Zoe Simon's Portfolio & Blog

The required readings for Week 2 inspired me to create my own version of stylized, framed poetry as seen in Islamic art. I chose to focus on a piece of poetry by Rumi, which was featured in Professor Asani’s second chapter of reading. Taking that poetry as inspiration, I drew a detailed frame for the poem. I put much effort in making the frame as symmetrical as possible, a trend in Islamic art, as well as including geometric patterns and elements of nature. I chose blue hues to match the bright blue commonly featured in Islamic art and architecture. The poem itself is written in sections of the frame in a type of English calligraphy. Although slightly difficult to read, I wanted the poem to be accessible to English speakers while maintaining some of the beauty a Persian, calligraphic representation would possess. The poem reads:

Don’t take account of a life that goes without love;

Love is the elixir of life:

Accept it in your heart and soul;

Know that, except for lovers, one is a fish without water;

he is dead and withered, even though he be a vizir.

– Rumi