Selected Poems (Penguin Classics)

This is not just a collection of pomes. It is a commentary on life at the time it was written. The meanings of the pomes are in the most part straight forward. No tortured soul trying and failing to express them selves. There is a different style to the writting. The reader is encouraged to engage with the writer. It is like a conversation with the writer's voice heard by many. The other voice belongs to the reader and only they hear it. The subjects of the poems are as relevant today as they were all that time ago. It has been said that there are only five main storylines with many variasions. If this is true the Rumi was a master storyteller. To have a gift such as that was to be blessed.

No poetry will ever touch my heart and soul like Rumi's has. I highlighted my favorites and ended up with a mostly highlighted book. HIs words so accurately reflect the essence of being, it feels like reading the inside of my own self. Beautiful words with an even more beautiful meaning makes for unbeatable poetry.

I had only read portions of Rumi's writings, usually quotes in other works, until I started this book. Rumi's poetry is filled with subtle and meaningful wisdom and I found it rewarding to take the time with each stanza to consider what Rumi was talking about. In reading this work I discovered a profound spiritual leader.

Jalâl ad-Dîn Muhammad Balkhî, fostering a peculiar brand of spiritual-mystical Islam through his voluminous verse, enjoyed a cult following in his own day. Coleman Barks, unrestrained in his own spiritual-mystical verse reworked from closer and stiffer renderings of Rumi in English (which fall rather strangely upon the ear), himself enjoys something of a cult following. My wife and I greatly enjoy readings from the Barksian Rumi, and we recommend this book. Just know that it's a far cry from Mevlana, who might himself be very displeased with liberties taken. Poetry is essentially untranslatable.

I am so pleased with this purchase. I received it in under one week and the condition is exellent!! The Essential Rumi is going to be the first in many future readings into this wonderfully insightful author.

I really like Rumi and how he frames life, the human existence, God, Truth, Beauty, Love and all the other emotions and values. A brilliant poet! Though i'm not too big on poetry, i really enjoy reading Rumi - it's relaxing and enlightening.

The poems of Rumi are so illuminating, beautiful and spiritual. Every time I read them I feel enlightened and at peace. The translations of Coleman Barks have done justice to these poems, they keep the essence of the book. Must read if you are new to Rumism.

Pure wisdom in prose. It never gets old. It can be read anywhere and opened on any page. The writings are numerous, the words powerful, even after translation.

I would have wanted to know more about the author.

It has some nice quotes in it but it isn't really all that essential. I think that a different collection might be better. Rumi is a hit or miss type in this day and age and interpretations are a bit gray area. There are better Rumi books out there.

I enjoyed reading the ideas and analysis of another scholar.
Reading the writing of Rumi is such a personal thing it is difficult to be excited by the experience of another reader but enjoyable just for that reason.

The author does not speak Farsi. He used translations from the works of others to form this book. You can easily recognize the white-washing edited by the author when you compare poems to other translations. I'm upset that I paid to support such poor work. The meanings are clearly distorted for many poems when compared to better translations. I wanted to read Rumi. Not a cheap, white-washed imitation. This is not scholarly.

I was looking for the "essential" Rumi. I had to wander through an awful lot of verbiage that I did not expect. A massive garden rather than well tended paths to take me to the beauty I was looking for.

The Rumi text/poetry is of course lovely but I purchased this to read on my tablet and have struggled with the formatting. It has odd underlined text and is generally very poorly laid up for digital reading. I can't speak to the print edition.

Loved Gibran's, The Prophet and bought this book after it was recommended as being similar. I just can't get into it. Sure, its a classic, but it is one of those books that need a study guide. The poetry is overshadowed by Rumi's relationship with another man; Shams. Was this a homosexual relationship? Was that why Rumi's son had Sham killed? Maybe I need to put the book away for a few decades and read it again later.

I have read Rumi for decades. I have read biographies. I have read many, many poems. I deeply admire Rumi for his wisdom. I finally bought a real book with a real collection of Rumi's writing, only to be sorely disappointed by whomever it is that put the word "Jesus" on Rumi's lips. Rumi never wrote about Jesus. This is some kind of manipulation of very old text. Now, I cannot trust anything that has been published in this book. It has obviously been stomped on by those who have an agenda.

For the mystic, or for the reader drawn to mysticism, this book is a must. For the experience of the Divine has been exquisitely expressed within these pages, so much so that you will continue to be astonished and illuminated simply stepping foot through the door he's offering you. For me, an artist, poet and mystic, the Persian mystics have been a powerful influence in all I do, in how I pray, and in how I waken to the call of my Divine each day. Threads of this wisdom are woven into my own art and poetry. Rumi's works in this book, and the poems of Hafiz in The Gift, are the two most important works I know. This book belongs on your shelf, and another copy belongs on your night table. You will turn to it again and again. Love Without Distance: A Heartscape of Art and Verse

As a Farsi speaker and reader of Rumi, I find Coleman Barks's interpretation to be farcical. He has not translated the poems, as he does not speak or read Farsi. He reduces Rumi to New Age and misses the layers of meaning and often misstates the intent of the poems, at any level of the poems. He claims to be a Sufi, but Sufism has a rich heritage, complex of which he shows no understanding. This is work of lesser mind trying to reduce the work of great mind to his level. Complete waste.

