Coleman Barks is een Amerikaanse dichter die wereldwijd bekend is om zijn vertalingen van Rumi en andere mystieke Perzische dichters. Hoewel hij zelf geen Perzisch spreekt, heeft zijn werk een cruciale rol gespeeld bij de popularisering van soefi-poëzie in de Engelssprekende wereld. Barks, die drie decennia lang literatuur doceerde, heeft culturele grenzen effectief overbrugd door soefi-ideeën toegankelijk te maken voor een breder publiek. Zijn internationale aanwezigheid en diepgaande impact op het begrip van de Perzische mystieke traditie maken hem tot een belangrijke stem in de wereldliteratuur.
This collection of Rumi poems by Coleman Barks stands out due to its personal reflections and insights, offering readers a deeper connection to the verses. Barks shares his journey of translating Rumi's work, emphasizing the liberation of these poems and their new interpretations. His thoughtful explanations about the title and heartfelt gratitude towards his inspirations add a unique layer to the reading experience, inviting readers to explore the transcendent themes of Rumi's poetry in a fresh and intimate way.
Rowdy, ecstatic, and sometimes stern, these teaching stories and fables reveal new and very human properties in Rumi's vision. Included here are the notorious "Latin parts" that Reynold Nicholson felt were too unseemly to appear in English in his 1920s translation. For Rumi, anything that human beings do#8212however compulsive#8212affords a glimpse into the inner life. Here are more than 40 fables or teaching stories that deal with love, laughter, death, betrayal, and the soul. The stories are exuberant, earthy, and bursting with vitality#8212much like a painting by Hieronymus Bosch or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The characters are guilty, lecherous, tricky, ribald, and finally possessors of opened souls. Barks writes: "These teaching stories are a kind of scrimshaw#8212intricately carved, busy figures, confused and threatening, and weirdly funny. This is an entertaining collection from one of the greatest spiritual poets of all time, rendered by his most popular translator. "The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."#8212Rumi
Exploring a blend of personal experience and literary references, the poems in this collection traverse diverse themes, including philosophy, art, and spirituality. Coleman Barks intertwines discussions of figures like Plotinus and Keats with intimate reflections on everyday moments, creating a rich tapestry of thought. The work balances personal insights with expansive ideas, inviting readers into a unique poetic landscape that resonates with both intimacy and breadth.
Considered one of the greatest works of Persian literature, this title is
written by a medieval Sufi mystic who also happens to be the most popular poet
in America.
2007 is the "Year of Rumi," and who better than Coleman Barks, Rumi's unlikely, supremely passionate ambassador, to mark the milestone of this great poet's 800th birthday? Barks, who was recently awarded an honorary doctorate in Persian language and literature by the University of Tehran for his thirty years of translating Rumi, has collected and translated ninety new poems, most of them never published before in any form. The result is this beautiful edition titled Rumi: Bridge to the Soul. The "bridge" in the title is a reference to the Khajou Bridge in Isphahan, Iran, which Barks visited with Robert Bly in May of 2006—a trip that in many ways prompted this book. The "soul bridge" also suggests Rumi himself, who crosses cultures and religions and brings us all together to listen to his words, regardless of origin or creed. Open this book and let Rumi's poetry carry you into the interior silence and joy of the spirit, the place that unites conscious knowing with a deeper, more soulful understanding.
Coleman Barks has played a central role in making the Sufi mystic Rumi the most popular poet in the world. A Year with Rumi brings together 365 of Barks's elegant and beautiful translations of Rumi's greatest poems, including fifteen never-before-published poems.Barks includes an Introduction that sets Rumi in his context and an Afterword musing on poetry of the mysterious and the sacred. Join Coleman Barks and Rumi for a year-long journey into the mystical and sacred within and without. Join them in recognizing and embracing the divine in the sublime, in the ordinary, and in us all.
Exploring the wisdom of a revered Sufi master and the father of Rumi, this book delves into the profound teachings and poetic expressions that have shaped spiritual thought. It highlights the lost words and insights that resonate with themes of love, unity, and the divine. Through a blend of historical context and lyrical prose, readers are invited to reconnect with the mystical traditions of Sufism and the enduring legacy of its influential figures. This work serves as both a spiritual guide and a celebration of poetic heritage.
Now in paperback, this is the definitive collection of America's bestselling poet Rumi's finest poems of love and lovers. In Coleman Barks' delightful and wise renderings, these poems will open your heart and soul to the lover inside and out. 'There are lovers content with longing. I'm not one of them.' Rumi is best known for his poems expressing the ecstasies and mysteries of love of all kinds – erotic, divine, friendship –and Coleman Barks collects here the best of those poems, ranging from the 'wholeness' one experiences with a true lover, to the grief of a lover's loss, and all the states in between: from the madness of sudden love to the shifting of a romance to deep friendship – these poems cover all 'the magnificent regions of the heart'.
Jelaluddin Rumi was a 13th-century philosopher, mystic, scholar and founder of the Whirling Dervishes. He was also an inspirational poet, and this collection of his work shows the themes that underpin his verses - tolerance, goodness, the experience of God and awareness through love.
