false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173561539m/304079.jpg 304079 5 No translator could do greater justice to the gorgeous simplicity of Rumi's poetry than Coleman Barks has done here. These exquisite renderings of the 13th-century Persian mystic's words into American free verse capture all the "inner searching, the delicacy, and simple groundedness" that characterize Rumi's poetry while remaining faithful to the images, tone, and spiritual message of the originals. Barks's introductions to each of the 27 sections (described as "playful palimpsests spread over Rumi's imagination," and "meant to confuse scholars who would divide Rumi's poetry into the accepted categories") are themselves wonderful achievements of a poetic imagination; searching explanations of unfamiliar concepts and funny stories provide colorful background and frame the selections as no dry historical exegesis could. <p> While Barks's stamp on this collection is clear, it in no way interferes with the poems themselves; Rumi's voice leaps off these pages with an ecstatic energy that leaves readers breathless. There are poems of love, rage, sadness, pleading, and longing; passionate outbursts about the torture of longing for his beloved and the sweet pleasure that comes from their union; amusing stories of sexual exploits or human weakness; and quiet truths about the beauty and variety of human emotion. More than anything, Rumi makes plain the unbridled joy that comes from living life fully, urging us always to put aside our fears and take the risk to do so. As he says: "The way of love is not / a subtle argument. / The door there is devastation. / Birds make great sky-circles / of their freedom. / How do they learn it? / They fall, and falling, / they're given wings." <I>--Uma Kukathas</I> 965212 1995 Essential Rumi total:1815|5:1134|4:471|3:171|2:32|1:7| 1815 8138 2514 161 5 4 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Tue Aug 28 12:22:00 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 28 12:31:24 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sat Jun 23 00:06:29 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 23 00:11:51 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 3 false false Fri Mar 28 06:07:55 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 28 06:14:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Apr 14 06:30:28 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 06:36:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Jan 07 18:18:45 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 18:20:21 -0800 2009 4 3 false false Thu Aug 07 08:53:47 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 08:55:47 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Sun Sep 21 18:59:50 -0700 2008 Tue Dec 02 18:54:30 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Aug 15 20:45:52 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 20:45:52 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Oct 04 06:16:54 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 04 06:23:34 -0700 2008
So, my rating's based on the book as it is and the belief that it's real (like you believe a movie's real....more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Mon Jan 28 23:31:01 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 00:12:23 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Sep 20 02:21:46 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 20 02:43:18 -0700 2007
Essential is a good word for the title of this anthology. This collection of Rumi's work is so complete. I usually skip around in poetry anthologies, but here the verses are organized into playful groupings that refer to one another subtlety but completely. I didn't expect to find myself...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Feb 26 04:52:52 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 04:53:36 -0800 2008 1 0 false false Thu Oct 15 10:54:31 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 14:11:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 27 10:42:40 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 10:42:40 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Oct 23 17:34:39 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 23 17:45:39 -0700 2008 I learned that people like dezengo are out there and that we share these books as 6th sensory beings who look at the present through a rear-view mirror. Then we march backwards into the future doing yoga. Rumi poems become moves that the eternal soul breakdances with, the ego becomes the cardbo...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 06:23:28 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 06:35:51 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jul 26 20:34:45 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 26 20:34:45 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 08:46:14 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 08:57:42 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Feb 19 11:58:07 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 11:58:57 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Feb 13 01:26:29 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 01:36:47 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=304079