and sung roots of these pages.
Who will love it
For readers who love folk songs, myths and lyric poetry, and for anyone curious about Armenian history, faith and exile. Fans of Persian poets, fables and love songs will feel at home too.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A memorial book gathers a nation's voice
- Ancient songs tell of gods, kings and dragons
- Old gods shaped Armenian songs and customs
- A historian saved what the church tried to erase
- Faith, alphabet and war made a new literature
- Medieval poets sang of God, death and roses
- Minstrels and mothers kept songs among the people
- Exile and loss run through the modern poems
- Hope, liberty and love close the book
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Armenian Legends and Poems
by Zabelle C. Boyajian (compiler)
A child with hair of fire springs from a burning reed, and a nightingale searches for his lost rose.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What do a child born from a burning reed, a mourning river and a nightingale searching for his rose have in common? They all live in Armenian Legends and Poems, put together by Zabelle C.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A memorial book gathers a nation's voice
Boyajian compiled this anthology as a memorial to an unhappy nation. She says plainly that it cannot show Armenian poetry in full.
What she offers instead are a few representative legends and poems, translated to stay close to the rhythm and imagery of the originals. The pages mix ancient songs, medieval poems, folk songs and modern verse. Some poems come from other translators, including Alice Stone Blackwell, and two come from the Italian poet Vittoria Aganoor Pompilj.
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What is Armenian Legends and Poems about?
It collects ancient legends, folk songs, medieval poems and modern verse from Armenia. Themes include gods and heroes, love, exile, faith and the nation's long struggle, and a closing essay by Aram Raffi explains the history behind them.
Who was Vahagn in Armenian legend?
Vahagn is a fire hero born from a crimson reed, with hair of fire and eyes like suns. Old songs say he fought dragons, and Armenians once honored him as a god of courage.
Who are the Rose and the Nightingale in the poems?
They are a favorite pair in Armenian and Persian verse. The nightingale stands for the faithful lover, and the rose for the beloved he longs for. Grigoris of Aghtamar tells their story at length.
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