The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition Author: Jalal al-Din Rumi | Language: English | ISBN:
0062509594 | Format: PDF
The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition Description
Review
"If Rumi is the most-read poet in America today, Coleman Barks is in good part responsible. His ear for the truly divine madness in Rumi's poetry is truly remarkable." --
Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions"Perhaps the world's greatest spiritual poet--the gold of Rumipours down through Coleman's words. The words leap off thepage and dance!" --
-- Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart"Perhaps the world's greatest spiritual poet--the gold of Rumi pours down through Coleman's words. The words leap off the page and dance!" --
Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart"The Essential Rumi is a rare and precious book that will stir the hearts of Rumi devotees and win many new converts." --
Body Mind SpiritFrom the Back Cover
The best-selling Rumi book ever is now better than ever! This revised and expanded edition of the comprehensive one-volume edition of America′s most popular poet includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks, and 57 new poems never published before.
The ecstatic, spiritual poetry of Rumi is more popular than ever, and The Essential Rumi continues to be far and away the top-selling title of all Rumi books. With the addition of many new poems and a new introduction, The Essential Rumi is now clearly the definitive, and most delightful selection of Rumi′s poetry.
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- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: HarperOne; Reprint edition (May 28, 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0062509594
- ISBN-13: 978-0062509598
- Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This review was originally written as a response to a one-star Spotlight Review entitled "Look elsewhere for Rumi's essence", which criticized Barks' versions of Rumi as inauthentic because they are not precisely literal; that negative review has since been removed. But what I said then still goes: Don't let the negative reviews drive you away from a great read. This book captures Rumi's essence like no other. And despite what the critics think, Coleman Barks is very well qualified to bring Rumi to a modern English audience. Consider these four points:
1) First, and most important, Barks loves Rumi; he loves Rumi's poetry; he loves that Presence Rumi's poetry celebrates and explores. In the original criticism, the reviewer implied Sufi poetry employs some kind of mantric magic when he said that "their poems are actually precise and carefully constructed technical instruments designed to have very specific effects on the reader under the right circumstances." Please. Rumi himself makes plain throughout his works that the point of his poetry - and of Sufism - is not technique. The point is love: "Rub your eyes, and look again at love, with love." Rumi would have been the last person in the world to insist on strict adherence to technique, or compulsive literal translation. He was about soul, and transformation, and he said over and over again that the only real magic was love. That's the real essence of Rumi. And maybe Barks has been able to translate Rumi's poetry so effectively because he's coming from the heart and the soul, and not just the head.
2) Second, Barks is a well-known American poet in his own right, a retired professor of English at Georgia University. He's studied the life and work of Rumi intensively for over thirty years.
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