Selected Poems of Rumi by Jelaludin Rumi

Selected Poems of Rumi by Jelaludin Rumi

In recent years the stirring, unforgettable poetry of Jalālu'l-Dīn Rūmī (1207-1273), the great Sūfi teacher and the greatest mystical poet of Iran, has gained tremendous popularity in the western world. Although he died over 700 years ago, his poetry is timeless. In the best modern translations, the passion and playfulness of his words reach across the ages to communicate themselves to people today with an undiluted fervor and excitement.
Rūmī produced an enormous body of work -- as many as 2,500 mystical odes, 25,000 rhyming couplets, and 1,600 quatrains -- some of it instructional, some personal and emotional, much of it sublimely beautiful. The present volume includes over 100 of his finest lyrics, including The Marriage of True Minds, The Children of Light, The Man who Looked Back on his way to Hell, The Ascending Soul, The Pear-Tree of Illusion, The Riddles of God, and many more.
In some of these poems, says A. J. Arberry in the Introduction, the mystic's passion is so exuberant, his imagination so overflowing, that we catch glimpses of the very madness of Divine experience.

Called 'Jelaluddin Balkhi' by the Persians and Afghans, Rumi was born on September 30, 1207, in Balkh, Afghanistan, then a part of the Persian Empire. Between 1215 and 1220, he and his family fled the threat of the invading Mongols and emigrated to Konya, Turkey; it was sometime after this that he became known as 'Rumi' meaning 'from Roman Anatolia'. His father, Bahauddin Walad, was a theologian and a mystic, and after his death Rumi took over the role of sheikh in the dervish learning community in Konya. Rumi pursued the life of an orthodox religious scholar until 1244 when he encountered the wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz. After an exchange of religious ideas Shams and Rumi became inseparable friends, transported into a world of pure, mystical, conversation. This intense relationship left Rumi's students feeling neglected, and, feeling the ill-will, Shams disappeared. After news of Shams came from Damascus, Rumi's son was sent to bring him back, and the mystical conversation, or sohbet, began again. After Shams' second disappearance (he was probably murdered), and a period spent searching for his lost friend, Rumi came to the conclusion that Shams was now a part of him. Further concluding that when he wrote poetry it was Shams writing through him, he called his huge collection of odes and quatrains The Works of Shams of Tabriz. Following Shams' death Rumi had two other mystical companions, firstly Saladin Zarkub, a goldsmith, and then, after Saladin's death, Husam Chelebi, Rumi's scribe and student. It was Husam that Rumi declared the source of his vast six-volume masterwork Mathnawi. After twelve years of work on this masterpiece Rumi died on December 17, 1273.
Colemam Barks taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia for thirty years and has been a student of Sufism since 1977. The translator of numerous Rumi works, his work with the poet was featured in an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers's Language of Life series. He lives in Athens, Georgia.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780486415833
ISBN 10	048641583X
Title	Selected Poems of Rumi
Author	Jelaludin Rumi
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Dover Publications Inc.
Year published	2011-03-17
Number of pages	112
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.