.jpg) The 1861 edition | |
| Author | Thomas Moore |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1817 |
Lalla Rookh is an Oriental chivalricromance by the Irish poetThomas Moore, first published in 1817. The title is taken from the name of the heroine of theframe tale, the (fictional) daughter of the 17th-centuryMughal emperorAurangzeb. It consists of fournarrative poems with the connecting tale in prose. The work was a resounding success, and its popularity gave rise to many ships being named "Lalla Rookh" during the 19th century. It also played an instrumental role in makingKashmir (spelled asCashmere in the poem) a household name in theEnglish-speaking world.[1] The poem remains one of the great works of Oriental poetry, and has been regularly adapted into films, musicals, operas and other media.
The name Lalla Rookh or Lala-Rukh (Persian:لاله رخlaleh rox orrukh) means "tulip-cheeked" and is an endearment frequently used in Persian poetry.[3] Lalla Rookh has also been translated as "rosy-cheeked";[4] however, the first word derives from thePersian word for tulip,laleh, and a different word,laal, means rosy, orruby.[5] Tulips were first cultivated in Persia, probably in the 10th century,[6] and remain a powerful symbol in Iranian culture,[7] and the name Laleh is a popular girl's name.[8]Rukh also translates as "face".[9]
Moore took the idea of setting and model ofLalla Rookh fromThe Garden of Knowledge byInayatullah Kamboh (1608–1671).[10] He set his poem in a sumptuousoriental setting on the advice ofLord Byron.[11]The work was completed in 1817 while Moore was living in a house in the countryside ofHornsey, Middlesex, and the house was renamed, possibly by Moore himself, after the poem.[12] Lalla Rookh is a fictional daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb; he had no daughter of this name.[13]
The aged King ofBukhara has abdicated in favor of his son, which causes an Indian ruler to arrange a marriage between his daughter Lalla Rookh and the new ruler. Lalla Rookh travels to meet her betrothed, but falls in love with Feramorz, a slave whom her caravan had acquired. Feramorz charms the princess with his ability to compose poetry. The bulk of the work consists of four interpolated tales sung by the poet: "The Veiled Prophet ofKhorassan" (loosely based upon the story ofAl-Muqanna), "Paradise and the Peri", "The Fire-Worshippers", and "The Light of the Harem". When Lalla Rookh enters the palace of her bridegroom she swoons away, expectant to do her duty in marrying a man she has never met. She awakes with rapture to find that the poet she loves is there. The king had disguised himself as a slave to test whether his bride-to-be loved him for who he truly was.[14]
Scholars have stated Moore, a friend of the executed Irish rebelRobert Emmet, depicts in the poem "disguised versions of the French Revolution and the Irish Rebellion of 1798, [and] condemns the former but justifies the latter".[15]
Lalla Rookh was the basis of number of musical settings, including acantata byFrederic Clay &W. G. Wills (1877) featuring the famous songI'll Sing Thee Songs of Araby.[16]
The Fire-Worshippers is an 1892 "dramatic cantata" byGranville Bantock based on one of the tales.[17]
It is also the basis of theoperasLalla-Rûkh, festival pageant (1821) byGaspare Spontini, partly reworked intoNurmahal oder das Rosenfest von Caschmir (1822),Lalla-Roukh byFélicien David (1862),Feramors byAnton Rubinstein (1863), andThe Veiled Prophet byCharles Villiers Stanford (1879). One of the interpolated tales,Paradise and the Peri, was set as a choral-orchestral work byRobert Schumann (1843). Lines from the poem form the lyrics of the song "Bendemeer Stream".[citation needed]
The poem was translated into German in 1846, asLaleh-Rukh. Eine romantische Dichtung aus dem Morgenlande, byAnton Edmund Wollheim da Fonseca,[18] and was possibly the most translated poem of its time.[11]
Lala Rookh, a 1958 IndianHindi-language romantic-drama film by Akhtar Siraj was based on Moore's poem.[19]
The poem, which earned the highest price ever thus far for a poem (£3,000), enhanced Moore's reputation considerably at the time.[11]
The popularity of the poem and its subsequent adaptations gave rise to many ships being namedLalla Rookh during the 19th century.
Alfred Joseph Woolmer painted "Lalla Rookh" in 1861, depicting Hinda, daughter of theEmir of Arabia, in a tower overlooking thePersian Gulf, based on the story called "The Fire-Worshippers" in the poem. It is now housed in theLeicester Museum & Art Gallery.[20]
It is also credited with having madeKashmir (speltCashmere in the poem) "a household term inAnglophone societies", conveying the idea that it was a kind ofparadise (an old idea going back toHindu andBuddhist texts inSanskrit.[21]
Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm (founded 1889), often known as "the Grotto", asocial group with membership restricted toMaster Masons, and its female auxiliary, the Daughters of Mokanna (founded 1919), also take their names from Thomas Moore's poem.[22][23]
TheVeiled Prophet Organization ofSt. Louis, Missouri was founded 1878 byCharles andAlonzo Slayback created a mythology for a secret society and borrowed the name "The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan".
A tomb inHassanabdal, Pakistan, dating from theMughal Empire, is known as tomb of Princess Lalarukh. Some historians and others say that there is a woman called Lalarukh from the household of EmperorHumayun buried here after dying on a journey from Kashmir, while others claim that she was the daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb. The tomb was first recorded as the Tomb of Lady Lalarukh in 1905, which historians suggest was derived from Moore's popular work and named by British officers in the time ofBritish India.[13]
In George Eliot's 1871/1872 novelMiddlemarch, it is said of the character Rosamond Vincy, "Her favorite poem was 'Lalla Rookh'" (Chapter 16).
ERIN documents two of Thomas Moore's song series – the Irish Melodies (1808-1834) and National Airs (1818-1827) – as well as music inspired by his 'oriental romance' Lalla Rookh (1817).
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