Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière adapted the poem into a play titled La Conférence des oiseaux ( The Conference of the Birds), which they published in 1979. Brook toured embryonic versions of the play around rural Africa during the visit of his International Centre for Theatre Research to that continent in 1972–73, before presenting two extremely successful productions to Western audiences—one in New York City at La MaMa E.T.C., and one in Paris. John Heilpern gives an account of the events surrounding the early development of the play in his 1977 book Conference of the Birds: The Story of Peter Brook in Africa. [5] Attar, Harvey & Masani, Conference of the Birds: A Seeker's Journey to God, Weiser Books, 2001, ISBN 1-57863-246-3 Wolpé further writes: "The book is meant to be not only instructive but also entertaining." [3] English translations [ edit ]

The Conference of the Birds or Speech of the Birds ( Arabic: منطق الطیر, Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr, also known as مقامات الطیور Maqāmāt-uṭ-Ṭuyūr; 1177) [1] is a Persian poem by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, commonly known as Attar of Nishapur. The title is taken directly from the Qur’an, 27:16, where Sulayman ( Solomon) and Dāwūd ( David) are said to have been taught the language, or speech, of the birds ( manṭiq al-ṭayr). Attar’s death, as with his life, is subject to speculation. He is known to have lived and died a violent death in the massacre inflicted by Genghis Khan and the Mongol army on the city of Nishapur in 1221, when he was seventy years old. [2] Synopsis [ edit ] To a Skylark’ is an ode to the “blithe” essence of a singing skylark and how human beings can never ever reach that same bliss. The poem begins with the speaker spotting a skylark flying above him. He can hear the song clearly. The bird’s song is “unpremeditated” it is unplanned and beautiful. Shelley is stunned by the music produced by the bird and entranced by its movement as it flies into the clouds and out of sight. Nott, Charles Stanley (tr.) (1954), The Conference of The Birds: Mantiq Ut-Tair; a Philosophical Religious Poem in Prose (1sted.), London: The Janus Press , reissued by Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd, 1961.Masani, R. P. (tr.) (2001), Conference of the Birds: A Seeker's Journey to God, Weiser Books, ISBN 1609252233 . Valley of Poverty and Annihilation, where the self disappears into the universe and the Wayfarer becomes timeless, existing in both the past and the future. The birds function as the poem's primary symbol, as they are both familiar yet different, present yet prone to metaphorical and literal flight.

a b c d e The Conference of the Birds by Attar, edited and translated by Sholeh Wolpé, W. W. Norton & Co 2017 ISBN 0393292193 Paul Farley's "For the House Sparrow, in Decline", meanwhile, tenderly imagines "a roofless world where no one hears your cheeps / only a starling's modem mimicry / will remind you how you once supplied / the incidental music of our lives''. Once again birds provide a metaphor for the crisis of our time.In the poem, the birds of the world gather to decide who is to be their sovereign, as they have none. The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, suggests that they should find the legendary Simorgh. The hoopoe leads the birds, each of whom represents a human fault which prevents humankind from attaining enlightenment.