I did not know the work of Rumi at all before looking at this volume. Coleman Barks is one of the great popularizers of Rumi in the West. He does not know Persian but paraphrases the work. The strict metrical techniques of the Persian are not emulated in the translation. In this work Barks gives titles to the poem and divides them into twenty- seven sections. But in his forward he says that Poetry for Rumi does not really divide up this way and is rather one all embracing continual process. As I understand it for Rumi it is union with God which is the first and essential theme. God is the Ground and the Goal of Being. Rumi poetry speaks of devotion and quest, of love and passion. But it is also filled with observations of the everyday. It seems completely contradictory to the spirit of Islamism which is so prevalent today. For Rumi seems tolerant and generous in some way to other faiths. He seems to search for the God that transcends all. Again he surprises often with his leaps from one subject to another, with his strange metaphors. He is mystical and difficult to grasp at times but he is most often interesting. He is a Poet of Thought and the work is filled not only with observation but with idea. Rumi has a tremendously important religious role in Sufi mysticism, but I believe readers of other faiths like myself can also enjoy this work greatly.

If you are looking for a true Rumi experience then you shouldn't read this collection of his poems, well actully it's not even his poems any longer since Coleman Barks translation has taken away what's truly essential about reading Rumi.

Rumi (as he is known in the West), was known as Jelaluddin Balkhi by the Persians and Afghanis, from where he was born in 1207. Rumi means 'from Roman Anatolia', which is where his family fled to avoid the threat of Mongol armies. Being raised in a theological family, Rumi studied extensively in religion and poetry, until encountering Shams of Tabriz, a wandering mystic, with whom he formed the first of his intense, mystical friendships, so intense that it inspired jealously among Rumi's students and family. Shams eventually disappeared (most likely murdered because of the jealousy); Rumi formed later more mystical friendships, each with a different quality, which seemed essential for Rumi's creative output. Rumi was involved with the mystical tradition that continues to this day of the dervish (whirling dervishes are best known), and used it as a personal practice and as a teaching tool.

This book has a deliberate task: 'The design of this book is meant to confuse scholars who would divide Rumi's poetry into the accepted categories.' Barks and Moyne have endeavoured to put together a unified picture that playfully spans the breadth of Rumi's imagination, without resorting to scholarly pigeon-holes and categorisations.

'All of which makes the point that these poems are not monumental in the Western sense of memorialising moments; they are not discrete entities but a fluid, continuously self-revising, self-interrupting medium.'

Rumi created these poems as part of a constant, growing conversation with a dervish learning community. It flows from esoteric to mundane, from ecstatic to banal, incorporating music and movement at some points, and not at others, with the occasional batch of prose.

'Some go first, and others come long afterward. God blesses both and all in the line, and replaces what has been consumed, and provides for those who work the soil of helpfulness, and blesses Muhammad and Jesus and every other messenger and prophet. Amen, and may the Lord of all created beings bless you.'

From the lofty sentiments...

'There's a strange frenzy in my head,

of birds flying,

each particle circulating on its own.

Is the one I love everywhere?'

...to the simple observations...

'Drunks fear the police,

but the police are drunks too.

People in this town love them both

like different chess pieces.'

Some poems take very mystic frameworks, such as the Sohbet. There is no easy English translation of Sohbet, save that it comes close to meaning 'mystical conversation on mystical subjects'. These poems become mystically Socratic, by a series of questions and answers, very simple on the surface, yet leading down to the depths of meaning.

In the middle of the night

I cried out,

"Who lives in this love

I have?"

You said, "I do, but I'm not here

alone. Why are these other images

with me?"

Rumi also has an elegant series called the Solomon Poems, in which King Solomon is the embodiment of luminous divine wisdom, and the Queen of Sheba is the bodily soul. This sets up a dynamic tension that gets played out in the poetry (in extrapolation from the Biblical stories from which they were first derived)

Rumi reminds us that, in the face of love and truth, even the wisdom of Plato and Solomon can go blind, but there is vision in this blindness.

In the conclusion of this volume, Rumi's poetry of The Turn (the dervishes) is presented, as a place of emptiness, where the ego dissolves, and opens a doorway to the divine to enter. The night of Rumi's death in 1273 is considered 'Rumi's Wedding Night', the night he achieved full union with the divine that he had sought so often in poetry and mystical practice.

There is much to be gained in the contemplation of this frequently overlooked poet.

"The Essential Rumi" translation by Coleman Barks was my first introduction to the poetry of Rumi (and *not* my last). I was hooked, captured, captivated ... by his imagery ... by the spiritual message conveyed via carefully selected words. I have five books of Rumi's poetry and would definitely buy more.

Coleman Bark's translations provide the clearest message and are the easiest to read and understand. Despite living in the early 1200s and in Turkey, these poems stand the test of time. They are now almost 8 centuries (800 years) in age and continue to penetrate the minds of readers and mesmerize many cultures throughtout the entire world. This says more about the poetry than whatever inadequate words I could write ...

