sydneyjacques's review against another edition
3.0
I’ve never read such a collection of biblical references with so little biblical worldview. Picking out each idea and holding it up against the last idea and against the Bible was super interesting, despite the fact that the poems let me down a lot of the time. There were plenty of gems, though, and I think it may have been worth digging through the rubble to find them.
There was a lot of beauty here.
There was a lot of beauty here.
kathrynamonett's review against another edition
4.0
I carried this pocket edition around with me everywhere while I was travelling Morocco, and it was a perfect companion.
“Sit with your friends, don’t go back to sleep.
Don’t sink like a fish to the bottom of the sea.
Surge like an ocean,
Don’t scatter yourself like a storm.
Life’s waters flow from darkness.
Search the darkness, don’t run from it.
Night travellers are full of light,
And you are too; don’t leave this companionship.
Be a wakeful candle in a golden dish,
Don’t slip into the dirk like quicksilver.
The moon appears for night travellers,
Be watchful when the moon is full.”
I never thought I was much of an appreciator of metaphysical poets (apart from Donne), but with Rumi, I was immediately smitten. Granted, he’s not your average metaphysical poet. In fact, he pre-dates all the other ‘traditional’ metaphysical poets by a good 350 years.
Still, really glad I picked this up.
“Sit with your friends, don’t go back to sleep.
Don’t sink like a fish to the bottom of the sea.
Surge like an ocean,
Don’t scatter yourself like a storm.
Life’s waters flow from darkness.
Search the darkness, don’t run from it.
Night travellers are full of light,
And you are too; don’t leave this companionship.
Be a wakeful candle in a golden dish,
Don’t slip into the dirk like quicksilver.
The moon appears for night travellers,
Be watchful when the moon is full.”
I never thought I was much of an appreciator of metaphysical poets (apart from Donne), but with Rumi, I was immediately smitten. Granted, he’s not your average metaphysical poet. In fact, he pre-dates all the other ‘traditional’ metaphysical poets by a good 350 years.
Still, really glad I picked this up.
gotoboston's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting. Mostly only really enjoyed the quatrains.
frasersimons's review against another edition
5.0
I like this much more than Essential Rumi because it features a few translators, often translating the same poem, which gives a lot more context and exposes the translators' “goals”, POV, intent, etc.
It’s really interesting consuming it in this format, and really shows how Coleman, author of The Essential Rumi, isn’t really translating anything, but reading a translation and then trying to take that into an internalized lesson to be imparted; often in a puritanical and Christian way. Stripping it of Eastern qualities and imbuing it with Western. You can especially see this with animal motifs.
I’d still like to consume something whole that was translated accurately but it doesn’t really seem like something like that exists in English, so this seems the best. And it is quite profound and interesting, much like The Prophet from Gibran. Though, I think I prefer the Prophet because it is a whole and complete work, with a thematic throughline that is incredible. And the prose is just better, IMO.
It’s really interesting consuming it in this format, and really shows how Coleman, author of The Essential Rumi, isn’t really translating anything, but reading a translation and then trying to take that into an internalized lesson to be imparted; often in a puritanical and Christian way. Stripping it of Eastern qualities and imbuing it with Western. You can especially see this with animal motifs.
I’d still like to consume something whole that was translated accurately but it doesn’t really seem like something like that exists in English, so this seems the best. And it is quite profound and interesting, much like The Prophet from Gibran. Though, I think I prefer the Prophet because it is a whole and complete work, with a thematic throughline that is incredible. And the prose is just better, IMO.
sophiebillekens's review against another edition
I stopped reading because I’m just not finding the poems entrancing enough. This might be due to the fact that about five translators are used but rather than present five translations of each poem, each poem is presented once, and you’re either lucky and get the translator that speaks to you the most, or unlucky and get any of the other four. Not terribly good odds. Maybe I’ll return to these poems yet but for now I’m putting them aside.
yeoman_chloe's review against another edition
5.0
It was good and I really enjoyed the insight it gave me. Now I want to read it in the original Persian...