ASL Poetry - "Israfel" a poem by Poe

Here is my ASL interpretation of "Israfel" (1831) a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. READ THE POEM FIRST!!!

ISRAFEL (1831) full poem in text:

In Heaven a spirit doth dwell
"Whose heart-strings are a lute";
None sing so wildly well
As the angel Israfel,
And the giddy stars (so legends tell),
Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell
Of his voice, all mute.

Tottering above
In her highest noon,
The enamored moon
Blushes with love,
While, to listen, the red levin
(With the rapid Pleiads, even,
Which were seven,)
Pauses in Heaven.

And they say (the starry choir
And the other listening things)
That Israfeli's fire
Is owing to that lyre
By which he sits and sings-
The trembling living wire
Of those unusual strings.

But the skies that angel trod,
Where deep thoughts are a duty-
Where Love's a grown-up God-
Where the Houri glances are
Imbued with all the beauty
Which we worship in a star.

Therefore thou art not wrong,
Israfeli, who despisest
An unimpassioned song;
To thee the laurels belong,
Best bard, because the wisest!
Merrily live, and long!

The ecstasies above
With thy burning measures suit-
Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love,
With the fervor of thy lute-
Well may the stars be mute!

Yes, Heaven is thine; but this
Is a world of sweets and sours;
Our flowers are merely- flowers,
And the shadow of thy perfect bliss
Is the sunshine of ours.

If I could dwell
Where Israfel
Hath dwelt, and he where I,
He might not sing so wildly well
A mortal melody,
While a bolder note than this might swell
From my lyre within the sky.

---------


The poem is about Israfel, an Islamic angel who is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an. Israfel will blow the horn on Judgement Day when the world ends.

"Israfel" is one of Poe's very rare poems in which he sounds optimistic and hopeful, even comparing himself to Israfel and boasting of how great Israfel is, with his music that affects other angels and spirits and humans. Toward the end of the poem, Poe despairs about how boring and mundane our world is, and that Israfel's world (Paradise) is much more pleasant and exciting, and Poe wishes he could follow Israfel and listen to his music all day, but Israfel would lose his fire (passion) if he stoops down to us mere mortals (humans like you and me).

I attempted to interpret "Israfel" as how I viewed the poem in American Sign Language. I suggest you watch my video WITHOUT closed captioning, so that the meaning of the poem might make more sense to you after you've read the words!

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PS - the pictures used in the video, are Islamic medieval paintings of angels. I believe most of these paintings were Turkish (Ottoman) from the late medieval ages.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Sabina England
• ASL
• American Sign Language
• deaf
• Edgar Allan Poe
• poetry
• Islam
• angels
• Israfel

[Chulva]

Beautiful as always!

[VelmaSabina]

@Chulva merci :) mwah

[IAmTheUnknownPunk]

i don't know any ASL, but i thought the interpretation was well done. it's strange to read any Poe and get any kind of optimistic feeling. but this was pretty awesome.

[VelmaSabina]

@IAmTheUnknownPunk thanks! yeah I was surprised when I came across "Israfel" but I found it very beautiful and I thought it would look amazing being signed onscreen. thanks 4 watching :)

[desigirl80]

beautiful job Sabina! -Reshma

[VelmaSabina]

@desigirl80 thanks gurl! nice to hear from u again :)

[InsaneMisha]

Sabina....I never get tired of your film and poetry vlogs. Keep up your work. ((hugs))

[ctcentralinfo]

Sorry, I over think shit sometimes great vid.

[kasmanishafi786]

Nice! :)

[VelmaSabina]

@ABCWATISTHIS thanks little bro im glad u approved :)