Here is a one sentence summary of this book: through his words and images ... Rumi connects the reader closer to the divine essence present in all that exists. Erika Borsos (erikab93)

As a person fluent in both English and Farsi; and I have read all Molana's works in Farsi; I hated it.
98% of translations seem as if they came from google translate.
when the translator has translated :"پرده" in the Bait : نی‌ حریف هر که از یاری برید پردهایش پردهای ما درید
to Fabric....go figure....from the book:"The reed is a friend to all who want the fabric torn"
This book is one of the worst Molana translations I have ever seen my life.
The author might be a good poet(I have no idea) but certainly he sucks in translating Masnavi, Divan e Shams....
I understand poetry can be translated in a liberal form but poetry can NOT be translated with google translate.
Do not waste your money on this book if you think there is any proper translation on even one Mesra; if you are looking for some irrelevant cooking recipes you may find some at the end of this book (p.290)

If you're into mysticism and you love poetry, then this book will be a pleasure to read.
The contents of the poems are diverse, sometimes short poems, sometimes long ones, and sometimes short stories.

How do you speak of the unspeakable? How do you speak of what is endless, infinitely encompassing and infinitely close?
Knowing the gate of inspiration words remain fresh and spirited. Love and devotion shift the limits of what can be said.
Rumi's power and clarity comes regularly right out of the page, full in your face.
Rumi writes in the tradition of Sufism, and this (both Sufism and Rumi's poems) is much more universal and accessible than you might expect.
If you do not take care, it will open your heart.
A very inspiring book!

This is a book of poetry by one of the more important and influential people of Sufism. In it you will find most of the difficult but most interesting aspects of life expounded.

Rumi has a fun way of simplifying life with entertaining stories and constantly shows an extreme love for his closest historical companions.

Rumi is most kind and respectful to the figures of the Bible (particularly kings David and Solomon of the OT and Jesus of the NT). I say this with the full admission of being a Christian. It is quite obvious that this individual values humanity at the core and sees all people as God's children. We should all benefit from such an example.

The only thing I found difficult was that some of the allegorical content is hard to decipher being 800 years removed from the true context. However, the translator's comments at the beginning of each section and the notes in the back of the book clarify much and help the reading immensely.

Rumi (as he is known in the West), was known as Jelaluddin Balkhi by the Persians and Afghanis, from where he was born in 1207. Rumi means 'from Roman Anatolia', which is where his family fled to avoid the threat of Mongol armies. Being raised in a theological family, Rumi studied extensively in religion and poetry, until encountering Shams of Tabriz, a wandering mystic, with whom he formed the first of his intense, mystical friendships, so intense that it inspired jealously among Rumi's students and family. Shams eventually disappeared (most likely murdered because of the jealousy); Rumi formed later more mystical friendships, each with a different quality, which seemed essential for Rumi's creative output. Rumi was involved with the mystical tradition that continues to this day of the dervish (whirling dervishes are best known), and used it as a personal practice and as a teaching tool.
This book has a deliberate task: 'The design of this book is meant to confuse scholars who would divide Rumi's poetry into the accepted categories.' Barks and Moyne have endeavoured to put together a unified picture that playfully spans the breadth of Rumi's imagination, without resorting to scholarly pigeon-holes and categorisations.
'All of which makes the point that these poems are not monumental in the Western sense of memorialising moments; they are not discrete entities but a fluid, continuously self-revising, self-interrupting medium.'
Rumi created these poems as part of a constant, growing conversation with a dervish learning community. It flows from esoteric to mundane, from ecstatic to banal, incorporating music and movement at some points, and not at others, with the occasional batch of prose.
'Some go first, and others come long afterward. God blesses both and all in the line, and replaces what has been consumed, and provides for those who work the soil of helpfulness, and blesses Muhammad and Jesus and every other messenger and prophet. Amen, and may the Lord of all created beings bless you.'
From the lofty sentiments...
'There's a strange frenzy in my head,
of birds flying,
each particle circulating on its own.
Is the one I love everywhere?'
...to the simple observations...
'Drunks fear the police,
but the police are drunks too.
People in this town love them both
like different chess pieces.'
Some poems take very mystic frameworks, such as the Sohbet. There is no easy English translation of Sohbet, save that it comes close to meaning 'mystical conversation on mystical subjects'. These poems become mystically Socratic, by a series of questions and answers, very simple on the surface, yet leading down to the depths of meaning.
In the middle of the night
I cried out,
"Who lives in this love
I have?"
You said, "I do, but I'm not here
alone. Why are these other images
with me?"
Rumi also has an elegant series called the Solomon Poems, in which King Solomon is the embodiment of luminous divine wisdom, and the Queen of Sheba is the bodily soul. This sets up a dynamic tension that gets played out in the poetry (in extrapolation from the Biblical stories from which they were first derived)
Rumi reminds us that, in the face of love and truth, even the wisdom of Plato and Solomon can go blind, but there is vision in this blindness.
In the conclusion of this volume, Rumi's poetry of The Turn (the dervishes) is presented, as a place of emptiness, where the ego dissolves, and opens a doorway to the divine to enter. The night of Rumi's death in 1273 is considered 'Rumi's Wedding Night', the night he achieved full union with the divine that he had sought so often in poetry and mystical practice.
There is much to be gained in the contemplation of this frequently overlooked poet.

