Review (PDF) Rumi: The Book Of Love: Poems Of Ecstasy And Longing
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′.
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: HarperOne; Reprint edition (January 18, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060750502
ISBN-13: 978-0060750503
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #26,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #11 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > Middle Eastern #23 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Love Poems #96 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Themes & Styles
Rumi needs no praise from me and Barks' translation is beautiful, mysterious, and urgent. I find his introductions to the many sections especially moving. My only problem is that I ordered the book after I bought Barks' "The Essential Rumi," which changed me. This book has many overlaps. I'd have preferred to see more original translations, but as a first introduction, you can do no better.
How can I put into words the absolute wordless dimension this collection of poems creates within me?The commentaries and introduction sections by Coleman Barks are valuable as well beyond words.The reader would gain insights simply by picking it up and thumbing to any page and just read, read! My daughter and I tried this, we would bring up topics and then say "And what does Rumi say?" and I would read whatever the first words were that I saw in front of me.They were always universally fitting.I loved it, just like I love this book.Wordless, speechless, love-filled - inspired.
I am not exactly sure how to critique poetry; however, I think that Rumi is great! Yes, I just used and exclamation mark. No, I do not use said punctuation often. That is how good Rumi is.Rumi was a Persian Sufi who wrote incredibly deep poems regarding spirituality, faith, religion, and love. The most surprising thing I found among his poetry was his use of individual lines within whole poems. For example, look at his poem:Think that you're gliding out from the face of a clifflike an eagle. Think you're walkinglike a tiger walks by himself in the forest.You're most handsome when you're after food.Now, rewrite the second line, so that it looks like this:Like an eagle, think you're walking.In this phrase, Rumi captures the beauty and the mystery of the eagle in flight. The eagle does not think it is flying, as in it does not think it is doing anything extraordinary. It is simply moving in time and space in the easiest and most fluid manner it knows how. For humans, we walk. This is the beauty of it; this is the beauty of the New Testament story regarding walking on water. Jesus tells his Peter not to think about the water, just walk; just be.Rumi fills page after page with beautiful and simple ideas of love and of just letting go of everything that holds us back. However, I will let Rumi argue for himself and leave here two of my favorites:THE ALLURE OF LOVESomeone who does not runtoward the allure of love walksa road where nothing lives.But this dove here sensesthe love-hawk floating aboveand waits and will not be drivenor scared to safety.UNTITLEDNo better love than love with no object,no more satisfying work than work with no purpose.If you could give up tricks and cleverness,that would be the cleverest trick!For more book reviews and suggestions, please visit: [...]
This collection of Rumi's poetry moved me like none of his other work. I have already given copies away several times over. You wont regret it!
Didn't much like "poetry" before this. In fact this is the first book of 'poetry' i've not pelted into the bin.Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm a reader...oh yes. I have (no doubt like you) walls of books, all ordered by how much I ADORED them. And no book ever into the bin - sacrilege! Except poetry. Why? "Oh poetry is just such grandiose swashbuckling twaddle!"Well who knows what I read or if it really was grandi-gross. What I do know is that I LOVE RUMI. AND I LOVE COLEMAN BARKS (now I know who the hell they both are).I've started a new little book shelf. It's called HIGH VIBRATORY. It ONLY for books that are INSPIRED (of such outstanding beauty that its inarguable that pure-positive-non-physical-source energy played a role in their emergence). These books are those that I'm going back to, over and over, because of the sheer joy and exhilaration that's swell in my heart as I read them. Rumi The Book Of Love sits prominently on this fabulous new shelf.Go on, buy it, devour it. I defy anyone not to want to marry this book. Or at least position it on a High Vibratory shelf...
This has been my favorite book for years - it can transport the reader straight into the world of soul. rumi is the best and i love these translations. perfect, definately worth having even for people who are not-so-much-into poetry
Having read Rumi gave me the sensation of being enveloped and rocked by all of existence. The discovery of the Self, the recovery of wholeness whithin a " great whole". When we were born, we were torn from wholeness; in love we have all felt ourselvess returning to original wholeness. That is why his poems create images that have the ability transform us. After reading some of his poems, I was able to reach a sense of reconciliation with the totality of the world; perhaps even with our past, present, and future . We are the theater of embrace of opposites, and the only way to resolve this is through acceptance.It seems important to me that a more whole, and therefore more human form of expression, like his poetry, should become visible in our time. His poetry, is a glimmer of hope, simbolized for me by his infinite wisdom and divine knowledge of "the One" who dwells whithin him, whose form has no knowable boundaries, who encompasses him on all sides, fathomless as the abysms of the Earth and vast as the sky.
Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing The Forbidden Rumi: The Suppressed Poems of Rumi on Love, Heresy, and Intoxication Rumi Poetry: 101 Quotes Of Wisdom On Life, Love And Happiness (Sufi Poetry, Rumi Poetry, Inspirational Quotes, Sufism) Rumi: Voice of Longing Rumi: Soul Fury: Rumi and Shams Tabriz on Friendship The Rumi Collection: An Anthology of Translations of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (Shambhala Classics) By the Sea: Poems of Love, Longing, and Lust The Love Poems of Rumi Al-Ghazzali On Love, Longing and Contentment Selected Poems of Rumi (Dover Thrift Editions) The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems Rubaiyat of Rumi (Selected Poems) (Persain/ Farsi Edition) (Persian Edition) Rumi: The Big Red Book: The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love and Friendship #Love: #Love is Book #1 in the Adult Book Series Celebrating Love and Friendship (#Love, #Pretty, #Beautiful, #Beauty, #Me) (#Coloring #Book Series of Adult Coloring Books) Beyond Ecstasy (Beyond, Book 8) Ecstasy Unbound (The Guardians of the Realms Series Book 1) Tradition Book: Cult of Ecstasy (Mage: The Ascension) From your heart to your home: Embrace simple pleasures, sweet comforts, awaken your creativity and satisfy your longing for home Revised The Fertile Female: How the Power of Longing for a Child Can Save Your Life and Change the World Longing and Belonging: The Complete John O'Donohue Audio Collection