Rumi's poetry is like a garment that God wears to dance with us. The author seems to have captured the essence of that dance in a way that allows the luminous to get the point across clearly. I love, love, love this book and keep it by my nightstand so that I can go to bed with the highest inspiration to guide and protect me during the night. I believe I wake up more refreshed, more joyful and more willing to explore this extraordinarily confounding thing called life.
Tender Heart of Joy: Tools for Reclaiming Your Full Measure of Delight

The sweetness of Rumi is expressed in a way that seems to be contemporary and available to anyone willing to listen. I read a little every morning and when I finish the book, I start at the beginning once more. I have done this for years and his poetry is ever fresh. This translation in particular is friendly, just like I imagine Rumi would have wanted his thoughts to find their way to us.

Coleman Barks "Essential Rumi" deserves praise - but as to whether it is truly "essential" is of question. Barks does a good job translating the already translated work. But by changing the language, much of the mysticism Rumi was trying to evoke on the reader is lost. For example here is a Rumi poem in both Farsi(or Persian -English word for Farsi) and English -
Jumla ma'shuq ast-o 'aashiq pardah' i
Zenda ma'shuq ast-o 'aashiq mordah'i
All is the Beloved and the lover is a veil
The Beloved is alive and the lover is dead
If you read the Farsi (even if it doesn't make sense to you) you can tell that the words not only rhyme but they have a distinct rhythm to them, aside from that, the vocabulary Rumi uses is ingenious.
Like another review I read, Barks is "translating translations", Barks mereley takes work already translated and retranslates them into a more readable structure.
The 6 books of the Mathnavi were put in a special order but Barks just chooses from here and there. Barks was even told by Bawa Muhayadeen (sufi saint) that "In order to understand a master, he would have to become one" Which he explains he didn't do, but he said that he frequently did meet with Bawa.
Nevertheless Coleman Barks does deserve much credit for bringing Rumi into Western culture.
Jalaludin Rumi was an ecstatic lover of Allah (SWT). His Mathnavi is considered by many the greatest book ever written by a human being. It would be to everyones benefit to read through it and see how a 13th Century Mystic, from Afghanistan but lived most of his life Konya, Turkey, had everything and everyone in this world figured out.
For a better idea of Rumi read E.H. Whinfield's TEACHINGS OF RUMI.

So many books have been written about Rumi and so many translations of his work attempted, that it is hard to say this is the best, but it is certainly close to the top of the heap. And I can say that with some considerable confidence since it draws heavily on the Rumi scholarship of my former Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University, Professor Arberry. So, if you only buy one Rumi book, I strongly urge you to make it this one. For a delightful collection of love poems inspired by Rumi, I would also highly recommend Amy Alcini's Symphony Upon My Soul

As some posters have pointed out, Barks is far from faithful to Rumi's original words. I have some literal translations from the Persian and when I compare them to Barks translations, he is way off base. Can you call something that is not rumi as rumi? Barks also gives unsatisfactory summaries of who rumi was and what he stood for. Folks, he was not some flower child with roses in his hair dancing in the night to a candle! The best (I think) overview of who rumi was and what his poetry really stands for is in this book I got 3 months ago: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Rumi Meditations I felt like this was the first time I got a realistic picture of this great poet and spiritual master. Any books that you get that make rumi's poems out to be some new-agey feelgood gobeldy gook are not ral rumi poems.

This is one of those book everyone should at least have at home.
You don't need to read it all at once, but pick up whenever you want to get inspired. Each of Rumi's poem will make you reflect in a way or another. And often he'd make you question your basic assumption you might have about each given aspect of life. Food for thoughts, and lots of it!

I bought this book thinking it to be an 'new translation' only to find it was nothing of the kind. What it is (or seems to be) is nothing more than a rendering of R.A. Nicholson's translation of the Mathnawi into modern English.

While I don't have a problem with that (and this realy is a beautiful book) I do have a problem with it being marketed as a 'new translation' as there are many on the market these days calling themselves 'translations' but not including where there original source is from. (Nicholson's is based upon manuscripsts in the Konya Mevlevi-Hane and the commentary of Ismail Ankaravi)

The book itself seems to be selections from Nicholson's translation along with those from Nicholson's student Afzal Iqbal (The life and works of Jalaluddin Rumi) who included in his book some lines of the Mathnawi that Nicholson left out because he thought them to be too 'risque'

For anyone seeking an introduction to Rumi, Sufism or just beautiful poetry this is a fine book as Nicholson's translation (and it is in 3 volumes) may be a little too much and Iqbals work is very academic this book is an exellent start (you might want to read A. J. Arberreys translation of the Mathnawi which is in 1 volume after this to lead you up to Nicholson's)

Few people know this but there are three (main) types of Gnostics: Islamic, Jewish and Christian. Sufism is the form of Islamic Gnosticism. I am a fledgling Gnostic myself and I didn't realize Rumi had so much to offer me even though I'm of the Christian variety. His poetry speaks to me on so many levels and I know that by reading it I am further along the path to attaining gnosis.
As other reviewers have said, Rumi's poetry is beautiful. Read as much of it as you can. This ook is a good start. I could spend pages writing about the beauty and the isight but I can only say that once you read some of this book you'll know it will speak to you.

This is the book I read when I awake at 3 am and can't get back to sleep. When I do go back to sleep, I do so in a higher state of being. With the exception of the Bible and my one-volume collected works of Shakespeare, this is the single most treasured book in my library.
What truly boggles the mind is that this masterpiece was created by two poets a half a world and eight centuries apart. The foundation was laid by Rumi, steeped in the Islamic culture of Persia. The channeling into the mind of the contemporary West was accomplished by a poet born and raised in the Christian culture of the American South. Nowhere else in literature will you find such compelling evidence of the universality of the human spirit.

This book may well become an American classic of poetry someday. It is by far the best English collection of Rumi's poetry, done by his most able translator.
Although Rumi's poetry -- as with most poetry -- is at core untranslatable, Barks has done a fine job in rendering older technical translations of the Maulana into poetic English. What one encounters here is not just Rumi, but Rumi filtered through Barks. If you object to that go learn Persian because no translation will be able to capture the subtle nuances conveyed through the original language.
Barks should be commended in showing us another face of Islam, and revealing, in the process, the timeless, universal and transreligious teachings of one of Islam's greatest saints.
For fans of Rumi/Barks, I suggest Winkel's new book: Damascus Steel. Its a work of fiction exploring contemporary political themes through sufi lenses, and was written before (!) September 11th.

This book is a wonderful introduction to this very moving spiritual poetry. Rumi has an understanding of God and our relationship with Him that is unlike anything most people have ever experienced. His love and passion come across in this poetry, which has been beautifully translated by Coleman Barks. Mr. Barks has taken great lengths to group these poems into various sections that will allow a reader who is new to Rumi's poetry to see Rumi in a variety of ways. The book is not arranged chronologically or broken down into academic categories, but rather encompass larger topics ranging from bewilderment at God's presence to poems meant to teach. Each poem is carefully crafted to allow the thoughts of this master poet and mystic to shine. This is poetry of the first order. This book is the perfect introduction to Rumi or will complete the collection of any Rumi devotee.

Horrible translation, actually, by the author's admission, he doesn't read or write Persian. Why doesn't Mr. Barks and the publisher call it a loose interpretation is beyond comprehension. This is akin to someone who has never studied English literature or any English for that matter, writing a book about Shakespeare, titling it "The Essential Shakespeare."

I was first aquainted with Rumi and the delightful Coleman Barks at a Jungian retreat. Rumi takes you into his inner world and his relationship with the divine (objective divine) and the divine spark he sees in others (most notably his "beloved"). I've read that it is impossible to translate Rumi's original sing-song ancient Persian into modern English, but Barks certainly does an eloquent job (at least that's what my Persian friends tell me). If you would like to understand true depth psychology or understand the mysteries of love, this is the essential guide.

Poetry (especially religious poetry) is always difficult to translate. At one extreme a translation may be scholastically acurate but difficult to read and rather unpoetic. At another extreme the translator may focus on the poetry at the expense of the meaning and force rhymes that sound really stupid in English.

This translation avoids those pitfalls. It is beautiful, easy to read, and full of meaning. It never sounds like cheesy forced poetry or dry, dull scholasticism. This translation also never tells you how to interpret it, but allows you to bring Rumi's words in line with your own experiences.

But the true jem here is not Rumi's poetry itself but the introduction by philosophy professor Huston Smith. I have often found Smith's introductions to books more fascinating than the books themselves.

I love Rumi and buy this book as presents for college grads and anyone on a spirit path and open to poetry. Rumi will change your heart, change your life. I've only read in English, so cannot speak to the translation.

This book was my introduction to Rumi. I love it. But books have a way of eventually getting left on my bookshelf for too long, as this one did. Then, I bought the video, "Rumi, poet of the heart" and I am now reading Rumi again. In the video, you see Coleman Barkes and others in performance, and he explains the difficulties of tranlating and why he chose free verse rather than attempting the impossibility of duplicating Rumi's densely rhymed verse. When I watch this video I can't wait to meditate again and practice all its allied disciplines. But I'll warn you - if you watch the video you will want the book too so get them both. And what a price for such a beautiful book! Obviously, no one is getting rich off of this project.

When Rumi writes there is something more there is an ever constant presence just beyond words, beyond articulation. His divine encounters come across as dreamy sermons in which he transports the reader if only for a second to his world of endless joy and sustained ecstasy. I do not belive there is any poet of this age or any other who has shared Rumis endless style. I do however see allot of similarities with the latter Jewish Mystic Martin Burber. Burbur shares Rumi's notion of what constitutes a divine encouner; being open seeing the "beloved," in every aspect of human life. Further like Burber he believes in the endless power of the believer. Rumi's writings are free of any self consciousness or self loath thing each of his poems inspires a new refreshing idea of how the world is. I love Rumi's poetry and I think nothing short of, total reinterpretation of everything they know should be expected of the reader.

Once and for all may the publishers stop calling Barks a translator. He is in his own right a fine poet but he has not translated Rumi from Persian or any other language.

The latest book from Ibrahim Gamard, "The Quatrains of Rumi" gives a fine example of excellent translation and scholarship. Buy both Barks and Gamard and make your own decisions on this important matter.

"Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts

in the pomegranate flowers.

If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter."

With amazing economy of words and with a deep understanding of his art, the luminary Persian poet, jurist, and theologian Jalal Rumi takes us on a profound and deeply moving journey into the mind of the spirit.

Coleman Barks with John Moyne have done a fine job in bringing the innermost feelings of Rumi. To understand the true inner meaning, one has to read his work over and over again. It is not something you pick up and say this is the true meaning. Alas if this is true then we will not have so many avid readers with different thoughts on this matter. To understand Rumi is to undertand the inner meaning and think of oneself - putting oneself in his work and thought. Wiser than wise is Rumi. Fine work brings about fine poetry with endless meanings to his work. Read once - that is not enough. Keep reading - and then you realise how he brings about the true love, affection and to the nonbeliever maybe bring him/her closer to the creator. That is all I can humbly say about this great Poet.

I must start off with one word - Wow! I had heard of Rumi for several years but never read his works until just recently. I was totally floored! How can a man who lived over 700 years ago know me so well? I was immediately caught up in the simple wit, humor, and frankness Rumi displayed, and identified with many of his characters. I never knew I was dying of thirst until I drank from this fountain! Anyone who understands metaphysical and New Age principles will find this book to be a delightful journey. Poets and writers who love blending emotions and intellect will be inspired by it. I wish I had discovered Rumi years ago. I will keep this book by my bed for a long, long time!

"Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing,
There is a field.
I will meet you there."
I have bought no fewer than ten copies of this book, for friends and family. I was lucky to find them remainder at the local book megamart, but I would gladly pay full price.
This book made Rumi my favorite poet. Rumi is habit forming, but this is by far the most accessible place to start.

I do not understand how Barks organized these poems. They're amazing, every last one but the order that they're in is quite confusing. Nonetheless it should be read by everyone, whether a poetry lover or not. Also, check out the recipes in the back of the book! As the name states, it is ESSENTIAL!

I have read other translators of Rumi's books; however, Coleman Barks is by far my favorite. I have quite a few books of Rumi's spiritual poetic experiences, and I can only say that I wish I could have those experiences. Please read the one-derful Rumi books by Coleman Barks. Rumi is really inside of his heart and soul. The Essential Rumi is the one to have in your library of spiritual books.

There are certain books everybody should own and keep in their personal library and this is one of them. This book speaks to you in different times of your life. Sometimes you get one poem and not another and then later the other poem will come alive for you. I love Rumi's work and have loved it before it became fashionable.

Coleman Barks and his publishers are guilty of false marketing: this book would accurately be described as a collection of Barks' poems "very loosely inspired by Rumi", rather than a collection of Rumi's poems "translated by Barks". These are not poems by Rumi. These are nothing like poems by Rumi.

What Barks has done is to read some translations of Rumi's poems. And then, taking those English renditions as a kind of vague source-material, he's written a collection of entirely new beatnik poems, with as tenuous a connection to the source material as one would expect from such a process.

In Barks' *interpretations*, every quality of Rumi that makes Rumi the poet that Rumi is - has been lost. Not a trace of Rumi's art remains (not his rhythm, his celebrated locutions, not his imagery, not his evocational use of the past-tense - not even his religious instructions).

As for Barks' poems, they're charming, albeit in the manner of a voluble American hippie, entertaining the tourists outside Haight Ashbury. In other words, they read like a cross between Robert Bly and Walt Whitman. There's also a lot Allen Ginsberg in there. It's not difficult to see why these poems are so popular in America - they are as American as American apple-pie. Buy this if you want an original and accessible collection of American beaknik poems. I enjoyed reading them. But if you want more authentic translations of Rumi, try A.J. Arberry (although be warned that the more authentic translations are a lot less accessible).

The poems are charming, and worth buying for their own sake, but they have nothing to do with Rumi.

The reading of this book has led me on many wonderful journeys. I found myself having to read slowly as the words were jumping from the lines, and I could spend hours journaling where they led. Love and lonliness, passion and pity, a hunger for God that both consoles and consumes, are all visited in this book. Read it slowly.

Coleman Barks knows no Persian; his poems can thus most charitably be described as inspired by Rumi. As such the book's title gives a false impression.

Knowing no Persian either I am in no position to judge these poems against the real Rumi. Compared to other Mystics whom I do understand (like Meister Eckhardt, Jakob Boehme, Hildegard von Bingen) I get a sense that they try to describe the wonder of life, often in the small things, as well as the horror that is equally a part of it. This sense of depth and complexity is lacking in Mr. Barks' poems, they are saccharine in a 'Pop' way and like Pop can become quite grating after a while.

On a positive note Coleman Barks has made me become interested in Rumi, so that's a plus, and he relies heavily on the works of Annemarie Schimmel who is indeed outstanding.

Yes, it's true that Barks did not translate Rumi directly from the Persian originals and that some concepts of Islamic faith are not translatable. However, in the end it is not about words or translations. If your understanding of an experience transforms you, gives you a glimpse of the more immediate reality, makes you feel more subtly, that is what is of importance.
This book moves me each time I read it. Much of what I read doesn't yet connect, and some connects light lightening.
The Great Spirit moves through everything, including translations of translations.

Rumi was a Sufi, yet his impact reaches far beyond the Islamic world. His profound poetry deeply influenced such Christian writers like St. John of the Cross. As a minister and an evangelical Christian, I find Rumi inspiring and delightful!

I love Rumi and I like this book very much. I note that the negative 'reviews' here are not actually reviews of the book, but rather criticisms of the editor/'translator'. I have no opinion about how one ought to go about creating and presenting translations of poetry, and won't offer one. All I know is that regardless of how these versions of Rumi's poetry came to be, they are wonderful and capture the spiritual insights, the beauty and the charm of Rumi's work.

Coleman Barks crafts scintillating translations of Rumi's ecstatic, poetic prayers. Speaking directly to the modern heart across centuries, Rumi captures the most poignant and mystical ways we seek to commune with a vast and unknowable creator who is at the same time an intimate companion, a friend. Wonderful prayers, poetry and parables bring Rumi's world to life, and enliven this life, injecting joyful surprise into the eternal mysteries.

I have used this book as a daily spiritual practice for over 10 years. In the morning, I ask Rumi to give me guidance on my day, then randomly open the book. It's always right on the mark. Strange, but true...

I have tried to read this book few times but each time i put it down because i don't understand most of his poems. I am sure Rumi's work is awesome and as said by the other readers, it is one of the best translations available of his poetry but if someone can recommend me something that is easier than this one, i will appreciate that.

This is one of those books I keep handy, and just open randomly whenever I need a quick reminder that the world runs deeper than we think. It never fails to pull me from the shallow waters... When I want to go.

This is my favorite book. Ever. And I'm an English teacher. I ordered it again to give to a student who was so struck by Rumi's poems when she borrowed my copy that she didn't give it back for months, and only reluctantly. I know there is a lot of criticism of Coleman Barks's translation, but I ONLY like his translations of Rumi. I've picked up other translators' work and just haven't felt the same love. Maybe that means I wouldn't actually like Rumi (although I've considered learning Persian just to find out), or maybe it's just that Barks brings alive the mystical quality, the opening to the universe, that--for me--characterizes Rumi's work and draws me to him. I first read this book in an ashram in India while conducting field work in college, and spent the better part of that day frantically scribbling quotations into a tattered notebook, only to later hunt down the book and buy my own copy when I returned home. That was almost 20 years ago, but my feeling of... connection... with the text has never gone away. I find that each time I open it, a different set of lines will speak to me, depending on my personal experience at the time; I can always find in this text exactly what I need to hear to re-inspire my sense of wonder at the universe.. I'm not Muslim myself, but I feel his vision of the world transcends such categories. In fact, that transcendence is the essence of Rumi, and Barks interprets that perfectly for me.

The poems are very well organized by theme with appropriate introductions, a forward and some notes about Rumi. I would definitely recommend for anyone interested in philosophy or poetry. Stunning, stunning writing and stellar translations.

Barks does an excellent job with the translation, bring the beauty of Rumi's original poems into English for us. Many times I've been too stunned with the glory of it all to continue reading.

Although much of the translation is wonderful, a lot of it is not as great. I don't know who was having the off days - Barks or Rumi, but someone messed up what could have been a masterpiece. That's the only reason this work doesn't deserve 5 stars. Other than that, it is great.

Rumi expresses emotions of content and forever-happiness. Rumi translates that silence is true contentment, for when you are quit with yourself, you have no needs... your mind is empty and therefore satisfied... I have never appreciated any poet as much as I appreciated Rumi.

Whether you're contemplating Rumi in a meadow or while stuck in traffic, his eloquence reaches across the centuries to move you.
I highly recommend this book for anyone just beginning their study. The introduction and accompanying editorial comments provide a starting point for personal perspective.

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. And he was a personal student of the great Sufi teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, so he knows something about Sufism and Rumi's "path of love" from direct personal experience.

3) Third, while it is true that Barks does not read Rumi in the original Persian, his modern English versions of Rumi are based on the painstaking study of the best critical English editions of Rumi available, including those of Moyne, Arberry and Nicholson - and if you want to know why Barks chose to go beyond these literal translations and create his own modern versions of Rumi in plain English, try reading a critical edition like Nicholson's - yes, it's a literal translation, and it's very scholarly, but it's almost unreadable. In fact, it's torture. Scholarship is important, but poetry should be a joy.

4) Finally, Barks must know something, because he just got an honorary doctorate from the Department of Persian Language and Literature at the University of Tehran for his translations of Rumi. (Here's the announcement: "The Diploma of Honorary Doctorate of the University of Tehran in the field of Persian Language and Literature will be granted to Professor Coleman Barks, Poet and Professor Emeritus of English, University of Georgia, USA, for translating the poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the great Iranian poet and philosopher at 10:00-12:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at Ferdowsi Hall, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran.") And Barks is respected by other modern Iranian-American writers. For instance, on page 286 of his new book "No god but God; the Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam", Reza Aslan - who was born in Iran and now lives in the US - acknowledges that "The best translations of Rumi include Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi (1995), and the two-volume Mystical Poems of Rumi by A. J. Arberry (1968)..."

There are lots of versions of Rumi out there, including the literal translations like Arberry's or Nicholson's. Barks' obviously respects these literal translations tremendously. They do capture the letter. But Barks frees the spirit. Let me conclude by quoting a wonderful story Barks tells about translating the essence of Rumi's poems. This is from page 180-181 of his new book, "The Soul of Rumi":

Barks writes: "Perhaps presence is so elusive because of those continually disintegrating and reconstituting motions called 'fana' and 'baqa': the wild longing to dissolve in God and then the coming back in the kind hand that reaches to help. That motion is the subject of Rumi's poetry, or it might be better to say that his poetry enjoys the play of presence and absence, through the mind, through desire, love, deep silence, the whole conversational dance of existence, the being of Being. Flowers and fish are doing calligraphy with their moving about. The great sun outside and the sun inside each human hum together. The bright core of their resonance is who we are. I love this Hasidic story about the transmission of such fire:

"When the Baal Shem Tov had difficult work to do, he would go to a certain place in the woods, where he made a fire and meditated. In the spontaneous prayers that came through him then the work that needed to get done was done. A generation later the Maggid of Meseritz was given the same work. He went to the place in the forest and said, "I no longer know how to light the fire and meditate, but I can say the prayers." What needed to happen, happened. A generation after that it came to Moshe Leib of Sassov to do the work. He went into the woods and spoke, "I do not know the fire meditation or the prayers, but I still come to this place where the Baal Shem and the great Maggid came. I hope that's enough." And it was. After another twenty years, Israel of Rishin was called to the task. "I do not know the place, the fire, the meditation, or the prayers but here, inside, sitting at table I can tell the story of how it used to go." The story had the same effect as the wilderness retreat, the fire meditation, and the prayers that came to the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid, and Rabbi Moshe Leib."

Barks continues: "One might follow the sequence of the anecdote and say that it shows the diminishing of a living tradition. Or one can hear in it that the mystery of doing work takes many forms, and the same continuous efficacy is there no matter whether it's the Baal Shem in solemn silence before the fire in the woods or, generations later, Israel of Rishin indoors telling the story to a table of friends. The vital God-human or human-God connection can break through anywhere at any time. There's no diminishing of it and no fading of grace. I like to hope that Rumi's poems, even in translation, carry the essence of the transforming friendship of Rumi and Shams, that that sun can reappear, whole and radiant in any one of us at any moment." (Note: Shams was Rumi's spiritual teacher.)

"The mystery of doing work takes many forms..." I think this is the real answer to the question of Barks' translations of Rumi: The essence, the Presence, is not carried by the literal translation of form, but by the living transmission of spirit. How this happens is a mystery. But when it does - as it does in Barks' work - "there is no fading of grace". Don't miss this great book.

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Those who are familiar with the Pesrian language know that a proper translation can be next to impossible, especially from Rumi. However, Coleman Barks does an exceptional job of introducing Rumi's poetry into the English language. A fine work of art and a pleasure to read!

They are many paths to Rumi, the Persian poet of god. Coleman Barks, though allegedly ignorant of Persian, has caught a fire which burns brightly in this rendition of Rumi. Coleman Barks channeling the " Essential Rumi" is a beautiful oasis. An oasis with many a languid pool filled with rhyme, insight and plain fun with words. Please do not let this charming channel stop your journey to the source.

I have read various quotes from Rumi for many years, but having an entire collection is priceless. Rumi's 800 year old wisdom still resonates in today's world. It has the power to transform the way you think about the world and yourself.

Written with exquisite simplicity this book speaks to a reality we only vaguely suspect and then goes deeper to excavate our deepest spiritual roots. Rumi speaks with a quiet roar. If you dare to listen, you will not remain unchanged.

As a Persian I felt I can write some illuminating remarks here. I came to this verse from Mowlanaa Rumi in this book: "Let the beauty of what you do be what you love" and I looked a lot for the original poetry. It seems to be sth like this originally:

Today we are drunken(=in love) like everyday
Dont start worrying and start playing instead
For whom the beloved's (God's) face is prayer-niche
There are a hundred ways of prayer. (seeing God's face in everything...Everything is one.)

and Barks' translation:

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a
musical instrument
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

you see they are quite different and the traslation seems to be distorted.

I have to say I agree with some of the other reviews here, that this collection of poetry by "Rumi" is in reality modern American poetry by someone drawing only very loosely on Rumi's work. It is rather a stretch to call it a translation! If one were cynical, one might think the large number of books from this "translator" indicates merely a money-making exercise.

Much better collections/translations can be found, like Maryam Mafi's and Azima Melita Kolin's, but I would personally recommend Juliet Mabey's Rumi: A Spiritual Treasury. This is not only a gorgeous book to look at, but more importantly, both its selection and English rendition demonstrate a deftness of touch that make you think you are reading something very close to the original sentiment. A rare achievement.

The Essential Rumi is a timeless classic of total dribble. Maybe it lost something in the translation or maybe I just don't have the time to extract the few bits of philosophy concealed within Rumi's endless stream of rambling words. If you're looking for inspiration from the past, I'd suggest you look elsewhere.